In other threads we have discussed choices and alternate universes. Steven Hawking and Michio Kaku have both theorized that there could be an infinite number of alternate universes. If this was true how would this relate to the choices we make? Whenever we have multiple possibilities before us we must make a choice. Could it be that every choice we can conceivably make is represented in it's own alternate universe? Imagine you are on a train track and you are the engine. All choices are like a track switch. All conceivable choices are a separate track. You make a choice and you are shunted to that corresponding track. All the other tracks still exist in it's own alternate universe but your conscious self can only occupy one track a time. However, a version of you actually chose every track. What this could mean is that there is an alternate universe where everyone is in heaven and one where everyone is in Hell. The choices you make determine which alternative universe you end up in. There could even be an alternate universe for atheists where you really do stop existing after death. Sounds like a bad one to be in. LOL.
well nice story! ill have to make my first post count on these forums. Personally i think that if alternate universes and/or realities are occuring there would be a infinite number of possibilities. Every second of every day your posed with the choice of doing various things without your life. If there was a chance, rhyme and reason for each one it would be unimaginable the amount of realities or universes there would be. Honestly i find alternate universes to be extreemly interesting but consequently off base when it comes to science. The simple fact alone that it took so much randomness for even us to be here stands for itself when thinking about another you in the same situation, but choosing a seperate way. So lets elaborate on that, maybe someone else is/was/will be in the shoes you were in at one point in time, maybe they had the decision and thats how alternate realities are based. I feel its too assumed that for alternate realities to be similiar in so many aspects. I can almost guarentee anyone that if an alternate reality were to occur it would take pure luck of the numbers for the same person to lead up to the same choice with the same backround, with the same family, with the same friends, with the same thinking, with the same state of mind, same place in the world, etc.. too many dependencies go on that train of thinking. You are all to correct on the occupying on spot at a time, im constantly wondering to myself if i had chosen the opposite, no matter bad or good would i be at where i am today, would i be doing the same things. Now im going to state i am by far no einstein or hawking. I am an inquiring mind who is attenting college for astronomy and physics and if i dont start conversing about it im goin to spontaneously combust. thanks!
Legolas first of all welcome to the forums! And second I beg to differ. The idea of alternate universes is based off the idea that if it can happen once it can happen an infinite number of times (given that it was a natural event..i.e. no god input) And the beauty of infinity means that no matter how many variables it takes to get us where we are now, in exactly the same situation, it still will happen again eventually. In fact it will happen an infinite number of times. So yes, there is another you in another universe making exactly the same decision, and there is another you in a different universe making exactly the opposite decision. In fact there is a universe which is exactly one second behind you making your decision, and another 20 years after you made the decision. Lol that's infinity for you
Not really; the many worlds concept does make testable predictions, so can be treated as science. However the fact is even in an infinity of universes there is not an infinity of possibilities; there is no universe where Superman marries Minnie Mouse, for example. The early history of a universe with real causality limits the events which can occur in that universe later on; things still fall downwards, the universe expands away toward the event horizon; universes which do not obey these rules may exist, but we would not be able to survive in a universe without some kind of causality.
The thing is, this universe as it is, with us in it as we are has happened once and therefore it can happen again. Please elaborate on there not being an infinity of possibilities, because I still believe there are. The minnie mouse/superman example wasn't a very good one, because they are fictional characters and for them to get married only takes the whim of someone to draw the cartoon or make the movie. I think with an infinite number of universes with infinite variations of the laws of physics, anything is possible
I don't think there can be alternate universes. If it was, it would all the time create new universes and thereby also create new energy, and energy can't be created. Simple? (Now, I don't know if the "energy can't be created rule" (termondynamikens första huvudsats / energiprincipen - In swedish) only exist in our universe, but I seriously don't think this is possible.)
Ok, I understand what you're saying, but with an infinity of universes to play with? It doesn't matter how many universes turn out different because we've got a never-ending supply of them. And Victor E, if you believe the big bang theory, then that was seemingly creating energy out of nothing...and as the theory goes, without god influence, if it can happen once...
I don't think the parallel universe theory implies that it's a truly separate and new universe, or creating new energy [besides, if creating new physical universes constitutes as creating energy, how did our current and supposedly only universe come to be?]. I've always been taught that alternate universes are simply in a superposition -- that infinite numbers of parallel universes stack up to become what see as one universe, or reality [if that exists]. Whenever a choice is to be made, the universe then splits into the infinite pieces it is composed of, and [in the form of a wave], cancel each other out to collapse and reveal the result. The only way the wave can collapse is if it is observed. As far as the details of the wave itself -- they have certain [positive or negative] amplitudes; however, the real probability is the square of the given amplitude. When the waves 'stack', the canceling out takes place when the troughs and peaks are directly above each other. The most talked about way to 'get to another universe' is through a [spinning] black hole. There are probably other ways, but those other ways aren't really bothered with, or they have yet to be discovered. Some people see the alternate universe theory as an easy way out to bridge qm with Einsteinian physics, but meh -- if there are indeed enough empirical observations [|| data] that point to the existence of a parallel universe, I see no reason to doubt it or dismiss it as pseudoscience. If I’m wrong, someone tell me. Maybe they were all lying to me because I wore a silly Santa hat.
I'm not sure, but I think that's a different theory to the one we're talking about...I mean I've only a very basic understanding of all this, and I'm discussing from what I've heard and the implications I've drawn from it. I've heard something along the lines of your theory before, but I always seperated them as different ideas...I may well be wrong though
As I have only a vague knowledge of it. Some people call the theory the alternate universe theory, but some call it the parallel universe theory. So they’re not tantamount? Oh well, if that’s not what you both are talking about, then never mind.
"and as the theory goes, without god influence, if it can happen once... " That's why I added the last part of my post. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! But I think that the cycle of life can be repeated. I think that our universe if just a part of something else which has a stronger gravitation and our universe is just circling around it. When everything in our universe has been destroyed, the energy will starting to gather in the corner of our universe closer to the "bigger" thing, so then a new big bang will happen etc. I simply think that theres something greater than our universe, and therefore it doesn't sound logical that new universes are created all the time.
Is time itself fractal? Is each instant in time its own interation? Does every instant that ever was still exist just behind one another? If in fact time is fractal it would mean that all time exists simultaneously, past present and future as one eternal now. The only thing that differentiates one time from another is point of reference. What is our point of reference? Well, to me it is me, to you it is you. We all have our own individual points of reference. Time fractals could explain all sorts of phenomenon such as alternate universes and dark matter. In fact there really are not alternative universes at all. It is all the same universe there are just points of reference. The reason we cannot travel back and forth through time is because we cannot become a different point of reference. If that were possible we could traverse into any time or step into someone else's conciousness. There really is no such thing as past, present, and future. There is just an eternal now. So everything that has happened, is happening and will happen is happening now all at the same instant. Also what happens in any time period effects every other time period, so when ever something happens in one it affects all the others. That is what is so powerful about free will because we can consciously change our present thus affecting everything from that point on.
