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One universe or many? Panel holds unusual debate
World Science ^ | March 30,. 2006

Posted on 04/02/2006 7:46:13 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored

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To: GW and Twins Pawpaw
Yes, the article mentions Everett's work.

But, as I understand it, there's this difference: Everett's branching quantum universes are completely separate and have no physical contact of any kind; the multiple universes of which inflationary cosmologists speak are separate, but, in principle, they could come into physical contact (for example, one could start to expand directly into an adjacent one, that sort of thing). All of the inflationary bubbles would inhabit the same, physical multiverse, whereas the Everett universes are completely separate, alone, part of no larger entity.

21 posted on 04/02/2006 8:24:19 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: muawiyah
In reality, we have in this picture Gene Roddenberry's mistress making goo-goo eyes with a gay guy.

Hey, it's a p a r a l l e l u n i v e r s e.

She's her own woman and he's straight as an arrow.

22 posted on 04/02/2006 8:25:01 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: martin_fierro
LOL!! Once again Martin you bring a perspective that makes me laugh out loud.

Heck, I was thinking DC comics already had this subject pegged with their Multiverse.

In the DC Multiverse there are 12 numerically designated Earths as well as Earths A,B,C,C-minus, D,S,and X. And for good measure there is also the Anti-Matter Universe of Qward.

23 posted on 04/02/2006 8:25:06 PM PDT by A message (Science, it is good to ponder how the Creator made things but some worship it like a Religion.)
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To: snarks_when_bored

God can create as many or few universes as is pleasing to Him, and His Sons and Daughters (some of you). I do know one thing, there will be no shortage of land due to overcrowded conditions in eternity.


24 posted on 04/02/2006 8:26:29 PM PDT by HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath (My Homeland Security: Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper)
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To: snarks_when_bored; GW and Twins Pawpaw

It's worth noting that even before Everett the prospect of multiverses was raised in 'serious' physics by the Einstein-Rosen Bridge concept, wherein wormholes would connect our universe to parallel universes.


25 posted on 04/02/2006 8:27:50 PM PDT by AntiGuv (™)
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To: balrog666
Would the bozos of that universe worship us a gods? Would they fight Holy Wars over balrog666 vs snarks_when_bored?

Maybe I'll send 'em a moon rock to worship...

Nah.

26 posted on 04/02/2006 8:28:03 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: snarks_when_bored

Al Gore can have his own universe if he wants


27 posted on 04/02/2006 8:28:54 PM PDT by woofie
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To: RichInOC

You guys playin cards?


28 posted on 04/02/2006 8:34:50 PM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (Never bring a knife to a gun fight, or a Democrat to do serious work...)
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To: HereInTheHeartland

Oh, good, somebody got the reference.


29 posted on 04/02/2006 8:37:12 PM PDT by RichInOC (...Phi Kappa Sigma, Beta Rho '87..."I'm proud of you, Lawrence." "...You homo.")
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To: snarks_when_bored
Is this question really any different from questions of religion? They both seem to be metaphysical questions that are virtually untouchable by empirical science.
30 posted on 04/02/2006 8:37:38 PM PDT by Young Scholar
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To: Young Scholar
Is this question really any different from questions of religion? They both seem to be metaphysical questions that are virtually untouchable by empirical science.

So far, there doesn't appear to be any evidence for the existence of cosmic bubbles outside our own. But cosmologists are continually searching for ways to test these (and like) ideas. Read the thread referenced in my post #1 to see how recent WMAP data have supported the predictions of inflationary cosmology.

We don't know what the future will bring in the way of tests.

31 posted on 04/02/2006 8:42:10 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: Young Scholar

[Is this question really any different from questions of religion? They both seem to be metaphysical questions that are virtually untouchable by empirical science.]



BINGO.


32 posted on 04/02/2006 8:43:23 PM PDT by spinestein (The network news is to journalism what McDonald's is to food.)
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To: DaveLoneRanger; wallcrawlr

ping


33 posted on 04/02/2006 8:43:30 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: muawiyah

If she was Gene Roddenberry's mistress than I guess it really is good to be the king!


34 posted on 04/02/2006 8:46:57 PM PDT by Hoosier-Daddy (It's a fight to the death with Democrats.)
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To: snarks_when_bored

"By contrast, the part of our universe that we can currently see has a radius which is only about 10^26 centimeters, exceedingly miniscule by comparison."

That would be precisely one yottameter. I kid you not.

I thought I'd never actually get a chance to use that word.


35 posted on 04/02/2006 8:48:35 PM PDT by RussP
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To: snarks_when_bored
This stuff is fun to think about. I have three questions in mind:
  1. Is there any use thinking about a parallel universe which can never be reached from ours? Isn't it a little like Schroedinger's cat, neither real nor unreal, remote from all powers of our observation?
  2. If the scientists do succeed in creating a universe in a laboratory, are they not doing what the God of this universe did in Genesis/the Big Bang? Are they then worthy of worship by any life forms that develop in the new universe?
  3. If things go poorly in such an experiment, could the new universe somehow consume or damage our own? Would Brahma suddenly become Shiva?

-ccm

36 posted on 04/02/2006 8:48:48 PM PDT by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order)
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To: woofie
Al Gore can have his own universe if he wants

Why not, he invented it.

37 posted on 04/02/2006 8:55:43 PM PDT by org.whodat (Never let the facts get in the way of a good assumption.)
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To: HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath
I do know one thing, there will be no shortage of land due to overcrowded conditions in eternity.

Well, all things considered, I reckon you won't be feeling my sharp elbows over yonder.

38 posted on 04/02/2006 8:56:20 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: AntiGuv
It's worth noting that even before Everett the prospect of multiverses was raised in 'serious' physics by the Einstein-Rosen Bridge concept, wherein wormholes would connect our universe to parallel universes.

I need to review that, AntiGuv. Were the Einstein-Rosen bridges thought (by Einstein and Rosen and others) to connect parallel universes? Or just different parts of our own universe? (I tend to think it's the latter, but I haven't checked.)

39 posted on 04/02/2006 9:01:24 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: snarks_when_bored
Of course we live in a multiverse, and I will be the one.

40 posted on 04/02/2006 9:01:32 PM PDT by the anti-liberal (Hey, Al Qaeda: Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent)
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