Sunday, March 22, 2015
Sunday Science Blog
Four multiverses you might be living in:
Infidel753's comment reminded me of this poem I wrote a while ago (and sort of forgot) until today. I think it relates to this post:
THE CONSOLATION OF HALDANE*
My mother and her mother beside me
In parallel spheres, depend on whose universe
We live in, or what time means sitting at an oak
Desk on a blue wool rug with yellow flowers.
Grandfathers come in and shut the door, turn to
Something like me again and again.
Stars dim As I speak to my father and he to me, who is my
Creation. A book, lost for years, appears on a dwarf moon.
In a shape less recognizable, each millennia,
I join the throng of phantoms surging backward,
Through a multiverse of galaxies, of lives.
I compose myself, my infinity.
*J.B.S. Haldane, British scientist who hypothesized an infinite number of appearances of galaxies, stars, planets and life, an identical Earth reappearing on which you and your loved ones are reunited.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
It's a fascinating concept. Stephen Hawking favors the multiple-big-bang scenario and estimates the number of possible universes as a 1 with 500 zeroes after it, but suggests that most of those universes have not expanded as ours has, and remain mere dimensionless points. The idea does disarm one religionist argument, namely that the physical laws of the universe seem fine-tuned to allow life to exist, therefore a god must have designed it that way. If there are countless universes with different physical laws, a fe of them would be life-friendly by sheer chance.
The quantum endless-splitting universe is the most interesting possibility (Larry Niven has written a lot of entertaining stories based on the idea), and I have my own reasons for hoping it's true, but as far as I know there's no evidence supporting it. As for the "quilt" concept, I'm no expert but I think it's actually established that the universe is not infinite.
Intriguing concepts to consider. Thanks for posting the video.
Post a Comment