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Why there are no Parallel Universes

The Multiverse has become a hotly discussed theory in physics in recent decades. I won’t get into the details of that, in part because I am not qualified to do so, but it all has to do with the mathematics of the Big Bang and the Initial Singularity. In a nutshell The Multiverse is a consequence of an infinite number of ongoing Big Bang events.

The Smoking Gun for “The Butterfly Effect”

Physicists have speculated that if there are an infinite number of universes, all governed by the same physical and mathematical laws, there must also be an infinite number of parallel universes. In these parallel unverses alternate versions of ourselves live identical, and nearly identical lives. This humble, mostly ignorant, layman, begs to differ. It all has to do with the picture of the cosmic microwave background radiation, CMBR, from the Big Bang taken by the Planck satellite in 2013.

When that cosmic microwave background radiation was first viewed it looked uniform and featureless. But with the highly sensitive instruments of the Planck Satellite the image was enhanced and it turned out that there were subtle temperature variations.

According to our current understanding of physics we have Einstein’s world of universal physics and the quantum world of subatomic physics. Universal physics, the physics that allows us to understand the movement of very big bodies, such as planets, stars and galaxies, are understood and calculated using Einstein’s laws of relativity. The mathematics of quantum mechanics is how we understand and interact with the mechanics of the extremely small, subatomic particles. At this time physicists have been unable to reconcile those two sets of equations.

However, there was a time when this was not the case. When you look at that famous picture of the CMBR the subtle differences in temperature are a product of the randomness of quantum mechanics, and they are what lead to the structure we see in our universe, and this proves that the “butterfly effect” is real. The “butterfly effect” is the idea that seemingly insignificant actions, such as random quantum fluctuations, can have enormous consequences. This was most famously expressed in the short story “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury, first published in 1952.

The Infinitely Random Nature of Quantum Mechanics

The thing is that the motions of subatomic particles, as expressed in the theories of quantum mechanics, are all random. And they aren’t just random, they are infinitely random. Their movements are expressed as probabilities, but there is no subatomic grid for them to snap to, like pixels on a monitor. So while the motions of subatomic particles can be reliably predicted to fall within a certain range a certain percentage of the time, their actual positions in spacetime are infinitely random, and the more precise your measuring tools are, the more this becomes apparent.

The only conclusion you can draw from this is that parallel universes are simply not a mathematical possibility. You have an almost impossible to quantify number of subatomic particles, each with an infinite number of potential positions, even if the multiverse is infinite, and even if those random quantum fluctuations only determine the structure of the given universe, there will be no parallel universes, it simply isn’t mathematically possible. Every universe is distinct, and unique.

Certainly there will be an infinite number of universes with similar characteristics, and similar structures, but none of them will be identical, or even close to being identical. The other interesting logical conclusions that can be drawn from are, that no matter how much you know, there is always more to learn, and no matter what happens, the multiverse will never reach the end of probabilities or possibilities.

There will always be surprises in an infinite multiverse.

Mathematically a dimension is a vector of measurement. In the “real world” a dimension is a vector of existence. Mathematically any measurement you can take, plug into a formula and plot on a graph, can exist in it’s own dimension. Mathematically you can have an infinite number of dimensions.

In the “real world” dimensions must have “real” properties, and their numbers are limited to what we can measure. At this time scientists are only able to take measurements in four recognized “dimensions”, height, width, depth and time. But what if there are more? Science and mathematics are hinting that there are.

Scientists recently created a mathematical model of the way the brain creates and accesses memories, and discovered that the mathematics involved requires as many as 11 dimensions to do so. The mathematics of string theory also requires as many as 11 dimensions. Scientists will trip over themselves to assure everyone that this doesn’t meant that there are 11 actual vectors of existence, that’s just the current state of the mathematics involved.

Science fiction has long speculated about the existence of other dimensions, dimensions that function almost as separate universes where anything is possible. But one must understand that other dimensions, if they exist, are all variables in the same equation, or set of equations. All the variables are connected, and while some may be 0’s or negative numbers, they can’t be isolated, one from another. Other dimensions, if they exist, don’t represent discreet universes, they are an indivisible vector of our current existence.

There are theories which suggest that there are 12 dimensions, and that the 12th dimension is unknowable, or undefined. There is even a mathematical symbol for this.

In this humble layperson’s opinion, “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…” If the mathematics and the science are pointing to the existence of eleven dimensions, then perhaps they actually do exist, and are more than just an arbitrary tool for solving equations. And perhaps, just perhaps, inserting a twelfth, undefined dimension might be the key to a final proof for string theory and who knows what else.