The Mutable Multiverse

Only a few hundred years ago, people believed that the Earth was flat and that if you traveled far enough you would fall off the edge. Maps were made of the known lands with Terra Incognita (unknown land) marked at the edges, and if you are a bit fanciful, you might have written There Be Monsters in the margins! Of course, at the time, people also believed that the sun travels over the Earth (possibly in a golden chariot, who knows?) and so did the moon and the stars, which were simply lights in the sky, or the souls of loved ones looking over us or whatnot.

Do you laugh when you read this description? Why should you? It was the belief of millions of people for over one thousand years! In the Orient, people believed that the Earth rode on the back of a turtle, and even Ancient Greeks, who knew the world was round (Eratosthenes had calkculated the circumference of the Earth almost precisely), had a fanciful myth about how Hercules replaced Atlas for a while, probably because Atlas was tired of holding the sky on his shoulders for such a long time.

In time, the thick veil of the Dark Ages was parted and Science began to win ground over Religion and Superstition. Columbus tried to prove that the world was round and found America instead. Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, and a long line of other scientists have been changing our view of what the Universe we live in is like almost continuously, through their research and hard work. Einstein told us that time is relative and that matter is actually energy. Schwartz's, Green's, Hawking's and others' string theory has changed our reality completely, by telling us that everything we see, feel and perceive is nothing more than myriads of invisible strings or chords oscillating in various frequencies bunched in various formations, plus those darn chords never sit still! OK, it's a simplification of a very complex theory but it is the essence of it all.

The solid earth under our feet has become very unstable lately! Our macrocosm has grown immensely, stretching out to encompass millions of new galaxies, while our microcosm has grown just as immensely, digging inward to discover more and more quantum particles and subdivisions of those, trying to get to the essence of it all. We, humans in the middle, have grown tiny and isignificant in comparison, a long way from the anthropocentric cosmos people lived in 1,000 years ago.

Perhaps one of the most exciting theories being dissected at this point in time, is the idea of the Multiverse. This is the idea that the universe around us is not the simple three-dimensional structure we perceive, but is rather composed of 11 or even more physical dimensions that co-exist but could only be perceived if you too were an 11th dimesional being!

Poppycock! you may exclaim... You can comprehend a fourth dimension - time - because you can measure it, but what are 5 to 11 or to infinity? Frankly, I know as much about it as the 13th Century peasant knew about the spherical Earth! For all HE knew, if he travelled too far, he would fall off. For all I know, anything above the 4th dimension is the creation of people with overactive imaginations. Still, the mathematics of it all can't be solved in four dimensions. And why should it be so easily solved after all? Are we humans so self-centered as to imagine that the cosmos is created solely to be perceived by us, with our limited senses?

If we accept that there are an infinite number of dimensions, why not accept that each one of these dimensions can hold a complete other universe, just like the one we live in? As a matter of fact, it has long been theorized that is just exactly what it does. That we don't live in a single Universe, but rather in a Multiverse made up of an infinite number of universes, some of them with physical properties like our own and others possibly ruled by completely different laws of physics.

Now let's take another look. Is the Multiverse static? Of course not. We already know that our own universe is expanding and it is in constant motion. It is constantly changing or mutating with vibrant energy. We can assume that the same or something similar holds true for other universes. Therefore, the Multiverse is not static, it is mutating perhaps quite rapidly.

Let's take this one step further. If the Multiverse is mutating, is it possible that we can effect this mutation - this change? How is it possible that the tiny and insignificant human can effect the infinite Multiverse? One hint is given to us by Dr. Quantum's Double Slit Experiment. I suggest you watch ALL of Dr. Quantums films, they are very informative and quite amazing. The Double Slit Experiment in fact proves that the behavior of matter is effected by the observer. That means that you - your eyes or your instruments can actually change the way the Universe behaves.

How does all this new information effect our daily lives and our immediate, rather boring world? For one thing, it shows us that our world is not boring at all. Rather, it is a miracle occuring continuously and unpredictably! If matter and energy can be effected by the observer, there are probably as many realities as there are observers. This takes us to the very old quandery: If a tree falls and there is no one around, does it make a noise? After all we have learned, we may answer: yes and no. The tree does create a vibrational change when falling, but unless there are ears there to hear it, it's not really "a noise"!

It brings into perspective thoughts and ideas expressed by philosophers through the ages. One that comes readily to my mind is Emile Zola's theory in his novelette "Huis Clos" (Dead End), where he surmises that "truth is in the eyes of others". Do we exist if there is no one there to observe us? DesCartes boldly stated "Je pense, donc je suis" (I think therefore I am), but perhaps in view of our new knowledge, this should be amended to "I am observed, therefore I exist"!

Let's assume that all of you who are reading this DO exist - what does the fact that you live in an ever-changing Mutable Multiverse have to do with you? For one thing it makes you responsible for your reality! You are influencing your environment as much as it is influencing you. Your reality can change, if you only will it to change. Perhaps not in a magical, hocus-pocus way (think of a car you want and it will appear in front of you), but in small imperceptible ways that set the course that shapes the things to come. Your world can be a good world if you believe it is so and act upon that belief, or it can be a bad world if you do the opposite.

We have taken a long journey today from a flat world to an ever-changing universe we can influence to suit our needs. It is a lot to digest and perhaps for some hard to swallow. It makes no difference, because each one of us lives in the world we are constantly creating for ourselves, and truth is only the truth we believe in - for us!