Saturday, December 16, 2006

The Multiverse



Interesting BBC documentary about Parallel universes, string theory and M theory.
The parallel theory I find rather interesting, the idea that there are infinite possible universes exist and they that all exist. That somewhere your favourite fiction series is fact not fiction, that there exists a universe when you made that other choice or you weren't born and so forth. It's a fun idea to play around with, which I've been doing for a while mentally, and it's nice to see that it's not a complete pie in the sky idea, and I at least share the dreamworld with others :).
But as far as I see it not understanding the math and even if I did understand the math I'd be some what sceptical, seeing it's not exactly an idea that is easy to prove, and mathematical proofs don't always necessarily carry over to the real world.

Any way what do people think do you like the idea of an infinite number of universes? A multiverse so to say?
Or do you think that such and idea makes no real sense?

6 comments:

Christina said...

Funny thing is, I was thinking about that on the way home last night. Supposing the Red Dwarf episode with Ace Rimmer was right, then somewhere there is a multi-verse in which I did go to my work Christmas party last night. Kinda cool, really. As Lister put it, "Somewhere out there is a me doing really well for himself" (or something similar), which is really grand :D

Ah... the Matrix has a lot to answer for, really, when it comes to being able to believe such er... theories? Good old mathematics, eh? :P

Unknown said...

Matrix, not really I'd been considering the idea before I saw those films. Also the ideas in them are quite different from the multiverse ideas.

Nathan said...

"...the Matrix has a lot to answer for..."

Yeah. The matrix has meant that whenever you use the 'you might be in a matrix' idea, people always assume you thought of it because of the matrix, and you don't seem as smart.

Unknown said...

From Jim due to commenting problems.
Jim: point one - description of such ideas in the myst books
point two - infinite does not necessarily mean everyone we can imagine
point three - the proportion in which we exist would probably be negligible

Christina said...

Well the idea of multiverses didn't come from the Matrix (I think Sliders was around a lot earlier), I just meant that for popular culture the Matrix was the first major movie in which ordinary people bought into that idea of there being alternate realities, i.e if you concentrate on the movie and imagine / immerse yourself in the world they've created, it's a) very believable and b) a lot easier to do the same for other concepts.

Maybe it was just me since I was introduced to fantasy/sci fi relatively late in my life (i.e wasn't a geek) :P

Christina said...

Woops I meant it's easier to do the same for other similar concepts (for the average person who would be unused to sci fi stuff)