Understanding the Multiverse: A Scientific Perspective on Parallel Universes

[Nano-Passion]

Sorry I'm not sure if this is the right forum.

Anyhow, the thought of multiple universes being created for every possible scenerio of an electron is just.. mind boggling to say the least.

In documentaries they show you "bubbles" of universes, with space in between the universes. Uhm what is this space in between? It doesn't make any sense. It seems like metaphysics to me. Is this a description of the underlying mathematics or a stupidedly dumbed down and innaccurate depiction of the mathematics in the parallel universe theory?

 

[danR]

I think it's more in the realm of metaphysics, yes. We are beyond the point of testable hypotheses. But I wouldn't call it dumbed-down. We can still make guesses that are the most parsimonious available from the best evidence.

 

[phinds]

It seems like metaphysics to me. Is this a description of the underlying mathematics or a stupidedly dumbed down and innaccurate depiction of the mathematics in the parallel universe theory?

I think it's an attempt to use what's available to our (possibly) limited senses to show something that if true does not fit into the framework of our sensory perceptions. Personally I think it's all just silly, but then I'm an amature at this and I DO know that there are serious physicists pursuing the multiverse theories. I accept that they have an understanding beyond mine, but I am utterly unconvinced.

Soccer ball multiverse bubbles all sounds like a pipe dream to me. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!

 

[rgmcc]

Question- do you think that past moments are 'real'?

Think of all those separate moments, each one is a separate 'configuration of the universe'. So intangible, they're only in your imagination in a sense. And yet most people are happy to call the past 'real'.

Think of how each past moment is connected to the next one, like a flow chart. What are the lines on the chart? Maybe this is the 'arrow of time'?

Do the lines exist, or is that just Metaphysics? Does the chart exist? Do moments exist? Wait, is anything actually 'real' except for this current moment? Can we ever actually be sure? Isn't it all just Metaphysics to say otherwise?
How about the future, is it 'real'? Can you prove that? Are you happy enough to say that it's 'real'?

Now what if there are multiple sets of future moments, each corresponding to the laws of physics. Are some 'real' and some not? Or maybe they are just all 'real'? The equations don't make any distinction.

(I am open to the MWI idea, maybe the above gives some feeling for how it strikes me, and why it doesn't seem any more or less intuitive then any other picture of the Universe 'over time'.)

 

[rgmcc]

To get a little more specific:

-remember it's not necessary to think of universes being 'created'; rather think of a big flowchart or map that simply lists many different possible different arrangements of the universe... you could say the whole thing just exists all along, whether it's shaped like a big chain or a tree, who cares, nothing is being 'created' (I am taking the 'Block Universe' stance here)

-Remember that the 'geometry' of multiverses, with concepts of 'branching', etc. are not dealing with regular spatial geometry at all (so, no, there aren't meant to be 'spaces between universes' in the normal sense). Rather the picture is usually in configuration space (the flowchart view), and talk of geometry and branching really just describes how certain 'moments' are related to other 'moments'

(I'm no expert on this stuff but after a lot of reading and a bit of school I find everything started to make sense once I adjusted my thinking in the above ways.)