A Parallel Experience

[celiaKitten]

Have you ever wondered if there are parallel worlds? I've been thinking about how there might be other places where I live, but the circumstances are different. Limitless lives of ours, where we do different things, meet and fall in love with different people, just plain life throwing different things at you.

Anyone else ever had thoughts like this? I'm feeling up for some speculative discussion this afternoon I guess

 

[RawHumor]

Actually, that's what Stephen King's book, The Talisman and The Gunslinger series are mostly about.

 

[Shockdoctor]

Yes, I have wondered if there are parallel worlds/universes out there. It's an intriquing thought.

Here's a question for you, if there are parallel worlds/universes and you die in one, do you die in them all? Wouldn't there have to be some correlation between your life and death? Would it be possible to exist in one and not another?

 

[freescorfr]

I know I go on about complexity theory - but its mind-blowing and worth the effort.

this article starts:
Introduction
Are you gay ?
Whatever the answer may be, this illustrates a major problem in our thinking. The question asked is just a single dimensional measure of a person, one aspect out of all the possible categories that can link or divide us. I deliberately picked one that often creates heated emotions to illustrate the point. I could instead have asked about religion, politics, colour, nationality, sex, animal rights, freedom. Being less provocative I could have queried your height, job, hobby, education, age, wealth, happiness or health. More difficult questions may have related to your pain threshold, sense of smell, memory, genetic makeup and so on.

Variety and Uniqueness
Let us suppose that we allow only 3 possible opinions on each of these subjects (generalizing, we could call them For, Against, Abstain), just how many combinations of viewpoint are there using just those 20 aspects mentioned ? Some 3 billion plus ! In other words, it is highly improbable that any two random members of the world's current population will share all 20 opinions... If we actually take account of all the possible subjects that we can use to classify humans (thousands), then no two people in the history of the species have ever agreed !
Given this variety (and it is this that gives the human race its unique ability to explore new areas, by creating new combinations), it seems to be paradoxical that we create the sort of Us versus Them divisions that permeate our society. Wherever we look, groups of people force themselves onto opposite sides of self-created barriers, establishing conflict between themselves and neighbours. To help investigate why, let us compare the opposing groups, and quantify the issues that separate and join them.

and the rest is here:







http://www.calresco.org/lucas/paradox.htm

 

[MidnightAngel]

Quantum Physics?

I read an interesting article in a magazine a few months ago. It was about a British scientist (can't remember his name ) who has developed a "mulitverse" theory. Basically he states that there are an infinite number of parallel universes all co-existing together. If I remember correctly, he's trying to build a computer system which has unlimited storage capacity by storing all the data in a parallel "multiverse". {I have enough trouble finding my stuff on a 40gig hard drive! }

Where's Weird Harold? He'd be able to talk about this more intelligently than I can.

 

[celiaKitten]

I don't think that if you died in one you'd have to die in all of these separate worlds. The whole point is that different things happen. So, if you die in one world one way (say, in an auto accident) in another parallel universe you would die another way (say cancer) at another point in that lifetime.

 

[Fly_On_Wall]

yes I belive there are paralell worlds, and they all exist on the same point in time. and with each and every desition one makes it spliters into new worlds and new posibilities

even answereing this thread splinterd different senarios.
if I haden't answerd, I may have seen somthing in the time it takes to answer, and seeing that will give me an idea, and from that idea my future is changed completely.

tieing your shoe, watching tv. EVERYTHING, is a wave to hit.
why there could be worlds where we don't even exist, back when the neadertals and the homosapians both inhabited the eart, one of the homosaians decided to hunt a creature, bringing the trib to a cold area and they died off, well now the neandertals take there place and inhearet the earth.

Celia have you ever watched Sliders? Notice how every world was different, some worlds had doubles some didn't I have thoughts like that. but in sliders no matter where they went the person had the same morals and ethics for some strange reason, (well with one episode as an exception, but the show started downhill by then)


in some worlds (a vast majority of them) I don't exist. cause of a disition my parents made or my grand parents or their parents etc... so out of lets say 1,000,000 I only exist in one of those dimentions.

Call me crazy but I have a wrold that I crated in my mind, but it is soo real to me, sometimes I will stare at an object and people think i'm spaced out, I'm actualy in this world, I belive it to be a parallel world, now this world hasn't the same phsyics as we have here so It's not a splinter from out world, it's a splinter from my mind, but somehow I am able to pass from one to another.

look at allt he crazy people out there. I think they are that way cause they can see and hear into these other dimentions.

 

[Gilly Bean]

I loved Sliders. I loved imaging that there were other me's in the world, doing different things, and living different lives.

