The Parallel Universe Theory (AKA the Many Worlds Theory/the Multiverse), Quantum Mechanics:
Wow, there is so much fun and difficult stuff to read on this one, sadly I did not have time to read much of it this week. I will return to this post and spruce it up at some point. But here is a neat interview from Nova.com, excerpt below. If you read the whole article at the link, they talk about something called Schroedinger’s Jellyfish Problem, which is definitely going on the list of theories to draw.
Here is an excerpt, from an interview with journalist Peter Byrne, speaking on the work of physicist Hugh Everett III:
So, in Everett’s view, when the human correlates herself—that is, interacts, exchanging energy with the gram of carbon or a clock or whatever—she splits like an amoeba. She splits into copies of herself, one for each element in the superposition. [See Everett’s draft of his never-published amoeba analogy
[…]
And wild as it sounds—a person splitting into numerous copies of herself—Everett’s theory has not been shown to be mathematically incorrect. God knows, people have tried. They have found some mathematical gaps, but you can’t fault his basic mathematical logic, which made a powerful case that every time there is an interaction anywhere in the universe above a certain size, one of the systems splits in order to accommodate all of the elements and the superpositions that are contained in the wave function that describes the observed system. In other words, the basis for having multiple universes emerges from his solution of the measurement problem.
But oh hey quantum physics, Aristotle thought of it first:
The last fact (that what is outside is infinite) leads people to suppose that body also is infinite, and that there is an infinite number of worlds. Why should there be body in one part of the void rather than in another? Grant only that mass is anywhere and it follows that it must be everywhere. Also, if void and place are infinite, there must be infinite body too, for in the case of eternal things what may be must be.
That’s from 350 BC. Philosophers RULE.
Are you now, or have you ever been, a graduate student or professor? Are you highly learn-ed in specialized knowledge? Do you read dense theoretical texts for fun? Send your favorite theories to devonisadevon@gmail.com, and I will draw them. Esoteric terminology also accepted but will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Oh, and follow me on Instagram while you’re at it – devon_isadevon.
More theories here.