Mysteries of the universe

MSNBC ^ | 8/20/03 | Jim Holt

[LibWhacker]

Aug. 20 — One morning last April, the New York Times op-ed page ran a piece by the Australian physicist Paul Davies warning readers not to be so gullible as to believe there could be more than one universe. The next month, Scientific American published a long article by the physicist Max Tegmark asserting that, to the contrary, parallel universes almost certainly do exist. Around the same time, bookstores received Are Universes Thicker Than Blackberries?, wherein Martin Gardner dismisses theories of multiple universes as “frivolous fantasies.” If you had seen all this, you may well have asked yourself: Is this really a matter on which I need to form an opinion?

[LibWhacker]

Go here http://msnbc.com/news/955038.asp?0sl=-41&cp1=1 for the rest of the article.

[goody2shooz]

Yes, parallel universes do exist. And the proof is quite simple.

Most people are familiar with portals to those universes, since they are located in homes. It is the clothes dryer. Where else do you think your lost socks scurry off to?

[swilhelm73]

Well, the *meaning* of quantum physics has always intrigued me. And it is a subject specifically avoided by most of the physics community, because it is not something that can be scientifically answered with the knowledge we have now.

Well there is no real strong evidence to back the multiworlds hypothesis, it would explain some of the workings of quantum physics, and there has yet to be a real argument against it either.

For example, it is often claimed that the multi-worlds hypothesis should be invalidated based on Occam's Razor - it is simpler to believe that no new universes are popping up out of thin air, so to speak, and therefore we shouldn't accept that they are without strong evidence to the contrary.

However, most atheist cosmologists believe that the universe in fact essentially popped out of thin air (technically nothingness, but you get the point). Such creation out of 'nothing' is possible within quantum physics (and on a *very* small scale, ie photons) happens constantly.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Most people are familiar with portals to those universes, since they are located in homes. It is the clothes dryer. Where else do you think your lost socks scurry off to?

And of course, when your socks (or my keys) happen to reappear, seemingly out of thin air or in a spot where you know they weren't five minutes ago, it is really just another universe's version of them popping up. Check them closely, and you'll be able to tell a difference.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Crichton had an intersting twist in Timeline. When asked how they got people back after sending them back in time, the scientists replied, well we haven't actually figured that out, but someone in a parrallel univers apparently has, because the people (or their twins) always come back...

[Rudder]

If we're going to start talking about more than one, I need some basic definitions: What is the operational definition of a "universe?"

[Migraine]

Talk of parallel or separate universes (multiverse) seems to me to be nothing more than a good excuse to avoid acknowledging our vast ignorance of the one we've got. It's like: "hell, let's change the subject so we can sound as though we're really smart and no one will be the wiser."

[Rudder]

The article finally loaded and I read the answer to my question. It's: "all existing things ... regarded as a whole” and somebody thinks there's more than one of these...

[LibWhacker]

All that is.

Personally, I would never call them "parallel universes," but Holt explains it away well enough I can live with it.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

If we're going to start talking about more than one, I need some basic definitions: What is the operational definition of a "universe?"

Every thing. Umm, does that help?

[LibWhacker]

If it is true, our whole "universe" is insignificant. One among an infinitude.

[Pro-Bush]

Most people are familiar with portals to those universes, since they are located in homes. It is the clothes dryer. Where else do you think your lost socks scurry off to?

Thanks. This explains everything.

[Mr. Mojo]

Most people are familiar with portals to those universes, since they are located in homes. It is the clothes dryer.

Actually, the portals are wherever I put down my guitar picks.

[lelio]

The problem I have with multiple universes is told in a joke by Stephen Wright "You can't have everything, where would you put it?" Where are all these multiple universes being stored?

Hmm, Stephen also said that he once put instant coffee in a microwave and almost went back in time. Maybe he could start writing for Scientific American.

[MattAMiller]

That's an old, old, old comic saw. But the government really needs to look into that phenomena. I don't know if it's a threat or potential defense technology or what. But it's truly bizzare.

[LibWhacker]

Where are all these multiple universes being stored?

In unreachable regions. :-)

[Consort]

Where are all these multiple universes being stored?

They are all in one place. And, as the old saying goes, it's all in the mind.

[gnarledmaw]

Alternate universes? Definitely. My only question is, Why do I get stuck being "the worse possible of every scenario" guy?

[BigDaddyTX]

"Where are all these multiple universes being stored?"

Al Gore keeps them in his Lock Box so he can pop in and
out of them from time to time.