Science & Technology

Is there another 'you' in a parallel universe ?

By T.K. Randall
October 26, 2019

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) The idea that we live in one of a practically limitless number of near-identical realities is nothing new.

In one universe for instance you may have died in a car accident last month, while in another you might have even become the President of the United States. Every conceivable outcome has happened in at least one of these universes - each version of history has played out somewhere.

In his recent book Something Deeply Hidden, physicist Sean Carroll from the California Institute of Technology delves into this concept in more detail.

The idea of parallel universes, he argues, is a definite possibility.

"It's absolutely possible that there are multiple worlds where you made different decisions," he said during a recent interview with NBC. "We're just obeying the laws of physics.""We don't know whether the number of worlds is finite or infinite, but it's certainly a very large number."

According to the theory, each decision a person makes might split reality into two new iterations, each following a different possible outcome. On this basis, Carroll argues, parallel universes may not be situated at any particular place or time but may instead exist relative to the observer.

In the peculiar world of quantum mechanics, such a concept wouldn't be all that surprising.

"Before you look at an object, whether it's an electron, or an atom or whatever, it's not in any definite location," said Carrol. "It might be more likely that you observe it in one place or another, but it's not actually located at any particular place."

As for visiting such alternative realities however, Carroll remains skeptical.

"[They] don't interact, they don't influence each other in any form," he said. "Crossing over is like traveling faster than the speed of light. It's not something that you can do."

Source: Futurism

Tags: Parallel Universe