Now this sounds bizarre doesn’t it? If you read my post about Space Travel:
You know it would seem impossible since we could never reach the boundaries of this universe (if there is one).
How could we possibly leave this universe and travel to another one? Well, there are many in the scientific community who believe that is exactly what we do every day!
Subatomic particles are governed by something called the quantum wave function. No need for details here. But the wave function provides a myriad of probable outcomes. Anything is possible, just some things are more probable than others.
But there is something called the measurement problem in quantum physics. It seems when a person, an observer, or something that measures a particle gets involved, there is only one possibility. That is the possibility being measured. It’s called the collapse of the wave function into only one possibility.
But what happened to all the other outcomes? How did just measuring or observing something change the wave to a single point? That’s the mystery. What if it was never measured or observed? Would it even exist?
That’s like the old question, if a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, did it make a sound? Do things even exist if we are not here to interact with them? Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?
But there is an answer to the measurement problem that has been proposed. That all the possibilities exist simultaneously. When we measure something, or interact with it, all things possible happen at the same time. They just occur in parallel universes!
Yeah, that means there are versions of ourselves that split off into those universes too! Anything that is possible to happen, does happen. So, there is a version of ourselves that is an axe murderer in another universe, and another where we are President-of the United States. But we exist as ordinarily people in most universes because that’s the most probable outcome.
The theory says this happens every day, even multiple times each day without our awareness as it is instantaneous. These universes exist without our knowledge and in other dimensions than our own.
This sounds crazy, I know, but mathematically it is the most logical answer to the paradox. But does math determine reality?
Many times it does. If I lived 60 miles from you and you drove in your car at 60 miles per hour directly at me at constant speed, I can mathematically calculate you will arrive one hour from the time you leave. And reality would confirm it every time.
We can calculate how to land an astronaut on the moon and do it with absolute accuracy in real life. Math often correlates with reality. But not always.
Mathematically we can travel back in time, but in reality we cannot. At least not that we know. There are other mathematical equations that result in answers of infinity, but in real life, infinity does not exist. Everything is finite as far as we know.
The theory is called The Theory of Many Worlds, but I don’t like the name. It should be The Theory of Many Universes, but they didn’t ask me. It has the backing of more than a few prominent physicists.
No one can explain how it happens, just that mathematically it is the most reasonable answer to the measurement problem. We simply exist in the one we looked at, or measured.
So, if you are unhappy with your life today, and you believe in this theory, don’t worry, tomorrow, or even in a few minutes, things can all change. You might find yourself in new version on a similar, near identical universe “somewhere” else. Somewhere in quotations because I have no idea if another dimension is even a “where”.
Anyway, I wish you well in whichever universe you are in tomorrow, future President (or axe murderer)!
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