This isn’t the only Earth- The concept of parallel worlds.
So recently I ventured into this cool anime called Steins Gate. For those who don’t understand anime- its basically Japanese animation (I hate to call it cartoon so let’s stick to animation, please). It’s based on time traveling and parallel worlds. I got invested enough to look up at a few things and accumulate into this article.
You feel like you’re alone — Except you aren’t.
And no, I’m not talking about Aliens. That’s a topic for another day. Before delving into the complicated world of the parallel worlds, you’ll have to understand something else first.
Schrodinger’s cat
Imagine a cat being put inside a closed box (it's all hypothetical so don’t worry about the kitty). That box is connected to a device that emits a radioactive particle or atom. Let’s suppose this radioactive particle has a poison. When released, it will kill the cat. But there’s a possibility where it may not hit the cat as well. Let’s set a trigger for the process to start.
So the trigger is set and the radioactive particle is released. The result would be any of the two outcomes: I- cat is alive or II- the cat is dead. How we will know that? By opening the box.
Now here comes the tricky part — according to the superposition property, the radioactive atom will be released and not released at the same time. Which means the cat will be alive and dead at the same time… until and unless we open the box to see the condition of the cat. No, I’m not writing a fantasy story here. It’s what Erwin Schrodinger concluded in his thought experiment in 1935, and no, he wasn’t writing a fantasy story either. He only wanted to illustrate the superposition property of that radioactive particle. Superposition is the ability of a quantum system to be in multiple states at the same time until it is measured. So according to this property, the radioactive particle in this experiment will be released and not released at the same second.
So you mean to say that the cat will be both dead and alive at the same time? No. That’s not realistically possible. Then, let’s suppose we opened the box and saw that the cat is alive. So where is the possibility of the cat being dead? Why should we bother with that? We got the outcome, right so that's what it matters. But math literally stated that both outcomes happened. But where?
And stranger question yet, why can’t we see it?
Physics can be divided into physical and quantum physics. Physical physics is something that can be proved and illustrated to us. Just as simple as a ball bouncing as it drops to the ground. But quantum mechanics cannot be illustrated or seen to the naked eye. Schrodinger’s cat experiment is one of those examples.
There were many theoretical answers to that question of where. There were many bizarre answers to it but one theory stated the possibility of the other outcome (i.e the cat being dead) happening in another plane. An alternate reality. Why can’t we see it? Because of human beings living in a three-dimensional world lack structure and understanding. It’s exactly why the outcome of the cat being dead and alive at the same time confuses us. It’s beyond our comprehension.
In fact, this superposition property of being in multiple states at once is something that all atoms show — or particularly the electrons in an atom. And we know that each and every thing on this earth and universe is made up of atoms. So if every smallest particle of an atom has the ability to be in multiple states at once and we are made up of atoms, then it would mean that we are constantly being split up in multiple states at once. Like multiplication. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Then try to imagine the number of parallel worlds in the universe.
There’s another theory that explains the concept of parallel worlds and multiverses— The string theory by Einstein.
The String theory.
Back in our school days, we have studied about atoms and molecules. An atom consists of electrons, protons, and neutrons. On a paper, it is represented in a solar system- like a diagram with electrons acting as planets, while neutrons and protons acting as the sun. They were represented in points.
String theory in the simplest sense converts those points (that we draw to represent the parts of the atom) into a line known as ‘strings’. And just like different strings in a violin that produces different sounds, each quantum particle (such neutrons and quarks) have their own vibration and energies. Where and why the need of string theory came into being is another interesting story altogether.
String theory is (somewhat) helpful in merging two distinctive concepts of physics —from the smallest unseen particles from quantum mechanics to the bigger cosmic particles relating to the theory of relativity. While calculating the possibilities, theorists came up with something beyond comprehensible. In fact, the string calculations couldn’t be completed without including 7 more dimensions besides the 3 dimensions. Upon conclusion, these tiny strings could vibrate in a total of 10/11 dimensions.
Brian Greene, a renowned physicist, explains with the help of string theory that larger objects may actually be flying carpets, dividing dimensions, and we might be living on one of those gigantic surfaces. There could be other surfaces like this floating out there in space.
Unfortunately, there has been no way to prove it. It’s like a murder mystery case, where you know the culprit but you don’t have the evidence to prove it to the court.
To me, the parallel worlds look like endless reflections in a mirror world. Each mirror acts as a universe in itself with one reflection of us in it.
Look at the size of an ant. A house itself must seem like a city to him, imagine how big an actual city and earth must look like. Similarly, to us, the earth looks big, but a solar system seems unimaginably gigantic. It’s not that the universe is too big. It’s just that we are too small as three-dimensional beings.
If parallel worlds exist, it must mean the world is being constantly divided by our actions. If you flip a coin, then going by the Schrodinger cat’s theory, the world has already been divided into two. In one world, you get a tail, while in another you get ahead. You are shifted in one of those world lines now. So we can easily conclude that we are constantly traveling through time without even realizing it (Just like how the earth rotates everyday but we don’t realize it).
In a way, it makes me relieved. Suppose there’s been something that I regretted in this life, then most likely, I mustn’t have regretted in the other life. But then the opposite might also be true. I could already imagine the number of changes/ possibilities happening to me in other worlds. Who knows? I’d actually end up marrying my crushes in other worlds. Someone could be with somebody whose relationship didn’t last in this world (so don’t be completely let down, people). Maybe I’m a space researcher in one of those worlds-- something I often fantasized to be.
Maybe in another world, World War I and II never happened. Or perhaps, Hitler won.
Now that’s terrifying.
Parallel worlds in Religion.
The concept of parallel worlds and multiverse (multiple universes) has been scientifically discussed since the past century but surprisingly, it’s been around since ancient times in ancient texts and religion.
There’s a verse in Bhagwat Geeta, the holy book of Hindus that states something like this:
Every universe is covered by seven layers — earth, water, fire, air, sky, the total energy and false ego — each ten times greater than the previous one. There are innumerable universes besides this one, and although they are unlimitedly large, they move about like atoms in You. Therefore You are called unlimited (Bhagavata Purana 6.16.37)
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Because You are unlimited, neither the lords of heaven nor even You Yourself can ever reach the end of Your glories. The countless universes, each enveloped in its shell, are compelled by the wheel of time to wander within You, like particles of dust blowing about in the sky. The śrutis, following their method of eliminating everything separate from the Supreme, become successful by revealing You as their final conclusion (Bhagavata Purana 10.87.41)
Mormon leaders have also talked about the idea of multiple universes since the beginning. They believe in the idea of ‘no empty space’. In Apostle Orson Pratt words, he quotes:
We can come to no other conclusion, but that worlds, and systems of worlds, and universes of worlds existed in the boundless heights and depths of immensity…Can we get away from it? No; for it fills all the intermediate spaces between world and world, between one system and another, and between universe and universe ... and there is no space in which there is no kingdom, and there is no kingdom in which there is no space"
Other religions like Islam, Buddhism, and ancient Egyptian scripts have also briefed about multiple universes in one way or another. Again, it’s not a definite proof of these worlds but after hearing about them from different sources, we can definitely conclude that this isn’t some made-up fantasy.
The fact that the earth we are living in is just a fraction of something bigger than the universe itself says about how minute and unaware we are. Still some humans chase after power and money, in a delusional dream to become big. They chase in a race that isn’t even their race, to begin with.
If only they would have mentioned this concept in our Physics world, I might have bought better marks then.
