Physicists now believe there may be an infinite versions of reality...

[Kablooie]

each one has a history that takes a different path from the others.

I think it's high time they start figuring out how to shift us all into one of those alternate realities.

This one is getting too screwed up.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Some of those could make this one look like heaven

think about that one!

:hi:

[BolivarianHero]

4. Definitely...

Hitler winning world or two; we'd live miserably in a police state and the people he doesn't kill would inbreed themselves to extinction within a century.

[wtmusic]

2. There are an infinite number of worse histories

and one of them has you staked to an anthill. Count yourself lucky.

[Odin2005]

3. Ah, the Many Words interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.

So much more sensible than the crazy woo-ishness of "observation collapses the waveform" garbage.

[Kablooie]

5. I want to be in the one where the cat doesn't die. I like cats.

[Birthmark]

16. You are.

Some version of you has to be in such a universe. "Infinte" compels this.

[roguevalley]

47. consider yourself at a big fork in the road in your life and you went

left. somewhere, someplace, you are also living in the life that went right.

[Birthmark]

54. And the one where you failed to turn at all...

...and the one where you turned around because you're afraid of forks...and...basically, anything one can think, imagine, or dream is a reality in some universe.

[roguevalley]

57. truly. it appears that physics and metaphysics are pretty compatible

after all. :) It gives me heart to know that the road less taken actually was.

[Ikonoklast]

25. Schrödinger says...

"Maybe."

[Catshrink]

41. I also like cats

[TransitJohn]

6. I knew

that we live in a Philip K. Dick style reality for a while now. Either that, or we're in a season of Fringe.

[laughingliberal]

7. I think Rand Paul & teabaggers are evidence of that. nt

[hlthe2b]

8. Is this the "LOST" version of scientific reality?

;)

[Lorien]

51. Nah. RASL

http://www.amazon.com/Rasl-1-Drift-Jeff-Smith/dp/1888963204/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275202558&sr=1-1

[Cleita]

9. Well, I would like to drift into the reality where Al Gore became

President instead of George W. Bush. It makes me wonder why I'm in this one and why am I being punished.

[Caretha]

33. I've thought the very same thing

and at the same time, I've thought that the other me is living that reality and I just can't grok it.

[unc70]

38. Made me think of Heinlein's JOB

An interesting take on alternate realities.

[anthroguy101]

10. The Magisterium would be so pissed to hear that...

...but hey, at least it's nice to know that there is a Toontown.

[AsahinaKimi]

11. Maybe someone has already screwed with Reality ...

People claim there is no proof of time travelers.. because there are no time machines yet.. hmmmm maybe. I still think someone is messing with us.. and having fun doing it.

[BootinUp]

12. I think it would be called sliding. :-)

[Dr Morbius]

13. Reality? What a concept. (nt)

[BolivarianHero]

14. Are any of those realities conservative?

I know ours is leftist. :)

[undeterred]

15. Will the rerun of the L O S T finale be different tonight?

[FarCenter]

17. If the universe is quantized and each bifurcation creates 2 universes, they are still countable

not infinite.

[Dr Morbius]

19. How can we know if the universe is quantized? (nt)

[FarCenter]

21. At sufficinetly small scale, experiments seem to show that it is quantized

[Kablooie]

28. How do you know that the quantized universe is not just one of an infinite unquantized ones?

[GreenStormCloud]

18. Unfortunately, the theory produces no observable experiments.

There is no test that can prove or disprove it. Right now, it is a fun idea, but that is all.

[Odin2005]

22. Au Contraire. I suggest reading "The Fabric of Reality" by David Deutsch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabric_of_Reality

According to the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the total of physical reality is actually a multiverse, consisting of an infinity of universes. Deutsch argues for it on four main grounds:

1. The situation of having multiple interpretations of quantum mechanics is anomalous. People should settle for the most straightforward (realistic) interpretation, which is, according to Deutsch, Many Worlds.
2. Only a Many Worlds approach can explain the additional power of quantum computers compared with classical computers.
3. Only Many Worlds can explain quantum superposition effects, such as those observed in single-particle double slit experiments.
4. Most other approaches — the Bohm interpretation, the Transactional interpretation — are Many Worlds in disguise or denial.

