Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology believes that multiple universes are possible. He argues this by proposing the theory of multiple universes. He is also the author of Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime.
The idea of a separate existence beyond our current one has always fascinated people from every culture and religion around the world. The idea of having a second chance to right the wrongs or experience life again and see the outcomes of your decisions if you would have acted differently.
The theory of many worlds suggests that every decision you have ever taken or failed to take have resulted in a different universe where those decisions were made. The implications of this theory imply that different versions of you exist in multiple universes through alternate realities.
The genesis of multiple universes theory
The theory was first put forward by Hugh Everett, a graduate student who wrote just one paper in the 1950s. Everett argued that the universe is a set of changing numbers known as wave functions that evolve into a single equation. According to many-worlds theory, the universe continually splits into new branches producing multiple versions of ourselves.
Carroll is also a believer in Everett’s explanation and also commending it. He noted that this is the simplest explanation of multiple universe theory.
Carroll also pointed out on different theories before Everett by saying,
The ideas we have had for at least 25 years, before Everett came along, was this puzzle in quantum mechanics that there’s one set of rules of how wave functions behave when you’re not looking at them and there’s another set of rules for how they behave when they get measured.
Multiple universes implications
The philosophical implications of such a theory are mind-bending. The idea that we may have another version of ourselves in another universe and there is nothing we can do is unsettling to some and assuring to others. Carroll indicated that he was comfortable with the knowledge that there exists many ‘Sean Carrolls’ in other universes. He is okay with that, though he also believes that universes are not formed by every decision made.
The theory of multiple universes, however, has received backlash from some quarters in scientific communities. Scientists such as Roger Penrose, a mathematical physicist, and philosopher of science, have gone as far as calling this line of thinking as an absurdity to scientific theories.
Some scientists have outrightly rejected Everett’s theory, although it is worth noting that no one has ever challenged the theory. Therefore, its conclusions still stand to this day. Many world theories will continue having split support from the scientific community. Carroll, however, acknowledges that it is built on scientific methods and data and unless it is challenged on those grounds, everything else is just opinions.
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