 

[bluespoke]

I know I go on about complexity theory - but its mind-blowing and worth the effort.

this article starts:
Introduction
Are you gay ?
Whatever the answer may be, this illustrates a major problem in our thinking. The question asked is just a single dimensional measure of a person, one aspect out of all the possible categories that can link or divide us. I deliberately picked one that often creates heated emotions to illustrate the point. I could instead have asked about religion, politics, colour, nationality, sex, animal rights, freedom. Being less provocative I could have queried your height, job, hobby, education, age, wealth, happiness or health. More difficult questions may have related to your pain threshold, sense of smell, memory, genetic makeup and so on.

Variety and Uniqueness
Let us suppose that we allow only 3 possible opinions on each of these subjects (generalizing, we could call them For, Against, Abstain), just how many combinations of viewpoint are there using just those 20 aspects mentioned ? Some 3 billion plus ! In other words, it is highly improbable that any two random members of the world's current population will share all 20 opinions... If we actually take account of all the possible subjects that we can use to classify humans (thousands), then no two people in the history of the species have ever agreed !
Given this variety (and it is this that gives the human race its unique ability to explore new areas, by creating new combinations), it seems to be paradoxical that we create the sort of Us versus Them divisions that permeate our society. Wherever we look, groups of people force themselves onto opposite sides of self-created barriers, establishing conflict between themselves and neighbours. To help investigate why, let us compare the opposing groups, and quantify the issues that separate and join them.

and the rest is here:






http://www.calresco.org/lucas/paradox.htm

Aw c'mon gies a brek. Just hud a bottle o yon buckfast (actually a rather nice caberet sauvignon) and am no up tae that stuff!

 

[mig]

Re: Quantum Physics?

I read an interesting article in a magazine a few months ago. It was about a British scientist (can't remember his name ) who has developed a "mulitverse" theory. Basically he states that there are an infinite number of parallel universes all co-existing together. If I remember correctly, he's trying to build a computer system which has unlimited storage capacity by storing all the data in a parallel "multiverse". {I have enough trouble finding my stuff on a 40gig hard drive! }

Where's Weird Harold? He'd be able to talk about this more intelligently than I can.

Not just a British scientist.Several Americans are involved too.

 

[mig]

Read all about it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/parelleluni.shtml

Doesn't want to work now.If your still interested,

www.bbc.co.uk/horizon

 

[Mellon Collie]

There is this Quantum theory which states that there are an infinite amount of universes coexisting in the space/time continuum. The idea is that they are created whenever something happens, and not necessarily anything significant, it could be something as simple and scratching your cheek. For insistence, in our universe you scratched your cheek but in the exact instant you did, our universe split (into any number of parts) and in the other universe(s), you did not scratch your cheek at all or you waited a little bit longer before you did. And one universe may vary greatly from another, like in one, the dinosaurs never became extinct or Martin Luther King was never assassinated.

I don't remember where I originally read this theory (it's all a jumble in my little brain) but I do know that Michael Crichton wrote a book called timeline which discussed this idea. In his version the universes are separated by something called Quantum Foam which scientists find a way to travel through. It's a really good book if you are into History and Science.

 

[JazzManJim]

I don't remember where I originally read this theory (it's all a jumble in my little brain)

It may have been a jumble, but your'e pretty much right on!

It's called the "many worlds theory" or the "Everett Interpretation" and it was an offshoot of the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory originally espoused by Danish physicist Niels Bohr.

Here are the basics. Quantum physics holds that an atom, or even an object itself (such as, a certain cat owned by a certain scientist named Schoedinger, with the umlaut in there somewhere) is in no fixed position or state until it's actually observed. This state of flux is called "Superposition".

There was a famous experiment which involved putting a cat in a box. In this box also was a deadly vial of poison which, when triggered, would break and kill the cat. The triggering mechanism was an atom of an element which would decay at a random time. Experimenters then had to decide whether the cat was alive or dead at any given moment. The conclusion was that there was no way to tell until they opened the box. But what if they never opened the box? What of the cat?

Well, essentially, this cat had two possible states: living and dead. Scientists extrapolated that not only was there no way to tell in which of the two states the cat existed, but that the cat actually existed in both of them, in superposition, until the box was opened. In short, the experimenter influences the experiment by fixing it in time and space with their observation.

Later, it was theorized that every particle existed in a variety of states, called a probability wave. Predicting where the particle would be, and in what state couldn't be done with exact precision, but by calculating the probability wave, you'd be able to say which state was most likely. Observing the particle collapsed that wave into one reality. The other possibilities just disappeared.

Later, other scientists asked just why that "disappearing" of the other probabilities had to happen. There was no physical reason that these other probabilities couldnt go on, in their own reality, unobserved and untouched by the original universe. This was the birth of the "many worlds theory".

Here's an example. Let's take a particle that has two possible states: positive and negative. We won't know which one of those exist until we sneak a peek at the particle. When that happens, we see that the particle is positive. But, according to the MWT, at that instant, another universe is created, identical to the one we're in, except that when we looked at the particle, it was negative. Neither universe has any way to contact the other, nor does either universe even know the other exists!

