In this month's issue(May) of Scientific American, science writer Max Tegmark writes,

Not only are parallel universes-a staple of science fiction-probably real, but they could exist in four different ways. Somewhere out there our universe has a twin.

In his article:"Parallel Universes," Tegmark goes on to explain four different ways that parallel universes could exist, and gives scientific backing for the theories. The four types of parallel universes are: the infinitely large universe(see p. 42), infinite number of universes(see p. 44), a universe for every possibility as explained by quantum mechanics(see p. 46), different sets of laws for governing each universe(see p. 49)

My little synopsis only touches on the issues. If you are interested or confused, just buy a copy of the latest issue of Scientific America(or read it at the news stand or at Barnes and Noble while drinking your coffee).

What would the total mass of infinite universes total? Please answer in kilos for us Canadians, thanx.

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Infinite kilos. :roll: 8)

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I remember I read somewhere that the summation of all energies in an universe goes to zero. Gravity attraction between masses represent negative energy, and that sort of balanced out the positive energies of the masses and their corresponding movement. Is this correct? At least I think that make sense, because energy is conserved. If that's true, then we can say that the overall mass of an infinite amount of universes is zero kilo.

Parallel universes don't exist. It is inconceivable that there could exist two Pauly Shores. You can't prove me wrong.

Which is worse? That there are an infinite number of Pauly Shores, or that we're the only universe so cursed?

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Well, maybe in one of those universes kilopi just loves Pauly Shore. He'd probably still be the only one.

This one comes from the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics. It's not really the generally accepted one these days. My problem with most of these possibilities is that although allowed by the theories, they are basically impossible to observe. I guess the old experimentalist in me wants something to measure.

It's an amazing article, I'd highly recommend reading it if you're into that kind of stuff, like me...

Alternate History is one of my favorite kind of science fiction anyway. (with the exception of the TV show Sliders, bleckh)

It should be stated that in an infinite universe(he states in the article that it appears that we live in an infinite universe), any non-zero result will occur an infinite number of times. He calls this a Level One, it's not actually a seperate universe. If you travel far enough (really really far) you'll run into a copy of yourself. (i don't have the article with me, but I believe he states that the nearest exact copy of earth would be something on the order of 10 to the 10 to the 48 meters away. quite far, lol)

So if the universe is infinite, anything which doesn't break physical laws, will happen an infinite number of times.

Yes, even Pauly Shore as General Secertary of the UN :P

Just be glad we live on the earth we live on. It could have been worse. :P

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I don't know about the types of alternate universes where there is a "parallel" you and stuff like that, but the description(s) of the spiritual realm, which was believed by many people of the past and some today, I believe sound like a description of a parallel universe. (Even if you believe the spiritual realm is a myth, notice I said "the description(s) of.")

Just my own personal thoughts.

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For every Pauly Shore is there an anti-Pauly Shore? :P :wink:

And there is only one Annika Sorenstam. QED.

An infinite num,ber of me's :-) cool.

So in how many of them did i take over the world like i did here?

How many of them can fit my ego is more important. :-)

P.S. graoes do not worry, i bet you that in at least one universe Pauly shore was not born. :-)

I don't get this. She's her own anti-particle?

No, no, she must be the anti-Pauly Shore.

It's difficult for me to see how the universe (well, multiverse) cannot be infinite in extension in some sense - just as the Sciam piece implies.

Once one has admitted infinity in somewhere (it could, of course, be merely a personal bias), then I can't see how 'parallel universes' - in some sense - cannot exist.

The trouble is that the conclusion - of a sort of 'eternal recurrence' (the concept was mooted by Nietzsche at one point) is simultaneously cheering (it represents a sort of immortality) and depressing (since everything that can happen has and will, it can make moral choices seem futile).

Incidentally, David Deutsche reckons that quantum computing - if it advances sufficiently - will offer an experimental test of the 'many worlds' interpretation, so this may not be all metaphysical handwaving.

