Inspired by Maxime Duprez's post on Twitter of George Dvorsky's article on io9, it seemed appropriate to write a little on this upcoming subject which has swirled around the halls of physics since Hugh Everett was laughed out of the corridors back in the 1950s for such a preposterous idea as the Many-Worlds Interpretation. Then, as now, the high echelons of ecclesiastical science were disinclined to adopt ideas too unworldly for the cosy confines of cosmological constraints, preferring instead to cling to rocks of faith buried in sands of time-tested principles. The quantum quest changed all that, and created a sandstorm of opportunity to see the Universe differently, not as a solid lump of constants but as a movable feast of uncertain probabilities. But the world we know has not changed too much since then in terms of scientific faith. Many (if not most) physicists still baulk at what is now known as the Everett Interpretation.
Uniqueness is a fact of nature which, regardless of preference, science has to accept. Each grain of sand is atomically different from every other, each snowflake has its own structure and every individual thing can lay justified claim to its individuality. Why our Universe should be any different is anybody's guess, but the Physics Party is still rocking to the sounds of Supersymmetry and the seemingly unstoppable urge to mate with the Standard Model. Eventually, inevitably, science will listen to the Universe and sit up straight, small and humble in the shadow of something sleeker than SUSY and more powerful than Planck's Constant. Until then, we can dance to our own tune in the wings and smile with the similes which life boundlessly offers.
The truth, when it finally outs for real, is that we are One of an infinite number of Ones of us stretching into an infinite sea of Omega possibilities which we fondly imagine to be mere figments of imagination. Truth is, we can only imagine something if it is possible, and if it is possible then somewhere in the unity of unified universes that possibility will be acting itself out. If we're really lucky, we can act out a heartfelt wish here in our own Locality, but it is as well to be careful what we wish for because the Uncertainty Principle has a habit of leaking out of its straitjacket and across the non-local divide. You may have noticed in life that we may well get what we want if we strive for it, but what we get will not - cannot - be exactly as we imagined it to be. It will be close, close enough for us to say, "Oh yes, that's just what I wanted," but it won't come along at exactly the moment in time we would have liked or in exactly the format we had anticipated.
Why this fact alone is not proof enough that Uncertainty is undaunted by the prospect of infinity and crams itself at the front of every legislated existence of everything that is, I've no idea. Brian Cox is horrified by the very suggestion that U.P. could possibly apply to anything other than particles. Whatever. When you've got your head around the Multiverse and can sit at your computer in the comfortable knowledge that zillions of unique copies of you are doing almost the same thing but a little bit differently, leading lives that range from aristocracy to alienism and everything in between, then you can rest assured that whatever you do with your time here on this unique planet is your decision, and will create a unique thread in your Standard Multilife which will give you opportunities to manifest whatever you most desire. Some people quaintly call this the Law of Attraction. I call it common-sense quantum physics.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those physicists here in the Goldilocks Zone who've smiled kindly at my presence in the wings of their celebratory feasts and indeed those (numerous others) who have roundly cursed me off their territory. Most particularly I'd like to thank the ones who have come closest to guiding me through the maze of quantum mysteries and helping me make sense of the nonsensical. Having convinced my schoolteachers in this Universe that even sitting a Maths GCE was a complete waste of time has probably helped my cause considerably, so my thanks go to them, too.
Uniqueness is a fact of nature which, regardless of preference, science has to accept. Each grain of sand is atomically different from every other, each snowflake has its own structure and every individual thing can lay justified claim to its individuality. Why our Universe should be any different is anybody's guess, but the Physics Party is still rocking to the sounds of Supersymmetry and the seemingly unstoppable urge to mate with the Standard Model. Eventually, inevitably, science will listen to the Universe and sit up straight, small and humble in the shadow of something sleeker than SUSY and more powerful than Planck's Constant. Until then, we can dance to our own tune in the wings and smile with the similes which life boundlessly offers.
The truth, when it finally outs for real, is that we are One of an infinite number of Ones of us stretching into an infinite sea of Omega possibilities which we fondly imagine to be mere figments of imagination. Truth is, we can only imagine something if it is possible, and if it is possible then somewhere in the unity of unified universes that possibility will be acting itself out. If we're really lucky, we can act out a heartfelt wish here in our own Locality, but it is as well to be careful what we wish for because the Uncertainty Principle has a habit of leaking out of its straitjacket and across the non-local divide. You may have noticed in life that we may well get what we want if we strive for it, but what we get will not - cannot - be exactly as we imagined it to be. It will be close, close enough for us to say, "Oh yes, that's just what I wanted," but it won't come along at exactly the moment in time we would have liked or in exactly the format we had anticipated.
Why this fact alone is not proof enough that Uncertainty is undaunted by the prospect of infinity and crams itself at the front of every legislated existence of everything that is, I've no idea. Brian Cox is horrified by the very suggestion that U.P. could possibly apply to anything other than particles. Whatever. When you've got your head around the Multiverse and can sit at your computer in the comfortable knowledge that zillions of unique copies of you are doing almost the same thing but a little bit differently, leading lives that range from aristocracy to alienism and everything in between, then you can rest assured that whatever you do with your time here on this unique planet is your decision, and will create a unique thread in your Standard Multilife which will give you opportunities to manifest whatever you most desire. Some people quaintly call this the Law of Attraction. I call it common-sense quantum physics.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those physicists here in the Goldilocks Zone who've smiled kindly at my presence in the wings of their celebratory feasts and indeed those (numerous others) who have roundly cursed me off their territory. Most particularly I'd like to thank the ones who have come closest to guiding me through the maze of quantum mysteries and helping me make sense of the nonsensical. Having convinced my schoolteachers in this Universe that even sitting a Maths GCE was a complete waste of time has probably helped my cause considerably, so my thanks go to them, too.
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