Parallel universes aren’t science fiction, says mathematician

According to mathematician and author Brian Greene, an identical ‘you’ could be living in a different multiverse somewhere out in the cosmos.(Image courtesy Vintage Books)

If you’ve heard of parallel universes, the idea that you
could be reading this very article in another universe at
this very moment, then you may be familiar with some tales
of science fiction.

A mathematician and physicist-turned-author says ideas like parallel universes are the stuff of reality;
what he and other scientists refer to as the “multiverse.”

Brian Greene, author of The Hidden Reality: Parallel
Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos, says our
universe is much like a single bubble in a bubble bath.
Because of the way light travels in our universe, we may
not be able to see the universes around us, but like the
bubbles in the bath, another universe could collide with
our universe at any moment.

“If our universe was hit by another, it would cause ripple
disturbances,” Greene told 770 KTTH’s David Boze. The
ripples would cause temperature differences in the sky,
and according to Greene, mathematicians are looking for
those differences in degrees.

“It may sound pretty far out,” admits Greene, but unlike
theoretical physics and philosophy, which he says doesn’t
interest him, the multiverse can be proven with math.

With an infinite number of bubbles in the bath, or
multiverses in the cosmos, Greene says it’s possible the explanation for what is commonly referred
to as a parallel universe, or a universe that is in every
way identical to ours, is probable.

“When you study these ideas mathematically,” he says,
“Some of those universes could be identical.” He says it’s
strange, but it is where math takes the theory.

“We can even calculate how far you’d have to travel to
encounter your duplicate,” says Greene. He adds that the
distance is a huge number.

While it may sound made up, he says if you shuffle a deck
of cards enough times, then sooner or later the order of
the cards will repeat. Since reality is made up of
particles, if you believe space goes on infinitely far,
eventually the particle arrangement has to repeat.

“It’s a strange idea we’re grappling with.”