parallel universes alternate dimensions or multiverses are fairly common when it comes
to sci-fi movies whether that be the spider-man movie star trek or the animated Coraline or even
the cult classic Narnia but what if living in a parallel universe is not just a far-fetched
concept that could only exist in feature films what if we are living in one right now welcome
to Factomenal and in today's video we will dig deep into why scientists so strongly believe that
we might be living in a multiverse observations in theoretical physics and newer discoveries in
astronomy are now suggesting that the existence of multiple universes is not only possible but
potentially inevitable let's assume that the theory is absolutely true and there really are
a number of universes out there what would that be like and what would it mean for us
imagine for a moment that every decision you ever made was just one of the many possible realities
instead of taking that right turn that got you into that accident there exists another
universe with another version of you that made the completely opposite decision to go left and
avoid the accident altogether it may sound like a bit of a stretch at first but it has actually long
been theorized that our universe is only one of many initially when we refer to the term universe
we believed it to be everything that exists but there may be much more out there than we actually
know of the theory suggests that our own universe is actually just one in a collection of numerous
parallel universes which are collectively called a multiverse in the words of physicist the nobel
laureate steven weinberg the word universe i suppose should properly mean the whole thing
everything when we think of our universe we all agree how inconceivably immense and majestic it is
and as newer discoveries and evidence keeps popping up it just proves that we truly don't know
everything about it so the possibility of there being multiple realities doesn't seem impossible
let's break it down it all began when our universe came to be following the big bang scientists
believe the universe is now about 13.8 billion years old and space has been expanding ever since
for us the observable universe stretches at least 93 billion light years
but beyond that it is a whole world that we are yet to explore that could be holding the answers
when it comes to our universe many believe it is unimaginably huge but finite conversely there
are those who argue that it is infinitely big without end if the latter is true then there
are only limited ways in which matter can arrange itself within the universe
and ultimately matter will have to arrange itself in similar or repeated ways
if the universe is really without an end then it might just be a sea of parallel universes there
are a variety of different theories that lend themselves to a multiverse viewpoint whether that
be a multiverse teeming with identical universes or entirely different realms with unrelated
events to our own physicists have based their theories on string theory quantum physics the
inflation theory and each one of them reveals the possibility of vastly different parallel universes
the concept of a multiverse emerges in several areas of physics but perhaps the most prominent
example is that of the inflation theory we know that the universe is vast and continuously
expanding ever since its birth the eternal chaotic inflation that generates multiple universes
is a theory developed by russian-american physicist andre lindt and stems from the
original theory of cosmic inflation that was first proposed by physicist alan guff
the whole theory is based on the hypothetical event that occurred back when our universe
was very young initially for a very brief period of time just seconds the universe
went through a rapid expansion thus inflating to become much larger than its original size
as the inflation slowed down a flood of matter and radiation then appeared which created the big bang
and soon began to form atoms molecules stars and the galaxies though the entire inflation
process and the big bang are somewhat mysterious researchers are convinced that this is a clue
to the fact that multiple universes do exist according to physicist alexander the lincoln
inflation doesn't necessarily end in all regions at the same time so while the inflation may have
ended in our universe there could have been more distant regions where it contained and
continues even today this is called eternal inflation the individual universes can then
pinch off from the larger expanding universes thereby creating a seemingly infinite sea of
eternal inflation that doesn't stop and is filled with numerous individual universes
so according to this theory each new universe that emerges would have its own laws of physics
particles its own arrangement of forces and so on and so forth and as the inflation ends
in a certain place that's where a new bubble universe would form these bubble universes
never come into contact with each other because of the rate at which they are expanding even if
you were at the very edge of the universe that might brush up against another bubble universe
we would still never reach because of it zipping away from us faster than the speed of light
eternal chaotic inflation isn't the only basis for the existence of multiple universes and ideas
for parallel worlds have also been based on the mathematical description of subatomic particles
quantum physics in quantum physics an elementary particle doesn't just exist in a single state but
rather in multiple locations to understand this we will have to dive into the world of physics
let's consider the infamous double slit experiment scientists showed some light through the slip of a
card with a slit cut into it as classic particle theory goes the results should have corresponded
to the slits the impacts on the screen appearing in two vertical lines but this was not the case
normally classical particles should not interfere with each other but rather they merely collide
this is where the experiment had scientists scratching their heads the beams of light were in
fact interfering and creating a pattern of bright and dark bands onto the screen which kept getting
absorbed as light is also composed the photons when measuring devices were placed to observe
the photons they appeared in the form of particles and the impact on the screen corresponded to that
