In a new paper about to be published, physicists Stephen Hawking and Thomas Hertog argue that the Universe had an infinite number of beginnings, rather than one. Their explorations of quantum physics, and a range of ideas under the umbrella of string theory, have led them to the conclusion that the quantum level of reality requires the existence of multiple possible realities. However, Hawking and Hertog suggest that characteristics of certain realities cause them to shut down rapidly, so that for a short time at the beginning of the universe, all possible realities were in existence, but then were quickly reduced to the universe we know, or at least to a reduced number of alternate realities.
Two questions for discussion on this one:
1. What is your emotional reaction to this idea?
2. What is your intellectual reaction to this idea?
Its an attempt to reconcile three aspects of how the universe came to exist.
first, if we consider the Big Bang theory, with inflation, and question why the basic constants of physics are such that hadrons exist and the density of the universe is such that its not empty and its not a singularity, the solution is to posit any number of bangs and inflations spawning an infinite number of universes, one of which happens to have the properties that allows matter to condense and us to live to observe it. There is even some consideration that each event can spawn another event with similar charactoristics, and that universes with properties such that stars and black holes form are able to “evolve” into later generation universes that can support life.
The second point is that QM seems to eliminate temporal and causal relationships. If you are a photon, time does not exist and you exist in all places at the same time, or you are absorbed by an electron and no longer exist. Similarly, QM posits that ALL possible states exist at the same time and an odd theory gaining more credence is that every time a wave function collapse happens, a new universe is created to continue down that line of events, while other universes are created that contain the alternate collapse results, with an infinite number required.
Third point is that while physicists have learned to deal with uncertainty, they are really disturbed by infinities.
Black hole singularities and QM entanglement really piss them off. If a way can be found to chop the number of possible states down to a managable few, then that is very attractive and important.. even if its wrong. it gives scientists a chance to examine certain parts of the whole without worrying about the pieces that were thrown out, but you can’t do that unless you have some sort of tool to do that.
The new theory sounds like an attempt to do this. I think. also. maybe.
Emotionally i’m ambivalent (in this universe at this so-called “time”).
Intellectually i’m nowhere near the league of Hawking and his colleague and so won’t presume to be able to contribute anything one way or the other. It’s just interesting to read and think about.
an infinite number of beginnings? all possible realities were in existence?
all i want to know is how we got stuck with this one.
kevin, you’re kidding me,right?
No.. I am not being as clear as possible, but that is the jist of it.
either there is a multiverse that contains an infinite number of universes sprawling out from a frothing sea of energy, or there was a beginning. beginnings are hard to explain without resorting to some completely fabricated unexplainable crap. (see “In the beginning God created…”)
in an infinite number of universes, everything that is POSSIBLE, has to have already HAPPENED, so that if life is possible (and it is because we are here) then its inevitable that it exists.
and on the other side of reality, the “now” side, we have the problem of “Many-worlds is an interpretation of quantum mechanics that asserts the objective reality of the wavefunction, but denies the reality of wavefunction collapse. It is also known as MWI, the relative state formulation, theory of the universal wavefunction, parallel universes, many-universes interpretation or just many worlds.” – wiki.
as I attempted to comment on, without notes, above.
way over my head. seriously, universal wavefunction? and all this without notes!
err. I was not addressing an idea of a universal wavefunction.
the multi-worlds hypothosis says that each wavefunction, that describes each particle, does not collapse to a definite result, but that all possible results exist in a set of alternate universes.
we know that particles can act as waves, but the results of experiments. we also know that under the circumstance where we determine the location of a particle, it no longer acts as a wave but as a point. how does that happen?
quantum mechanics does two things. first, it explains all this behaviour and makes 99.9999…% accurate predictions of particles’ interactions, and second, it hurts the brain.
I barely know any of the math required.
Emotionally – it makes me feel overwhelmed and joyous. Everything we can name and know is but a grain of sand… Its exciting – A riotious chaotic knit of simultaneous realities…
Intellectually – Overawed and glad there are some people smart enough to do the math because I’m certainly not.