Why the Microverse Might Be A Reality
As with astronomy, where we can see and understand more of the universe thanks to bigger and
better telescopes, our microscopes are now improving at such a rate that whole new worlds
are appearing to us inside of atoms. With the discovery of the quantum level, we’ve
even had to develop a new set of physics to make sense of it all. But, how small can we
really go? And does the journey ever end?
This is Unveiled and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; could the microverse
be a reality?
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Simply put, the microverse is the idea that there are other plains, other universes existing
at the micro-level within our own universe. If we zoom in on a particular molecule, we
can go close enough to see the atoms that make it up… with scientists once believing
that “that was it” - atoms were the smallest possible parts of nature. We now know that
if we go further, we see the nucleus of that atom. Further still for the neutrons and protons
that make up that nucleus. Here, again, was one time accepted as “the end”, the smallest
we could possibly get. But we’re now well aware that those neutrons and protons are
also formed by other smaller pieces; quarks held together by gluons. Thanks to relatively
recent experiments, we also know that if you try to separate two quarks from one another,
the energy it takes to do so can birth completely new quarks in the process - leading some to
see the quantum level as limitless.
Which brings us to the microverse theory - a kind of mirror image to the regular multiverse
theory - which says that if you were to somehow reduce your own size infinitely, you’d eventually
find yourself inside of an entire universe inside of an atom. The rule could hold true
for every atom, too, meaning there are near-infinite universes thriving at the micro-level. Nowadays
it’s a go-to theme for modern sci-fi and pop culture - featuring in the Marvel comics
and on shows like “Rick and Morty” - where whole galaxies, planets and perhaps even living
beings could all exist within a particle. Thinking the other way, there’s even the
possibility that we ourselves exist inside what’s little more than a single particle
inside someone else’s much larger universe. The microverse works two-fold; you can either
go up and up, expanding outwards… or down and down, reverting inwards.
For some, it’s absurd, and the idea definitely is hypothetical... But, while it may seem
impossible that so much matter could fit inside such a small point, consider that the universe
isn’t what it seems. All of the visible matter we can see only accounts for around
4% of our total universe. Atoms have a similar make-up; they’re 99.9 % “empty” space!
Electrons exist in a cloud around the nucleus - which is around 100,000 times smaller than
the atom itself - but in the space in between there seems to be complete nothingness. To
look at it another way, if we were able to push the matter that makes up your body so
close together so as to eliminate that empty space, we’d each be compressed down into
the size of a tiny speck of dust.
So, what if we did something similar for an entire universe? Everything condensed to the
size of a single atom… Well, conventional physics says that we’d probably get a black
hole, as the smallest possible thing in the universe is thought to be the singularity
at the centre of a black hole - a place so dense that it bends spacetime infinitely to
a smaller and smaller point. According to the microverse theory, though, such inconceivable
processes could be happening all over the place, all of the time. And, given that it’s
also theorized that when black holes collapse, they’re able to birth whole new universes
- this too is theoretically happening all across reality at any available second.
In one relatively traditional (though still totally hypothetical) idea, it’s argued
that our own “big bang creation of the universe” could have been the result of a higher-dimensional
star collapsing into a black hole. That’s one theory for how everything we’ve ever
known came into being; but the microverse says that similar, spectacular creations might
be happening all of the time, just on a much smaller scale. At the very least, they could
be happening inside of other black holes that we know about.
Of course, none of this is proven. And if we ever did prove it, then it’d signal a
major shift in how we think of and appreciate the experience of life. As we’ve already
found at the quantum level, widely accepted laws of physics can be completely thrown out.
There’s no saying that any microverse universe should look or behave even comparatively close
to our own. But if there are infinite variations, then there are also microverse set-ups that
we would recognise.
A strange aspect of modern science is that classical mechanics perfectly explains everything
we can see about the world - as long as we don’t go too large or too small. When you
go too big, you need general relativity to work things out. When you go too small, you
need quantum mechanics. The rules of the game can change in either direction, and maybe
continue to change the further out or in you go. While we could well be part of something
much larger, we could also be part of something much smaller.
Clearly there are some major question marks surrounding the microverse theory. For one,
wouldn’t we just know about it? If everything we knew was made up of endless other clumps
of endless matter, wouldn’t we be able to detect the mass or see the black holes? Maybe
not when we consider the Higgs Boson, or what some term the “God Particle…”
The Higgs Boson shocked the scientific community when it was discovered, because it proves
the Higgs field, a fundamental concept which is somehow able to give particles mass when
they pass through it. It’s even been suggested that a Higgs field is what ultimately gave
our own universe its mass - but before it passed through the field, it was nothing.
On a micro level, waiting for an incredibly far-out moment of revelation, other universes
- or potential universes - could exist inside of the atoms of our own, but with no detectable
mass from our perspective because they don’t interact with anything like the Higgs Boson
or Higgs field.
This variation pitches the microverse as though it’s an untapped source, laying dormant
because that’s the way reality panned out. But, regardless of how it’s structured,
there is a totally different world “down there” at the subatomic level. A place wholly
unknowable to human eyes, with completely different rules but also some striking similarities
with the universe as we know it. More than that, though, if you stretch the theory far
enough, then everything that we know could also be a subatomic speck of nothingness on
the fingertips of another, higher power. It’s all a matter of perspective, but that’s
how the microverse might be a reality.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these
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