I'm currently reading a Star Trek book call "The Captain's Honor", and in this book it mentions Hodgkin's Theory of parallel planetary developement.
I'm writing a story that deals with two planets, Earth and some other, that are basically the same, down to the continental configuration.
I'm wondering if there is anyway this is possible, or just some good explanation, true or false?
If you can help me, Thank-YOU!

Theoretically, if the universe is completly infinite, chances are that somewhere out there, in a galaxy far, far away, there probably is a planet that similar, or nearly exactly like ours. I'm not sure, but it is possible.

Thank-you so much! I am wanting to get as many opinions on this as I can. (which is no easy thing ~_^)

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Okay, here's the facts:

I'm not your average computer geek or science freak.

I'm not all that great in science, especially when the use of big words come into play.

I'm UNDER 18...

While in the Science Olympiad, I stank from here to high heaven.

I do enjoy Bill Nye the Science Guy.

My favorite subject is History.

I've never divulged myself in a book about Anti-Matter.

I don't do crazy chemistry experiment in the basement (basically because we don't have one, but that besid the point).

I'm an Aries.

I love science-fiction and anime.

I've actually aced several science tests.

I've never made any scientific modifications.

The best character on Star Wars Episode 1 was JAR JAAR BINKS!

hey, anythings possible, therietically things arnt possible, but relitivitally, everything is possible, it is possible that a rock you see as you waslk out your front door is teh god of the whoel universe, i mean, can you prove me wrong??? sure, rox arnt living (technically) but it is possoble, however unlikely,. and so i see no reason why there cant be another earth out there,the chances are 1/9999 in a bazzilliion,googooplexity trillion thing well something less than that, but remember.... anything is possible

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when christianity ruled the world, it was called the dark ages!

Thanks!!! :D

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Okay, here's the facts:

I'm not your average computer geek or science freak.

I'm not all that great in science, especially when the use of big words come into play.

I'm UNDER 18...

While in the Science Olympiad, I stank from here to high heaven.

I do enjoy Bill Nye the Science Guy.

My favorite subject is History.

I've never divulged myself in a book about Anti-Matter.

I don't do crazy chemistry experiment in the basement (basically because we don't have one, but that besid the point).

I'm an Aries.

I love science-fiction and anime.

I've actually aced several science tests.

I've never made any scientific modifications.

The best character on Star Wars Episode 1 was JAR JAAR BINKS!

It would be interesting to think of what would happen if we made contact with someone EXACTLY like us. The two diplomats with approach each other, look exactly alike, make the exact same movements and speech at the exact same time. It really kind of boggles the mind.

Questions? Comments? Concerns

I wouldn't like it if I met my parallel self at all. I really pride myself in being different and in having individuality (sp?), and meeting someone exactly like me would comepletely take that away.

There was a sci-fi movie from the '60's or '70's that had a similar premise as yours. It was about an astronaut returning to what he thought was Earth, only this "Earth" turns out to be an exact duplicate with only one noticeable difference; everything is reversed or mirror-imaged from what it should be. The astronaut doesn't meet his "double" because presumably his double is on a duplicate mission as he and thus has arrived on the "other" Earth facing a similar predicament. Appropriately enough, I believe that the astronaut's capsule's call sign was Doppelganger.

Wow, sounds like a cool movie. Do you remember it's name?

Sounds like a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode.

The movie you're are all talking about is called Doppelganger, although it was called Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun when released in the USA.

It was made in 1968 by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson and I'm pretty sure that it was actually the first time that they had ever used live actors instead of puppets. Made for Universal, it received an Academy Award nomination for special effects.

One thing I remember is that the spacesuits used in the film were exactly the same as the ones that they later used in the classic 70s sci fi series UFO.



[This message has been edited by Spadge (edited August 17, 2000).]

Cool, I wonder if i could find it at Blockbuster....
UFO sounds like it would be a neat show, Maybe Scifi still shows it around 3 in the morning or something...

Ariadne

If you want to know about one of the coolest sci fi series ever made (UFO) simply go to
http://ufo.simplenet.com/

Thanks, Spadge! Checking out,...now! :D

I liked the old Quinn Martin Production, "The Invaders" about the aliens in human guise. Unlike other sci-fi shows of the time which needed some outlandish appearances in their aliens, the hideousness of "The Invaders" came from their very lack of distinguishable traits; the "unseen enemy among us" quality that seems to still come up in the alien-hybrid stories that one hears about these days.

cooooooool!

Coooler than that Spadge. I've just been to the UFO site. That's just wicked! Drop me a note if you know of any more great sites. I just love this stuff!

For those of you who have seen UFO: Compared to the Twilight Zone, what would you rate UFO?

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Okay, here's the facts:

I'm not your average computer geek or science freak.

I'm not all that great in science, especially when the use of big words come into play.

I'm UNDER 18...

While in the Science Olympiad, I stank from here to high heaven.

I do enjoy Bill Nye the Science Guy.

My favorite subject is History.

I've never divulged myself in a book about Anti-Matter.

