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With all due respect to Martin Rees (of which I have plenty) Speculations about the mega-verse do not fall under the aegis of working science, for the reasons I have adduced in my discussion with FC. If the particle physicists find an intellectual wormhole that connects our matter to other universes via particle flipping or dark matter manipulation, then maybe there will be something to talk about--until then, the total lack of available mechanisms for finding confirming or dis-confirming evidence is a roadblock I cannot see a way around. By our present understanding, the Big Bang created space and time, and the other examples you have adduced are not looking beyond the inception of our universe, that I could detect.

I quote your own source again:

A period of rapid expansion in the early moments of the universe could have set these perturbations in place by blowing up microscopic quantum fluctuations to astronomical scales -- seeding the galaxies and nets of galaxies we see today.

You have a very poetic fancy by the tail, and I admire it's scope and detail, and cannot gainsay it--for all the world, for all of time, I suspect, it could be true. And therein lies the root of the reason it ain't science. If I have no means of even attempting to gainsay it, it isn't on the scientific table.

Thank you for your post!

You are in good company. In this interview with Nicolo Dallaporta, a father of modern Cosmology, speaking of the multi-verse theories:

It is very possible, but it is not physics. It is a metaphysics in which recourse is made to a chance that is so enormously limitless that everything that is possible is real. But in this way it becomes a confrontation between metaphysics in which chance collides with purpose. This latter, however, seems much easier to believe! Physics up to now has been based on measurable "data." Beyond this it is a passage of metaphysics. At this point I compare it with another metaphysics. Those who sustain these viewpoints (like Stephen Hawking, for instance) should realize that this goes beyond physics; otherwise it is exaggerated. Physics, pushed beyond what it can measure, becomes ideology.

I agree that it crosses into ideology and therefore ought not to be taught in public schools. However, research continues and scientists are working on tests for the various theories, such as the search for extra dimensions at FermiLab.

To me it all quite exciting and I will continue watching and waiting. Thank you so very much for the discussion!

If the particle physicists find an intellectual wormhole that connects our matter to other universes via particle flipping or dark matter manipulation, then maybe there will be something to talk about

Well, I think you're going to far. Speculation is an essential (and fun) part of the scientific process. What's important is to have the right attitude about it. It's an art really.