Parallel Universes

[BlackHoleAndromeda]

Okay. So I watched a program on the Science Chanel (my favorite television station by the way), and I happened to stumble upon a rerun about parallel universes. One of the points brought up was that all of these universes would have different laws of physics. But this is what troubled me. I learned that if you put a group of about 30 or more people into a room together, at least 2 of them will share the same birthday, which my physics teacher (and my idol) Mr. John Kane proved to be true. Now, this is referring to 30 people. I don't believe that in an infinite number of universes in the multiverse that at least 2 of them don't share the same laws of physics (especially with this information in mind). What do you think?

 

[ramparts]

Well, I haven't seen this show so I don't know exactly what the claim was that they were making, but here's one thing to consider: there's only a finite number of possible birthdays, 365. Let's say you considered birthtimes - so not just the date but the minute, second, and out to an huge number of decimal places. Well, then you could have a very large number of people in a room and fully expect none of them to share the same birthtime.

It's the same thing with physical constants (which you're probably thinking of when you refer to physical laws), which can probably vary to a very high number of decimal places. Add on top of that that there are possibly many physical constants which can vary between universes. If there's a very large number of universes (I don't know about infinite, but then again, I don't know of any theory which actually predicts an infinite number of universes) then it's totally feasible that none would share exactly the same set of constants.

 

[yevaud]

BHA, you're speaking of Hawking's "Wave Function of the Universe," which treats the universe as if it were a unitary quantum expression. Naturally, what with the understanding that all possibilities are encompassed within any quantum event, Hawking treated it as if all possible states of Universe (for lack of a better term) were expressed across the multiverse.

If you view this quantum function as a bell curve, then we are at or very near the peak. This is because all of the physical laws are so amenable for life as we know it to exist. However, if all possibilities are represented somewhere, then farther down the curve, you will get universes with very different physical laws. Most of them would not be able to support life, and in quite a few cases, not even be able to support nucleosynthesis, atoms, what have you.

 

[alphonsebelly]

Wonderful explanation! I was more or less able to control your thoughts because I read The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene on the status of super string theory or theories. Since you are an Asian culture, perhaps you will also find a correlation between the quantum field and different ways of accessing the basic energy as understood by the Vedas in Hindu culture.