Where Does Doctor Strange's Power Come From?

[fanieh]

How many have watched the marvel movie Doctor Strange here? Can you consider the shifting buildings as what happens when the branches in Many Worlds occur or perceivable by the movie sorcerers? It explains the powers of Doctor Strange is tapped from Many Worlds.

 

[Simon Bridge]

The most striking thing about Dr Strange is the skepticism ... several times characters express valid disbelief when magic is described to them and each time the burden of proof is accepted and a convincing demonstration is supplied. One of the demonstrations fails to be seen as conclusive (was a hallucinogen slipped in the tea?) but it was good enough to warrant further investigation.

As to your questions:

Can you consider the shifting buildings as what happens when the branches in Many Worlds occur or perceivable by the movie sorcerers?

... if you are trying to make a connection between the many-worlds interpretation in quantum mechanics and the movie special effects ... then no. Nothing like that is going on. What is happening is that reality is more malleable in the Marvel Universe. This will become more apparent as the Infinity Gem saga unfolds further.
Also look up "infinity gauntlet".

It explains the powers of Doctor Strange is tapped from Many Worlds.

It does no such thing. How would the many worlds interpretation lead to, let alone "explain", magic powers? We generally explain things in terms of what we already understand - this non-explanation just replaces one mystery (how did you do magic?) with an even bigger one (how do you get magic from many worlds?). That is not what the word "explain" means.

But if you mean: can you invoke "many worlds" as the unobtainium needed to do impossible things? Why yes - yes you can.
Does it have anything to do with the shifting realities of the movie? No.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

It's a movie.

 

[Rubidium_71]

The most striking thing about Dr Strange is the skepticism ...

I agree, Marvel has tried to avoid magic in the MCU whenever it can. This is particularly difficult when it comes to Thor, but impossible to avoid for Dr. Strange. He had an almost House-like skepticism that I really liked.

was a hallucinogen slipped in the tea?

There's the most likely and logical explanation right there! :D
That said, I enjoyed the film. The reality bending was very reminiscent of Inception.

 

[fanieh]

I'm asking this because of the conversations in the movie in the middle. Here's the exact words they use (from http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=doctor-strange-2016 ):

"The language of the mystic arts
is as old as civilization.
The sorcerers of antiquity called
the use of this language "spells".
But if that word offends
your modern sensibilities,
you can call it "program".
The source code that shapes reality.
We harness energy
drawn from other dimensions
of the multiverse,
to cast spells,
conjure shields
and weapons
to make magic."

If the writer can make use of the concept of "other dimensions of the multiverse".. maybe he has also think of Many Worlds.. of course I know it's just a movie and I'm not confusing reality from fiction. But just asking if the writer depictions of the shifting building shapes is because he wants to convey the message that sorcerers can see other dimensions of the multiverse at the same time.. that's why the shifting building is invisible to normal people on the street (in the movie).

 

[Simon Bridge]

If the writer can make use of the concept of "other dimensions of the multiverse".. maybe he has also think of Many Worlds..

"multiverse" in this context usually just means "parallel universes" in the sense of different realities that exist alongside our own and require some special gateway to get to. In "many worlds" there is only one world that can be experienced at a time. Getting to another one involves time travel totally erasing the previous one ... that does not happen in Dr Strange. (It does happen, sort of, in DC Universe with the Flash - but the approach there is more general relativity than quantum mechanics.)

I don't think the movie has shown us any "parallel world" which could not be part of this Universe accessed by teleportation as when Strange gets stranded on Mt Everest in his training... possible exception of the mirror world but I don't know enough of the rules to work that out. It seems more like a pocket universe - so the rules of this universe are bent around the sorcerer and anyone else in that pocket - the view is a distorted view of this universe through the mirror interface.
You could think of that as "seeing two universes at once" - but then, you'd have to say that someone traveling close to the speed of light, seeing the regular universe of stars etc all length contracted and time dilated, is also seeing two universes at once.
Even if you adopt that language - you still cannot explain how that means you can do magic.

The movie description quoted uses "energy" in the mystical/metaphorical sense... so useless babble not referencing anything scientific.
It does not have to: it is fantasy, not science fiction. The movie is not taking the "magic is super-advanced technology" approach here.
Don't get me wrong - you could take that approach as the viewer and just say that magic is an emergent behavior of the super-tech being, therefore, described understood in mystical terms... but then the entire description has to be taken in that light and, once more, "many worlds" is out the window with everything else.

Note: the movie contains doors that can be permanent portals to other locations ... sometimes with very different climates.
Imagine opening one door to hot desert and the one next to it to an iceworld ... leave both doors open and put a windmill between them.
Now you are "harnessing energy from different dimensions" in the strict physics sense. See the difference?

But just asking if the writer depictions of the shifting building shapes is because he wants to convey the message that sorcerers can see other dimensions of the multiverse at the same time.. that's why the shifting building is invisible to normal people on the street (in the movie).

I understand.
The only way to get a definitive answer to that question is to ask the writers.
However, if they said "yes, that's what we were trying to convey", then they would be getting "many worlds" wrong.
They would also be getting the marvel Universe take on parallel universes wrong... so that would be against canon.
Like I said: look up "infinity gauntlet" - especially the infinity stone bits ... also see the "eXcalibre: cross time caper" series.

 

[FallenApple]

He draws his powers from the multiverse. In Marvel, different universes have different laws.

I like that idea because then we can call it magic in the sense that it doesn't follow any of the laws of physics of the Earth plane universe.

 

[Simon Bridge]

He draws his powers from the multiverse. In Marvel, different universes have different laws.

I like that idea because then we can call it magic in the sense that it doesn't follow any of the laws of physics of the Earth plane universe.

No. It is called "magic" because the mechanism is unknown. How does he "draw his powers from the multiverse"? The magic part is the connection between Worlds.

There's also an issue about how people can be alive in a World with radically different laws of physics.

 

[FallenApple]

No. It is called "magic" because the mechanism is unknown. How does he "draw his powers from the multiverse"? The magic part is the connection between Worlds.

There's also an issue about how people can be alive in a World with radically different laws of physics.

I thought the ancient one drew her powers from the dark dimension, a place where time doesn't behave in the normal one dimension away. That was why she didn't age.

Not sure how they would go to another dimension. Wormholes? I guess a wormhole can only open when the other side obeys the same laws

 

[Simon Bridge]

Yes. What does "draw her powers from..." mean? How does this happen?
The side of a wormhole in this dimension requires lots of negative matter, the other side has to obey the rules innthe other dimension... however gravity works there, and there needs to be some sort of "reality matching" in between... without the wormhole, where does all that energy come from? It can't come from "the multiverse" because you need a wormhole to access it.

There's ways I can spin this... that's not the point. The point is that it is easy to get distracted and miss the bit where the really impossible stuff is glossed over.