Parallel Worlds (Michio Kaku 2004)
Posted on July 25 at 13.41, 2006 by Eric Mahleb
In 2005, i had the pleasure of attending a lecture by Michio Kaku for the release of his new book Parallel Worlds. Kaku is a leading theoretical physicist and is often credited as being one of the founders of string theory. He also happens to be a fascinating speaker who seems equally at ease in front of an audience or the press as he is in front of his equations.
For a few decades, physicists have been searching for the theory of everything, the theory that would unite all past works and findings regarding gravity, relativity, nuclear physics, and quantum physics. This theory, it is hoped, would explain our universe, from its smallest particles to its largest phenomenon such as its ever-increasing expansion. String theory and its possible 11 dimensions brought us closer, as did its newer incarnation, M-theory. Now, Kaku argues, the idea that our universe is only one out of an infinity could possibly provide the missing answers to help complete the search for this theory of everything. Kaku writes effectively, clearly and convincingly, revisiting succinctly the various theories of the past, and mixing this information with pertinent examples from science fiction works (showing once again that Science Fiction is nothing other than foretelling the future).
The idea of multiple universes is a fascinating one indeed. Imagine that at this very moment, a universe similar to ours could be popping, or rather, bubbling out of our very own. Imagine that our own universe, which was created at the moment of the Big Bang, in fact, budded out of another pre-existing universe. This process could go on ad eternam, thereby answering many puzzles of the universe along the way: what existed before our universe was created? Is Schroedinger’s cat alive or dead in its quantum box? Well, it is both. How do we reconcile quantum physics with Einstein’s equations and with Newton’s laws of gravity? Through M-theory and its possible consequences such as parallel universes… But the prospect of parallel universes also provide for another very interesting possibility: that of escaping this universe once our own dies from its perpetual expansion. This expansion will result, in billions of years, in all life in the universe being extinguished in the cold, dark and empty void that will remain. Naturally, by then, it is likely that the human race will have reached at least a type-4 civilisation status (using the classification scheme invented by the Russian astronomer Kardashev, and assuming that it has not destroyed itself before reaching type-1 status), thereby implying that it will be capable of harnessing the power of a hundred million suns and thus, to possibly be able to find other ways to prevent the death of the human race (whatever the term human might be at that point).
Nevertheless, the thought of being able to jump back and forth between universes, through wormholes or other means, as easily as the protagonists of the novel Hyperion jump from one part of the galaxy to another, is a mind-boggling one. In these universes, assuming this were to take place today, you could discover an infinity of alternate scenarios for human history. As in Philip. K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, one could discover a universe where Roosevelt was killed by a bullet in 1933, thereby leading to the allies losing WWII. Or you could discover yourself having made that other choice that you were hesitating about years ago, leading you to wonder ever since, occasionally, what your life would be like today if you had indeed made that other decision (a theme explored in the film Sliding Doors). Paradoxes would arise and possibly, or perhaps not, a paradox police would be needed to set things right, in a similar fashion to the time police in Asimov’s The End of Eternity. I encourage anyone who has enough imagination to ponder these things to read Kaku’s book. It makes for a fascinating read.
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One Response to “Parallel Worlds”
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The Jacket - Quiet Please - Film reviews by Eric Mahleb Says:
August 6, 2008 at 7.30[...] I realized some time ago that, not only is time travel possible (after all, who are you not to trust Albert Einstein?), but also that we no longer need to be afraid of inconsistencies. As the theory of parallel universes grows in popularity, it provides an interesting way to approach time travel and to envision different scenarios playing into the future. In The Jacket, the character played by Adrian Brody seems to be capable of transporting himself into the future, or perhaps, into a parallel universe, with only his brain as a catalyst. The drawer and the drugs are enablers (this also formed the basis for the excellent 1980 film Altered States), as is the fact that his brain structure has probably been rearranged by the wound shot he received during the war, but there is no external device that helps him achieve this. Only his mind. Is this farfetched? Perhaps a bit but that does not make it impossible. As i explained in my review of Jumper (2008) and of The Connectivity Hypothesis, there is plenty about the mind we do not know and have forgotten. Could the unlocking of various regions of our brains allow us to teleport ourselves or to time travel? After all, there is mounting evidence that ESP, telepathy, levitation, telekinesis and other supposedly ‘paranormal’ activities might in fact be the products of minds that have learned to reprogram or restructure themselves, or perhaps even more simply, to open themselves to long lost possibilities. [...]