Most people (and by that I mean most utterly geeky people) understand that one of the consequences of the mathematical frameworks developed in the quest to unify quantum mechanics with general relativity is that there arises a non-zero probability of the universe not being that at all. That instead of a universe, there is a Multiverse, or to say it colloquially, that many universes co-exist. This is true for both leading unified quantum gravity theories: string theory and quantum loop gravity.
- Penny: Morning, Sheldon. Come dance with me.
- Sheldon: No.
- Penny: Why not?
- Sheldon: Penny, while I subscribe to the many worlds theory, which posits the existence of an infinite number of Sheldons in an infinite number of universes, I assure you that in none of them am I dancing.
- Penny: Are you fun in any of them?
- Sheldon: The math would suggest that in a few I’m a clown made of candy. But I don’t dance.
I frequently attend breakfast at the physics and astrophysics departments at MIT, Harvard, and other equally impressive institutions. These gatherings are designed to allow uber-nerds to share their research and their latest thoughts with the rest of us mortals, in a way that we, the sub-200 IQ holders, can digest. Much as if Schroedinger tried to explain wave theory to third graders using pokemon cards, an abacus and some laundry lint. I have been surprised to see how many of these greatest of all human thinkers are spending their time these days talking about the Multiverse (and how little progress are they apparently making). And I must ask…
Since it is also well understood that the probability that the human race will be able to experimentally confirm, or deny, the validity of the Multiverse argument is at best extremely small, and perhaps even zero. One must ask then, why all the hoopla? In a time where brain power would best be used to solve global energy and health crises, or even lend a few neurons to law makers in Washington, why waste these rare and valuable reasoning primates chasing an evading theory? There is certainly no economic or humanistic value that will arise from finding a neighboring universe, or proving it non existent. Even if we did find one such promised land, we would not be able to travel there, much less drill for oil or use as alternate landfill. Why then?
The answer (or at least my answer) is quite simple, but indeed astonishing. The human race lives in our universe, but its fate and vector reside in a parallel universe. It is in this parallel universe that ideas are generated, and it is because this parallel universe exists that human beings are capable of shattering their own inertia and make change happen. This is the universe where the humors of the body are replaced by germs, and monk nonsense by modern medicine. Where the ether gives way to the periodic table. Where women can vote and skin color only matters to define your choice of sun screen. This is the universe where we stop using oil and other non renewable resources. The universe of a wall-free Berlin, of an non-oppressed Libya, and maybe even a peaceful middle east. This is the universe where humans are not confined to Earth, but where they can fly and travel through the other universe.
In this parallel universe I still have all my hair. I weigh ten pounds less. I have a lot more time to enjoy my children. I am richer, taller and have lower blood pressure. I am also kinder, have more integrity and loyalty, and I’m even able to dunk a basketball. I have been the goalkeeper of the Mexican national soccer team, I’ve pitched for the red sox and won several marathons.
While my parallel universe is certainly not real, – at least not real in any space-time-defined region – it is certainly intriguing to consider the possibility that consciousness and morals cannot be described in our universe with the mathematical tools at our disposal.
As mentioned earlier, two theories are rapidly being developed in the halls of leading academic institutions with the aim of unifying general relativity with quantum theory. In doing so, string theory and quantum loop gravity theory also attempt to resolve one of the major flaws of Einstein’s general relativity: its inability to deal with singularities, such as the big bang or black holes.
String theory posits that all matter in the universe is composed by different states of a single, elemental string, much like sounds in a symphony can be created by the different vibrations of musical instruments. String theory, beautiful as it is, fails to describe what the space, or volume, that the universe occupies is made of. In other words, while string theory can explain what matter atoms are made of, it fails to describe what constitutes the fabric of space-time; string theory assumes that space-time simply is.
In contrast, loop quantum gravity states that volume is comprised of space atoms. These space atoms are quite different from the much more familiar matter atoms that are the building blocks of everything we can touch, see, smell or taste. Space atoms are what constitute the volume that the universe (or Multiverse) occupy; without them, the universe is reduced to utter nothingness. Space atoms are also interesting in that they can spontaneously arise. Matter atoms can only be produced from other atoms or from energy through Einstein’s famous equation: E=mc2. Space atoms, however, can be created from nothing.
