Thread: I want to hear what you think of a parallel universe

I am a big Internet surfer, and today I was curious about parallel universes by a link I saw: http://scienceray.com/astronomy/what...llel-universe/

Now I think that there is no way any other universe could exist. But I am only 16, so I would like some wiser people to enlighten me more on the subject.

Originally Posted by c_a_miller

I am a big Internet surfer, and today I was curious about parallel universes by a link I saw: http://scienceray.com/astronomy/what...llel-universe/

Now I think that there is no way any other universe could exist. But I am only 16, so I would like some wiser people to enlighten me more on the subject.

Parallel universes may or may not exist. However, under the current state of our knowledge, there is no way of testing for them.

Where would a parallel universe be? If made of the same stuff as our universe, it could not occupy the same space as our universe, but could exist far beyond it (outside it). If made of something entirely different, then it may occupy the same space without interacting with our universe, but we would probably never be able to detect it.

Then again, it could be like an onion. The big bang with expanding space would need a hypersphere to work, a four physical dimensional sphere. It's skin would be 3D, as in the universe in which we live. So, if there can be one BB, why not others? A later BB and another expanding universe inside the hypersphere. An earlier BB and we might be inside it's hypersphere. A bit like the Russian dolls, with universes inside universes, but never coming in contact with each other as all expand.

Super-string theory actually predicts other universes. In fact, E500 of them!

However, we still do not know how valid, if at all, superstring theory is. So the answer is : "maybe."

Obviously parallel universes are not diprovable yet but i find the idea of parallel universes disconcerting the fact that in some universes im dead and in others ive lost a leg in WW4 is not very comforting. Yet science obviously doent care about my comforts.

Originally Posted by c_a_miller

I am a big Internet surfer, and today I was curious about parallel universes by a link I saw: http://scienceray.com/astronomy/what...llel-universe/

Now I think that there is no way any other universe could exist. But I am only 16, so I would like some wiser people to enlighten me more on the subject.

If you are really intruiged by the subject of parallel universes then I would suggest you buying and downloading a film called "Down the Rabbit Hole" - It covers the theory without any mathematics; which for your age is a good place to start. When you learn more maths then try researching "M-theory".

Hope that helps

Parallel universes are a theoretical model. Whether some reality of them exists is anyone's guess. They make for good science fiction. I don't know whether it might somehow be possible to cross into such a universe and observe it. I would be interested in whether someone here could explain how you might go about crossing into such a universe. Creating or going into a black hole is all I can think of.

bradford

There was an article in Scientific American which mentioned that. According to that article, the two methods would be :

1. A wormhole. One sufficiently large is, however, theoretically impossible.
2. A giant spinning black hole. This ends up in torus shape. Entering the centre of the torus from the side could, in theory, pop you out in another universe. The problem is that there are other, equally probable outcomes. Including being torn into atom sized bits.

Originally Posted by skeptic

Super-string theory actually predicts other universes. In fact, E500 of them!

We must be careful with our terminology. 'Parallel universes' includes the concept that we exist in many universes very similiar to this one, except every choice we have made exists in this universe and the choices that we didn't make exist in a different universe: a parallel universe. So, for example, a high-school girlfriend that broke up with me 34 years ago and who I don't stay in touch with in this universe would be my wife and mother of my children in a parallel universe. That not only sounds very bizarre to me - the concept seems very wrong!

String theory does, in-fact, predict many other universes, but they are 'non-parallel universes' - we don't exist in them in our current form. The Big Bang or 'white hole' may be the result of a massive black hole in another universe. This death/rebirth process would simply explain how there can be a beginning and possibly an end to this universe while maintaing infinite space and eternity. Multiple universes is referred to by many as the 'multiverse', but I prefer 'The Conglomerate' (it has more bols).

Originally Posted by boson31415

Obviously parallel universes are not diprovable yet but i find the idea of parallel universes disconcerting the fact that in some universes im dead and in others ive lost a leg in WW4 is not very comforting. Yet science obviously doent care about my comforts.

That's alternate universes where at some extreme point in time, something happened in one universe but not in another (like a world war). They are just SF.