of the slits by placing an observation device the wave function of the photons collapsed
and the light once again behaved as classic particles it was this double-slit experiment
that made scientists aware of the incredible world of quantum mechanics where nothing is predictable
everything is relative and the observer has a very active role with the power to change the outcome
undoubtedly one of the greatest mysteries of quantum mechanics
the idea that there are many worlds is not a new idea
it actually takes us back to 1926 with Erwin Schrodinger when talking about the existence
of parallel universes one simply cannot ignore the famous Schrodinger experiment
Austrian physicist Schroedinger developed a thought experiment based on quantum superposition
basically meaning the property of quantum particles can exist in more than one state at once
according to his experiment say you place a cat in a box with a small amount of radioactive substance
which upon decaying would release poison and kill the cat the radioactive substance is governed by
quantum mechanics meaning its atoms start in a combined state of going to decay or not going to
decay since everything is sealed within the box and you are merely observing from the outside
there are only two possibilities the cat can either be dead or alive at the same time but
this is absurd as it can only be dead or alive his experiment shows the wave function collapses
are not simply driven by conscious observers why should an object behave a certain way just because
someone is merely looking at it this is a question that even bothered great minds like einstein
an answer to the question did eventually come there was the young physicist hugh everett
in the 1950s who put forth the interpretation that every interaction between a quantum system
and a classical system produced a bifurcation between several parallel universes he provided
a much more simple solution and suggested a completely different possibility altogether
so according to everett there is one world in which the cat from the experiment is dead
and in another where it is alive both of these two worlds being completely real but entirely separate
everett's theory is that quantum effects cause the universe to constantly split
which could mean that decisions we make in this universe have their implications
for alternate versions of ourselves living in different worlds as these events are countless
there is no end to parallel worlds initially the response to everett's many worlds was that it is
absolutely baseless and devoid of reason however an increasing number of theoretical
physicists are now actually backtracking and confirming his viewpoint to be quite true
it is no doubt that scientists and researchers are keen to uncover the reality of the possibility
of alternate universes nasa conducted an experiment that showed some rather
interesting observations antarctic impulsive transient antenna or ANITA the stratospheric
balloon-based experiment in Antarctica is the first nasa observatory for neutrinos of any kind
in 2016 researchers detected subatomic particles behaving in unexpected ways what they saw was
evidence of high energy neutrinos coming up from the earth's surface that had no source
principal ANITA investigator peter Gorham an experimental particle physicist at the
university of Hawaii suggested that the only way the tau neutrino could behave that way is if it is
changed into a different type of particle before passing through the earth and then back again nasa
later published a paper suggesting that in order to explain these signals we would have to consider
that at the moment of the big bang two universes were formed ours and one parallel to us which from
our perspective is running in reverse in this mirror world positive is negative left is right
and time runs backwards Gorham went on to say that not everyone was comfortable with the hypothesis
and although researchers were not able to determine with certainty the source of the
neutrinos their interesting hypotheses caught the attention of millions of people across the globe
not everyone is a firm believer of the multiverse theory there are some strong arguments on both
sides of the aisle and as with any theory whether new or old there will always be two sides on one
hand there are a lot of challenges when it comes to the theories and the argument for multiverses
cosmic inflation seemingly began and ended within the tiniest fraction of the universe's
first seconds while eternal chaotic inflation by its own definition other universes that are
generated are completely disconnected from our universe so they cannot be seen then there's the
consideration about the mathematical constants and how the laws of the universe are so exact
no one really knows what is beyond the observable universe beyond its edges and until we really
see it it's all just speculation and we have no real way to really test out the theories
until we are able to leave our universe we won't actually be able to prove what exists out there
some physicists have even said that we do not need the multiverse theory at all because it
doesn't actually solve any paradoxes but rather only creates more chaos and complications
but there is still a large majority who believes in the multiverse theory who
simply cannot ignore the loopholes and evidence even if it just sounds good in theory for now
think about it there could be another you somewhere watching a video just like this
in a parallel world while scientists and physicists are still divided in two camps
over the existence of multiple universes and will continue to be until we have more evidence
for proving the distance of a multiverse it can't really stop us from wondering just what it would
be like to have alternate versions of yourself in each of the different universes if the theory has
ever proved true and there really are other yous out there it will no doubt go down in history as
one of mankind's greatest realizations the thought is quite intimidating yet at the same time that's
what makes space time and the universe all the more mind-blowing so what do you think
do we live in a multiverse what would you do if you met yourself in a parallel universe
tell us in the comments below don't forget to mash the like button and subscribe to our
channel so you don't miss out on more videos like this thanks for watching we'll see you next time