Both of these theories give plausible explanations to singularities that we either infer (the big bang) or can observe (black holes), albeit making some pretty far fetched assumptions.
But back to my parallel universe. I believe that life is a singularity. I further believe that consciousness is a singularity. Finally, I believe that what we loosely call the natural law, or the moral compass, best described succinctly in the Ten Commandments (v.g., Thou Shall not Kill, etc.), is a singularity.
Most proponents of string theory argue that quantum loop gravity theory is flawed precisely because of this fundamental notion: nothing can be created from nothingness. And yet… A thought has no mass. No matter to compose it and it occupies no space. And yet, it exists. Furthermore, it can be generated from nothing. A desire has everything a thought has, and then adds a two new dimensions: velocity and direction. Finally, a thought or a desire can be further expanded to be given a moral connotation, or mathematical sign: good or bad; positive or negative.
In grad school I collaborated with (more like helped out) a super smart girl named Carol. Carol, who is now a brilliant neurosurgeon at one of Boston’s leading hospitals, was back then working on trying to identify regions in the brain of mice that would trigger them into action. If you will, she was trying to pin-point the specific regions where desire would arise. She was doing so using a variety of advanced techniques such as functional NMR and advanced brain imaging (I helped her out with a very cool thing which was to image individual cells and their internal morphology through low vacuum scanning electron microscopy – I was quite good at using all sorts of electron microscopes, especially in the summer when it was 100 degrees in the lab, but cool and relaxed in the electron microscopy facility, a fact that was always being pointed out to me by the manager of the facility… But that’s a different story altogether).
Carol would trigger a desire on a mouse and identify the region of the brain that was responsible for it. Then she would burn off (with a laser) or cut off (with a tiny knife) said region and, lo and behold, the mouse would stop exhibiting that desire. She could get mice to starve themselves to death, or to stop fearing a cat. Carol used to argue with me that the origins of those fundamental thoughts were clearly in this universe, since she could physically obliterate the brain cells responsible for them and thus make them disappear.
You may be inclined to agree with Carol: after all I am using a bad extension to argue the case that there is a parallel universe where the fate of the human race is decided, by using fallacious arguments from fundamental particle physics and cosmology… But wait just one second. What if…
What if life is indeed a singularity? What if all the brilliant space anthropologists that have unequivocally stated that life is out there, that our universe is teeming with it, that life is unavoidable, are wrong? What if we are alone in this universe? What if the big bang was a unique set of conditions – indeed the only set of conditions – that would lead to a stable universe that could evolve to host life? If that were true wouldn’t it then make sense that every other stable universe would start with exactly the same conditions and lead to exactly the same outcomes? That would mean, as Sheldon suggests, that there are an infinite number of mes. Except that, contrary to his suggestion that he is different in all of them (or a candy clown), all of my other mes are exactly the same, living the exact same lives, thinking the exact same thoughts…
The implications of this are truly remarkable. The probability that my theory of equal parallel universes do exist is pretty small. It implies that there is only one unique solution to the equations describing a unified theory of everything (or TOE). How small? About 1 in 10^128. That is about the same probability of picking a specific ball on the first try out of a very special lottery machine. The lottery machine is about the size of the known universe and the lottery balls are about the size of protons. Interestingly, it is just as unlikely as if we were to say that ours is the only universe, or about as probable as life arising spontaneously from the big bang and developing consciousness and intelligence on its own. And those things happened.
I don’t actually believe that thoughts or desire arise in a parallel universe. I do believe however that each one of us is capable of imagining a different universe, and if there are indeed an infinite number of universes, then the one we imagine is just as probable as the next one. If we can imagine a different universe, then we can probably build that universe, and in doing so realize our potential as human beings. Just think about it… If you get it wrong in this universe, you may get it right in another one.