Deep inside of a parallel universe
It’s getting harder and harder to tell what came first
– Red Hot Chili Peppers
Where and when exactly did this favourite notion of science fiction writers first come into our zeitgeist? You gotta admit it’s a pretty handy tool to invoke in fiction, but what about in ’real life’?
As it turns out the ancient greeks; who apparently always had spare time on their hands, seemed to have first dibs on multiple worlds. Anaximander postulated about multiple worlds as did Chrysippus, and even the allegory of Plato’s cave is a bit of a nod to the Holographic theory of multiple worlds.
But it wasn’t until the advent of Quantum Mechanics that the idea really started to take hold in a ’mathematical’ way. When it did however, the stops were pulled out and a pandoras box of multiple universes were unleashed upon us. Now bear in mind that there are just as many detractors as there are proponents of multiple universes, but seeing as this is my website and that I dig the idea, I am only going to talk about it from a mostly pro-perspective.
Before we get too much further we should get some terminology sorted out. Parallel Universe. Alternate Universe. Alternate Reality. Quantum Universes. Multiverse. Multiple Dimensions. Etc. Etc. They all mean pretty much the same thing… sort of… And another thing is context or definition about how we use the terms. For instance Heaven, Hell, Valhalla, could all, in some circles, be considered alternate universes. Wether any of those examples really exist or not is a discussion for another place, time, (and possibly universe)
The physicist Brian Greene talks about 9 possible types: Quilted, Inflationary, Brane, Cyclic, Landscape, Quantum, Holographic, Simulated & Ultimate
Another proponent physicist, Max Tegmark, categorizes multiple universes into 4 levels: Very creative naming as well; Level I, Level II, Level III, level IV
I’m not going to describe all of these because as I’ll freely admit I don’t really understand them, and at best I’d be just regurgitating information from Wikipedia and various popular science books. So if you are interested in greater detail then I encourage you to seek out these sources and do some research on your own. I will however take a stab at a few…
Level III and Quantum Universes
These types share one thing in common, in that they are both based upon Hugh Everetts Many World Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. Which in turn is based upon our old friend Schrödinger and that famous cat of his. Basically anytime there is an observation of anything that involves multiple possible outcomes they all become ‘real’ in as many universes as there are outcomes. Yeah I know…. But the math supports this. Schrödinger‘s equation is the mathematical engine that powers quantum mechanics, and it’s never wrong.
Brane Types
One school of thought supports that ’our’ universe actually exists on a membrane of sorts. This membrane and presumably many (perhaps infinite) others drift or exist in some higher dimension that is beyond our perception. Close by perhaps, but forever out of our reach. One of the possible results of this theory is that these branes could, over very large timescales actually collide with one another, which may result in a Big Bang. This Brane based postulation relies heavily upon various aspects of String Theory. Which if you want to read a bit more on, click Here
Inflationary, and Level I and II Types
Without delving into some heady stuff, the premise here is that in eternal inflationary models of the universe there are areas that collapse and thus form new universes; sometimes known as bubble universes. This process could obviously go on ad infinitum. Different bubbles or universes could also have different physical properties and constants. And as with most all multiverse theories, many of these universes might not be capable of supporting life as we know it. A common visualization tool is to imagine Swiss cheese. The bubbles in the cheese each representing a vast ‘infinite’ universe such as our own.
So just what’s so special about an alternate universe anyway? Well several things pop into mind…
Time Travel
The good old time travel gambit. Definitely a fan favourite. The detractors will almost always tote out some form of the killing your grandfather paradox. This is where the would be time-traveller goes back in time and kills her grandfather before she was born; thus precluding her ever have being born, so she would not have been able to travel back in time in the first place. Not so fast… If we allow for a version of the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, then when our intrepid time traveller and would be assassin goes back in time and perpetrates the deed she does so in an alternate universe. Problem solved.
Now we’re getting somewhere
So what are you gonna do when you need to get to the gamma quadrant in a hurry, or do the Kessel run? Well…duh… you invoke Hyperspace of course. Which is a sort of shortcut through space via jumping into another dimension and then back out again into ours. This allows us to circumvent that pesky Einsteinian prohibition against faster than light travel. Problem solved.
Ghosts, monsters, et al
When you need some creepy, slimy, terrifying monster, or unknown entity; just where are you going to find one? As you can probably figure out by now…. another dimension of course. Inter-dimensional beings are just great. And seeing as there is an infinite collection of universes, you can get em in a pretty wide variety…
Someplace different
Maybe you are just plain bored, and need something different. It doesn’t need to be all horrible, bad, or spooky ‘over there’. You want some place where the sky is yellow and the sun is blue and the wind in the willows plays tea for two… then an alternate world is the place to find it.
Fiction Fav’s
Although they weren’t explicitly described as such, works such as Through the Looking Glass, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and The Wizard of Oz certainly fit the bill of someone from ’our’ universe traveling to another, and back again.
Multiple or Parallel Universes actually called out as that, have been with us in Sci-Fi since the early 1960’s. Some depictions are of course pretty cheesy, but some others are pretty clever, well thought out, and entertaining.
Comics
Apparently the first specific use of the actual terminology was in 1961 in a comic book story: Flash of Two Worlds. This issue introduced the technique of the multiverse to DC Comics. Marvel Comics, were a bit later to the game, but made up for that in numbers of multiple universes. Ninety-six by my count.
Books
Probably some of my favourite books that sort of address alternate universes are: The Gunslinger Series by Stephen King. Anathem by Neil Stephenson. Dodge in Hell, also by Neil Stephenson. Dodge in Hell is a bit of a special case where the alternate universe is actually one that is being run in a computer. So maybe it’s not fair game, but an interesting story nonetheless.
Television
The Twilight Zone I don’t think ever came out and talked about multiple universes but it sure had that feel about it. Star Trek however invoked parallel dimensions in all of its various series. And Fringe was all in with parallel universes right from the get-go.
Film
Two of my favourite movies that involve time travel are 12 Monkeys and Looper. And who doesn’t like a good old superhero romp? The Avengers and Dr. Strange with their multiverse have a pretty solid lock on this.
It’s hard to build models of inflation that don’t lead to a multiverse. It’s not impossible, so I think there’s still certainly research that needs to be done. But most models of inflation do lead to a multiverse, and evidence for inflation will be pushing us in the direction of taking [the idea of a] multiverse seriously.
– Alan Guth