[GreenStormCloud]

24. Those are arguments for it, but not proof of it.

Of those, the double-slit one is, to me, the most interesting and the strongest argument. But it still isn't a proof. And it is at the small scale that it happens. One could argue that there is a gravitation among the universes that pulls them together at larger scales until they are one reality.

[girl gone mad]

53. It's simply not testable..

and it doesn't belong in the realm of science, to be honest.

If Physicists want to philosophize about possible scenarios that they imagine based on personal, often exaggerated interpretations of current scientific theory, that's okay, but don't call it Physics, because it isn't.

[Kablooie]

40. These assume that your interpretation of reality has validity. What if you are actually insane?

[Odin2005]

42. Actually, those of us on the Autism spectrum tend to be more reality-based than...

...you neurotypicals. :evilgrin: :yoiks:

[Kablooie]

48. Yes, but don't disparage my ADHD. It's a powerful force for good.

[Odin2005]

49. LOL, that it is! Look at Ben Franklin and Leonardo DaVinci!

:D

[get the red out]

20. No Sh*t

It's called the internet.

[villager]

23. *We* are the "everything goes wrong" "alternate" history from someone else's sci-fi book!

Sigh...

And with no Bearded Spock in sight!

[Bitwit1234]

26. Oh Lord let us go to one without republicans and tea bags

[Ikonoklast]

27. "Mr. President, it seems we have an Alternate Universe gap!"

I hope one universe even more screwed up than ours never figures out how to move across space/time.


Can you say President Limbaugh?

[charlie]

29. Maybe we're already sliding between realities

With infinite alternatives, it might be rare that we land in one with enough difference to notice. It'll probably happen once in a while though, then you'll know why your socks went missing.

[Motown_Johnny]

30. unprovable

IMO this does not fit the definition of the word "science"

[dbt]

31. Time for a new definition, then?

:evilgrin:

[j420norcal]

32. Crazy stuff...

It kind of reminds me of when I got choked out training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu...
I found myself outside in the street at a farmers market/street fair. It was really sunny outside and I felt AWESOME. The next thing I knew I was waking up on the mat with my instructor kneeling over me and everyone else having a good laugh. I had been choked out while failing to 'tap out' during a move demonstration in class. For a couple of seconds I couldn't remember a damn thing, other than being out in the street for what seemed like hours and that experience had been as real as anything else.
I came up with a theory right after that maybe as the dying process begins, your consciousness simply moves seamlessly into another reality and you are completely unaware it even happened. You're only able to recall it if you come back. The process could be an automatic hallucination of a dying brain lasting only a few seconds, or an actual quantum leap, but all of that would be totally irrelevant from your perspective.

[brooklynite]

34. Um, I'll stick with this one...

I'm happily married, doing work I enjoy, have many friends, and am willing to make the effort to fix the problems rather than claim things are hopeless...

[Kablooie]

39. Well good. You can stay here then. I'm leaving for the Twilight Zone.

[Kip Humphrey]

35. We entered Bizarro World on December 12, 2000*.

* day of Bush v. Gore SCOTUS decision.

[unc70]

36. All realities are virtual.

[jberryhill]

37. But Scientists In Another Reality Disagree /nt

[RagAss]

43. Physicists Need More Cowbell !

[Rex]

44. It is true! When I get really stoned I see tracers!

:smoke:

[alfredo]

45. R.D Laing "The Politics of Experience."

[jp11]

46. This would be a great Republican platform to run on.

[Duppers]

50. got a link or 2 ?

nt

[Forkboy]

52. DU being one of them.

[Junkdrawer]

55. And there's at least one where all of Tony Hayward's statements are true....

Scary thought.

[Shadow Creature]

56. sliders

I think a lot of people already live in alternate realities, at least mentally. heh