Slashdot Mirror
A Skeptical Look At The Multiverse
sjanich writes "The NY Times has a short, interesting article on multiverse theory. The author, Paul Davies, writes: 'This idea of multiple universes, or multiple realities, has been around in philosophical circles for centuries. The scientific justification for it, however, is new.' It is quite an interesting read. The author is a Physicist and pretty good science writer." Davies is not kind to the multiverse theory.
Taking the multiverse theory at face value, therefore, means accepting that virtual worlds are more numerous than "real" ones.
Even is this were a reason to be concerned (even if it's true, what are you going to do about it?), what the hell does this have to do with the multiverse theory? How is this virtual world conundrum dependent on it? Can't we start the whole virtual world chain of deception right here on Earth, without anybody else's assistance anyway? Why do we have to believe in the multiverse theory in order for the idea of this reality being virtual to be true?
The rest of his argument is a bit much for a Saturday afternoon, anyway. There is an article in Scientific American that talks about this very topic. There are many theories about the multiverse, and only some assume different basic laws. One of them allows for different constants , but occuring with the same laws (i.e., everything works exactly the same, except, oh, I don't know, the weak nuclear force is 2% weaker).
Ah, it's nice out, I quit the rant now. But this shouldn't have gotten past the NyC editors, much less Slashdot's. His argument is since we can't confirm it by seeing it, it's pointless. Heh, most of physics today falls into that realm.