The MWT holds that there are an infinite number of universes, each created countless times each moment with every observation and every decision we make, each one representing the possibility that each particle and object could have, all at the same time. Make sense? I think it's pretty mind-blowing myself, but that's the theory.

So, right now, there's an infinite number of universes, each one with me having done a different thing in reaction to this thread, and more still encompassing each of your reactions to this post, or lack of post.

 

[Fly_On_Wall]

Mellon exactly how I think.

and didnt' Einstine have a theory like that?

 

[Weird Harold]

Would it be possible to exist in one and not another?

Not only possible to exist in one but not another, but absolutely essential for the MWT to be true. Death is a major "decison" point in your life, and so each time one of your possibilities dies, it creates yet another reality where you didn't die. Every time you swallow a peanut, you create a universe where you choked on it and died.

JazzManJim explained the scientific origins of the theory much better than I can.

However, I know that almost every science fiction author has explored the multiverse to some extent. It was a favorite topic of the Golden Age of Science Fiction (circa 1935 -1955 or thereabouts.) Even Fntasy authors address this theory when they discuss precognition/prophecy/etc. Almost all explain at some point that seeing the future involves sorting through possible futures that branch with every decision the hero will make.

Multiverse theory also is a big element in Time Travel stories. Does history actually change if you make changes in the past, or do you simply shift to/create an alternate universe where any paradox is irrelevant.

I doubt very much that there is any way to "store information in a parallel universe" because if it were possible, someone would probably be storing information in our universe. (In all of the multiple unverses where the Dark Ages didn't happen, science and Technology progressed much sooner than it did in our universe.)

"What IF?" is the very basis of Science Fiction, so exploration of multiverse theory essentially defines the genre -- Science Fiction isn't "fiction," it's factual reporting of what happened in other universes. Robert A. Heinlein carried this concept to its logical conclusion in The Number Of The Beast wher an inventor discovers that every story ever written created an alternate reality where the characters actually exist and the Science works as described -- All of the failed theories like the concept of "Ether" are all true and funtional in some universe created by simply imagining it might.

Another related concept, is that Every theory is true until questioned. The universe changes to fit how we think it works -- or almost how we think it works so there will be room for new questions to force more change (evolution?) in how the Universe works.

Questions like this one are why I'm so fond of Science Fiction.

 

[celiaKitten]

Every time you swallow a peanut, you create a universe where you choked on it and died.

LMAO! WH, thank you for that example! I needed a good chuckle. Just the thought that everytime I swallow something 'I' somewhere, sometime choke on it.

It just strikes me as funny.

 

[Weird Harold]

LMAO! WH, thank you for that example! I needed a good chuckle. Just the thought that everytime I swallow something 'I' somewhere, sometime choke on it.

To be honst, I think I stole that example from one of Isaac Asimov's Pop-Sci essays. I'm pretty sure I stole of from some essay on multiple universes.

The thing is, it's not somewhere, sometime, it's every tim you swallow something that you could choke on that you create at least one other universe. There's the universe wher you swallow just fine; The universe where you choke but survive unscathed; the universe where you choke and do some permanent damage; and the universe where you choke and die -- Plus one more for every scenario you can think of.

That's why there is an infinity of alternate universes for science fiction writer to choose from -- Infinity + 1 = Infinity.

 

[monster666]

Have you ever wondered if there are parallel worlds? I've been thinking about how there might be other places where I live, but the circumstances are different. Limitless lives of ours, where we do different things, meet and fall in love with different people, just plain life throwing different things at you.

Anyone else ever had thoughts like this? I'm feeling up for some speculative discussion this afternoon I guess

Yes. If you subscribe to the notion that the universe is filled with infinite galaxies.. and infinite stars and worlds, then it's mathematically near impossible to NOT have parallel lives of sort, with an infinite number of variations. I am already dead in zillions of those worlds. The upside is that I am Demi Moore's love slave in zillions of others! Damn, why can't this me be in THAT world!!??!!?!?!

 

[scrymettet]

"What IF?" is the very basis of Science Fiction, so exploration of multiverse theory essentially defines the genre -- Science Fiction isn't "fiction," it's factual reporting of what happened in other universes. Robert A. Heinlein carried this concept to its logical conclusion in The Number Of The Beast
Questions like this one are why I'm so fond of Science Fiction.

Regarding the multivers, i suggest 3 others Heinlein books:
the cat who walk thru the walls
to sail beyond the sunset
and same but different
job : a comedy of justice

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: Re: A Parallel Experience

The upside is that I am Demi Moore's love slave in zillions of others!

I think I like this example better than choking on peanuts.

 

[celiaKitten]

Re: Re: Re: A Parallel Experience

I think I like this example better than choking on peanuts.

Nah - I still like the peanuts.

Although being Demi's love slave wouldn't be too bad either

 

[riff]

I'm into it.

Read Seth Speaks by Jane Roberts.

It's as good as any answer I've ever heard.