I don't do crazy chemistry experiment in the basement (basically because we don't have one, but that besid the point).

I'm an Aries.

I love science-fiction and anime.

I've actually aced several science tests.

I've never made any scientific modifications.

The best character on Star Wars Episode 1 was JAR JAAR BINKS!

I have to admit to be a bit biased here as UFO was a big favourite of mine. It's also difficult to compare them at all as the two programmes were so different. However, if we're talking sci fi progs in general, then UFOs ultra cool hardware, sexy costumes and fashions, great scripts, great special effects and a truly fantastic theme tune do mean it takes some beating. Also, considering it first went out in about 1970, it's aged remarkably well and still looks pretty good today.

I just could not believe this programme when it first came out and I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen. I have to admit that I still have great fondness for it now.




[This message has been edited by Spadge (edited August 30, 2000).]

"Hodgkin's Theory of parallel planetary developement" Is this where the Roman Empire survives? How do you plan on writing an interesting twist to the cultural developement of the parallel planet in your story? Where will the parallel end and the story begin?

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It's all very large.

Originally posted by Bowser:
"Hodgkin's Theory of parallel planetary developement" Is this where the Roman Empire survives? How do you plan on writing an interesting twist to the cultural developement of the parallel planet in your story? Where will the parallel end and the story begin?


Woah, um, lemme see...
To the Roman thing, sorta. I don't know if you read the book or not, so I don't want to explain to you somthing you already know.
My story is a really, really long fanfiction to the anime "Ronin Warriors", and I wanted my story to at least partially fit in with RW storyline. So, I thought it would be interesting if my semi-main character, Destiny, was from a world that was pretty much the same, geographicly (sp?), religiously (almost anyway), and language-wise. Everything else is pretty much different...almost.
Interesting twist in the cultural development? Uh, if I knew what you were asking I would answer.
Where will the parallel end and the story begin? The story begins with the prologue and the parallel part in hinted at in the prologue. Is that what you were asking? If not just ask the question again in a way I can better understand. :D ;)

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Okay, here's the facts:

I'm not your average computer geek or science freak.

I'm not all that great in science, especially when the use of big words come into play.

I'm UNDER 18...

While in the Science Olympiad, I stank from here to high heaven.

I do enjoy Bill Nye the Science Guy.

My favorite subject is History.

I've never divulged myself in a book about Anti-Matter.

I don't do crazy chemistry experiment in the basement (basically because we don't have one, but that besid the point).

I'm an Aries.

I love science-fiction and anime.

I've actually aced several science tests.

I've never made any scientific modifications.

The best character on Star Wars Episode 1 was JAR JAAR BINKS!

I thought that maybe the book you are reading is a written version of a particular episode of the TV show. With that episode, the twist was that the Roman Empire had evolved on an Earth-like planet. That's where the parallel ends and the story begins. It was one of those what-if stories. I was curious about where you were going with your story.<img src = "http://www.exosci.com/ubb/icons/icon7.gif">

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It's all very large.

Using geometry u can construct symmetrical parallel lines starting with a dot.

The idea behind an exactly parallel universe is absolutely believable. There is no boundary to what may happen. Parallel universes may actually be the dreams that seem real so real that you believe you were there. It makes so much sense that there is an individual universe in which every decision you have ever made could have been changed to the other option.....

hhmmmm.....interesting.....*scratches head*...

Everything's possible. So many possibilities in the universe.

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Never believe anything until it has officially denied.

lol, thanks for your pov Jehovah! :D I'll see if I might just be able to create this as one of those "unexplainable-could-only-happen-in-a-million-years-mindblowing-results" sorta thing. Might work.... ;)

------------------
Okay, here's the facts:

I'm not your average computer geek or science freak.

I'm not all that great in science, especially when the use of big words come into play.

I'm UNDER 18...

While in the Science Olympiad, I stank from here to high heaven.

I do enjoy Bill Nye the Science Guy.

My favorite subject is History.

I've never divulged myself in a book about Anti-Matter.

I don't do crazy chemistry experiment in the basement (basically because we don't have one, but that besid the point).

I'm an Aries.

I love science-fiction and anime.

I've actually aced several science tests.

I've never made any scientific modifications.

The best character on Star Wars Episode 1 was JAR JAAR BINKS!

Yo, Jehovah! You are so cool! (And if you are crazy, then that automatically puts you on my good side!)

When you said, "Don't be afraid to guess, question & consider everything........even things that ARE SUPPOSED TO BE WELL PROVEN."
It reminded me of a part of a poem I wrote not too long ago.

"What is "purpose"?
I must know
Fears rain down upon my naiveté
That years of logic and facts will bestow."

The whole poem is basically about questioning thing! Hehheh, talk about your twists of fate...

