Have you ever stopped to think, how could your life have been if you have done things differently?. If you went to a different school, dressed different, actually talked to your crush back at high school or even have acted or said something in a certain situation differently. Of course, you have, we all did, or at least I do every night before I go to sleep or while taking a shower, but would it really affect the rest of your life if you could change the simplest of details of your past?. You only live once so I guess we'll never find out, or can we?.
Over the years we have all read books, comics or even watched movies about a fictional universe where there is a world with a scientist who discovers a way to enter other versions of his/her world, wherein each, things were done differently or to the point where everything is entirely different. Shows like "Rick and Morty", "Fringe", "The Butterfly Effect" and several other shows are based off this concept, which are all fictional but based on real science. A parallel universe is a universe or universes theorized as existing alongside our own, although undetectable. Although it is always mentioned as a fictional concept, there are scientist who theorize that there are in fact parallel universes, and are working on proving it. There are many theories to parallel universes, or the multiverse, but we will stick with the three of the top theories discussed till today. The first is a theory named “Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics”, formulated by a man named Hugh Everett in 1957, is the coolest one I've read about so far, the theory basically states that every time a event or situation happens and could have multiple outcomes based off the decisions made in that event/situation, the world is split to the number of possible outcomes there are and each world would continue each with one of the different outcomes. So lets say you where in class and your friend walks up to you and asks if you want to go see a movie with him, so in that instance, the world is split to two, one with you replying yes, and the other with you saying no, and the timeline continues from there, yes there could be a world with you just not replying and just ignoring him, but we'll assume for this example that there are just two. The Second Theory, which I see talked about a lot but with no name or who first formulated it, but it talks about how there is a finite amount of ways a particle could form, and as proven there are other universes out there created by the Big Bang, so by adding those two, its theorized that there should be some universe out there with a planet like ours with other versions of us. The Third theory is the most talked about and is also nicknamed "Nature of Everything", which is String Theory, who physicist like Stephen Hawking even worked on it. String theory helped prove more than one scientific concept about our reality, it states that there is a multiverse of universes, String theory came from scientists trying to expand on Einsteins model of the Big Bang, where our planet and universe is like a bubble (The Universe) with dust particles on it (planets), with the bubble expanding over time, String theory states that there should be more than one bubble out there, and goes on to even how the Big Bang happened and if it is even possible to visit the other versions. In Possible Worlds, a play was written by John Mighton, who is a mathematician and philosopher from the University of Toronto. The play is written around the main character named George Barber, who is a s
tockbroker and is a math genius, discovered at a young age about parallel universes, wherein each he could live a different life made by making different decisions. In the play, we see different scenes representing different worlds wherein each he pursues Joyce, another character in the play who George is in love with. George in every world is still the same person, or just still George, while all the other characters are changed in some way like how Joyce in some worlds is a scientist, and in others a broker. In his pursuit of Joyce, in some worlds he succeeds and in others he does not. In reality, this is all happening in his brain and never actually takes place and Joyce is Georges real wife back in reality. The play starts with a murder investigation where two detectives named Berkley and Williams at a crime scene where a man, George Barber, has been murdered with his head cut off and his brain missing and ends with Joyce (His real-life wife) terminating Georges Consciousness. How George constructed these alternate realities in his head could be based on one of many theories of parallel universes, and including from the three we mentioned above, as confusing as this sounds, and how close science is to fiction, it becomes more interesting throughout the play, where it could even make you stop and think, "What if?.." .
References: Ethan Siegel., (2016, November 8), Is There Another 'You' Out There In A Parallel Universe?. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2016/11/18/is-there-another-you-out-there-in-a-parallel-universe/#4e06900c634f
Leonard Susskind., (2011, December 28), String Theory. Retrieved from https://journals-scholarsportal-info.ledproxy2.uwindsor.ca/pdf/00159018/v43i0001/174_st.xml
Elizabeth Howell., (2018, May 9), Parallel Universes: Theories & Evidence. Retrieved from https://www.space.com/32728-parallel-universes.html
Vladimir Namiot., (2013, November 1), Reasoning on Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Theory, Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ledproxy2.uwindsor.ca/docview/1724332498?rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo
Image Credits:
First Image-Credit: public domain, retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/globe-earth-country-continents-73397/.
Second Image- Credit: Sandy MacKenzie | Shutterstock
Third Image- Image credit: NASA; ESA; G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch, University of California, Santa Cruz; R. Bouwens, Leiden University; and the HUDF09 Team.