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Fin
Skep-ti-cult® member #488-28303-790

We're also cursed with Carrot Top and that annoying Dell guy - a couple of horrible early attempts to clone Pauly Shore that they somehow let escape from the laboratory.

Now who would do that, attempt to clone Pauly Shore?

I'm thinking that they were trying to clone Stephen Hawking, when someone spilled something.

Did they spill something into or out of the test tube?

That makes more sense. Pauly Shore, then, was the first failed attempt?

It's starting to make a lot of sense.

No. I have anonymous (yah i can't spell :-) ) proof that it was an attempt to clone Hitler from the remanants of Hitlers nose. I saw in the Scientific publication in the Weekly World News that German Scientists have Cloned Hitlers nose at it regrew his famous mustache.

Problem was they got a bit of poodle and rat DNA in the cloning process. Guess who got which. :-)

Now one persona that should NEVER, EVER be cloned is the "Can you hear me now" guy.

P.S. i swear that "can you hear me now" guy really sounds like he is searching for a clear signal and not showing that you can hear him anywhere.

Pauley Shore, Carrot Top, the Dell Guy, all in infinite versions, I want to change my vote!!!!! No parralell universes will be allowed!

There must be multiple parallel universes, consider:

An eleventy-billion dollar investigation of the shuttle accident came to the same conclusion that everyone else did just by watching the launch:
http://www.caib.us/news/press_releases/pr030417.html

Libya chairs the UN Commission on Human Rights:
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030114-99934286.htm

Mullet haircuts are resurging in popularity:
http://www.palmpictures.com/videos/americanmullet.html


This isn't a comprehensive list my any means, but you get the idea

DJ

I liked Sliders. It's probably what got me interested in quantum mechanics. I found it ironic that the poll went exactly 50/50. There were two options, and they were chosen perfectly equally. Maybe in another universe, it went the other way.

Hmm... I don't understand why the cosmos/multicosmos has to be infinite in some sense. It is just question of scale to go from some small simulated system on a computer, to an intergalactic simulation. We cannot in practice create such a huge universe, but we can make many tiny finite universes. Should their inhabitants insist on infinite extension when none is there?

Perhaps. We will have to wait and see what actually works.

One computing algorithm that takes advantage of many universes is the "bogosort", a sorting algorithm that runs in linear time. Basically, you use some universe-splitting process to generate many random numbers which shuffle your list of items. You then run through the list and see if it's sorted. If it is not, destroy the current universe. Thus the only possible output that can be seen by anyone is a completely sorted list.

I may have misunderstood, but I'm not quite sure why you use 'should' and 'insist' in this context (as I said, my feelings about infinity may be due to my limited human imagination).

But it seems to me that you have just thrown infinity back into it, right there. The inhabitants 'could' (not 'should') 'entertain' (not 'insist on') the possibility that they were part of a heirarchy of such created universes extending infinitely 'backwards' - just as we can speculate so (this is, maybe, edging towards Baxter's Planetarium solution to the Fermi Paradox).

Of course proving any of this, one way or the other, is another matter. In a sufficiently small simulation (say the size of the Solar System) such proof may arise quite swiftly, but if we are part of a simulation of our entire Galaxy, we're not going to pin it down for a very long time.

Now you're talking. Except letting a few of the coders I've known loose with the command DESTROY CURRENT UNIVERSE may not be the best idea in the multiverse - it could unravel the entire structure of the infinite-dimensional Hilbert Space we live in.

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Fin
Skep-ti-cult® member #488-28303-790

Ah, I see what you are saying now. Indeed we should consider that there is an infinite number of things in existence (or even that our own universe box is infinite in some dimension), but I think it is also possible that only a finite number of things exist (which would imply that our universe must eventually stop in time - a very strange situation if there is no big crunch!).

I think it wouldn't be as bad as one would first expect. For example, whenever you make a serious error you will either notice it soon or be obliterated upon program execution -- automatic debugging! :-)

I liked Sliders alot untill they got rid of the fat guy.

After that they just did a copy of all the famous sci-fi movies.