I would say theoretically it is NOT possible, unless you're talking strictly about a mirror image of our world, in which case it would be pointless. For there to be another "Earth" just like us with the same people, culture and "look & feel", would require quadrillions upon {some really big number} times {some even bigger number} of similar yet slightly different versions- actually half of them would be VASTLY different, another half of those be totally opposite of each other within that group, and so on and so on... Sort of like one of the last ST-TNG episodes where Worf accidentally transported onto the wrong dimension. Toward the end they had hundreds of Enterprises working together to fix the Space-Time-Dimension rift, or whatever the problem was.
There comes a point when you reach certain odds that the outcome in question would NEVER happen. Not just unlikely, but not at all. This seems to be one of those things.
However, If it were possible, the odds would be very nearly 100% that any "parallel" world you encounter would be so different you would not think for a moment it started out as a mirror of us. The hard part, assuming you found any other "parallel" world, would be to find one you recognize...

(And don't forget, this theory depends on the Universe being infinite in size-- which it is NOT!)



[This message has been edited by Wayne (edited February 01, 2001).]

The task that besets Ariadne might be influenced by the requirements of an answer in the 'hard' science stream or a more flexible answer such as required for Lit. or Drama.

The parallels in Nature are suprising. Parallel evolutionary development between the continents in terms of fauna are possibly the most visible. Given that animal life 'must' follow in specific paths it is still amazing to find the cosmetic similarities between totally disparate species.

Australia has been isolated from other landforms sporadically and for quite long stretches of geologic time. The development of the 'Thylacine' which occupied the same ecological niche as 'Canis' (dog) although this was a marsupial and not a mammal is fascinating. They are extinct now (we killed the last in 1938?) but their confluence in looks is remarkable. Possums , too are notable for their similarity of looks when they are continents apart and from very different 'family trees'.

There are other examples of parallelisms in development amongst flora and fauna. However , parallelism in say , continental formation will only follow whatever rules apply in plate tectonics - that is , if you have crustal planetry form over a viscous matrix then movement is guaranteed.

The more interesting applications of speculative parallelisms maybe that of coexistant universes. Sure , that has been done to death by the scifi writers , but maybe because it explains so much bizarre plot in a totally credible way. I mean , once you accept the basis of 'cosmic string' then co-incident universes seem to follow on. This was also the basis of a very weak TV show called Sliders(?)

"I'm writing a story that deals with two planets, Earth and some other, that are basically the same, down to the continental configuration.
I'm wondering if there is anyway this is possible, or just some good explanation, true or false?"

I don't think so. It depends upon what you mean and how exact they need be though. I am assuming their formation has to be the same as well? Does the atmosphere's composition have to be equal? I believe the earth started with a primordial ocean. I think vulcanism and plate tectonics caused land to develop.

The temperature and all that? Relatively equal? How exact?

This link goes over a lot of parameters:
http://www.angelfire.com/co/JesusFreak/design.html

It is actually dealing with the formation of life and design. I think you should be able to glean how improbable an identical earth would be from it though. IT goes over a lot of things and the second list there will probably be of more help to you. Again, I'm not sure how exact you have them. If your saying exactly like earth then I would have to give a resounding "NO." There are just way to many coincidences that would have to occur. What do you mean by basically the same?

Peace,
Vinnie

I think I saw the same move.
If my memory serves me right the people on the other side of the sun were reversed. They wrote right to left. Their organs were reversed etc.
They were also curious how the astronaut made it back in half the time.


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Spadge
[B]The movie you're are all talking about is called Doppelganger, although it was called Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun when released in the USA.

I've been thinking.....
What <b>if</b> years and years and years ago, another Earth from another dimension somehow accidentally stumbled upon a peice of technology that ripped them from their Dimension into ours. (I don't think it would matter if they were aware of it or not), but it was long enough ago, so that if we visited this planet today, we wouldn't exactly meet up with our opposites, cuz that planet is no longer the opposite of us, right? Am I making sense? Um, opinion?

(Maybe this wouldn't happen in reality, but I think it would definitely suit my fictional purposes.)

Personally I think you’d be better off with a parallel world or universe. Recreating the exact same makeup of the earth is quite a feat. Without a recreation you would have endless variables, magnified by the length of time that variable existed. Most sci-fi writers take one basic premise and expand that into a whole world. Keeping the human element makes the novel more adaptable and lasting. If you try to predict the future, such as 500 years from now, you wind up way out of the ballpark within the first century or so. No one can predict quantum leaps in discovered knowledge. Those things that fundamentally alter the way we live and think. No one could have predicted the profound effect that electricity would have on daily life today looking at the early Leyden jar. (first battery)

Ariadne I'm writing a scifi novel and am under the age of eighteen too!! Right now its currently 46 pages long and getn' good. drop me an email sometime, shrike116@hotmail.com or AIM name ianalias3. I'd really love to talk about your story and mine, since it sounds really interesting and I posted a thread here under free thoughts about the development of planets in an infinite universe (actually i replied to it-its called 'interstellar travel is impossible.')I was reading your description of. . .yourself and I saw that we were like almost exactly the same only I'm a scorpio and jar jar was the WORST character in episode one. They should push him 'accidentaly' off of a skyscraper in episode two or something, cause he really sucked.