The Multiverse

Do multiple versions of ourselves exist in parallel universes living out their lives in different timelines? In this follow up to his bestseller, The Simulation Hypothesis, MIT Computer Scientist and Silicon Valley Game Pioneer Rizwan Virk explores these topics from a new lens: that of simulation theory. If we are living in a digital universe, then many of the complexities and baffling characteristics of our reality start to make more sense. Quantum computing lets us simulate complex phenomena in parallel, allowing the simulation to explore many realities at once to find the most "optimum" path forward. Could this explain not only the enigmatic Mandela Effect but provide us with a new understanding of time and space? Bringing his unique trademark style of combining video games, computer science, quantum physics and computing with lots of philosophy and science fiction, Virk gives us a new way to think about not just our universe, but all possible realities!

First in a duology that reimagines fairy tale tropes within a space opera—The Princess Bride meets Princess Leia. Rory Thorne is a princess with thirteen fairy blessings, the most important of which is to see through flattery and platitudes. As the eldest daughter, she always imagined she’d inherit her father’s throne and govern the interplanetary Thorne Consortium. Then her father is assassinated, her mother gives birth to a son, and Rory is betrothed to the prince of a distant world. When Rory arrives in her new home, she uncovers a treacherous plot to unseat her newly betrothed and usurp his throne. An unscrupulous minister has conspired to name himself Regent to the minor (and somewhat foolish) prince. With only her wits and a small team of allies, Rory must outmaneuver the Regent and rescue the prince. How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse is a feminist reimagining of familiar fairytale tropes and a story of resistance and self-determination—how small acts of rebellion can lead a princess to not just save herself, but change the course of history.

The idea of a multiple universe reality is no longer considered speculative or implausible by many physicists; rather, it is deemed inescapable. Distinct concepts of the multiverse spring from quantum mechanics, cosmology, string theory-based cosmology, and ideas about a mathematics based reality that borders on the religious.In this accessible and entertaining book, Dr. Manly guides you on a tour of the many multiverse concepts and provides the non-technical background to understand them.Visions of the Multiverse explores questions such as:•Just what is a multiverse?•What are the different concepts of the multiverse and how are they related?•Is it possible to determine if we live in a multiverse...or even in multiple types of multiverses?•How do religious concepts of the afterlife and popular ideas based on the Law of Attraction relate to the scientific visions of the multiverse?Dr. Manly discusses a wide variety of fascinating concepts from relativity and the fundamental particles and forces of nature to dark matter, dark energy, and quantum mechanics in an unintimidating and conversational tone.Is humanity is in the midst of a new Copernican revolution? You decide.

“Multiverse” cosmologies imagine our universe as just one of a vast number of others. While this idea has captivated philosophy, religion, and literature for millennia, it is now being considered as a scientific hypothesis—with different models emerging from cosmology, quantum mechanics, and string theory. Beginning with ancient Atomist and Stoic philosophies, Mary-Jane Rubenstein links contemporary models of the multiverse to their forerunners and explores their current emergence. One reason is the so-called fine-tuning of the universe: nature’s constants are so delicately calibrated, it seems they have been set just right to allow life to emerge. For some theologians, these “fine-tunings” are proof of God; for others, “God” is an insufficient explanation. One compelling solution: if all possible worlds exist somewhere, then it is no surprise one of them happens to be suitable for life. Yet this hypothesis replaces God with an equally baffling article of faith: the existence of universes beyond, before, or after our own, eternally generated yet forever inaccessible. In sidestepping metaphysics, multiverse scenarios collide with it, producing their own counter-theological narratives. Rubenstein argues, however, that this interdisciplinary collision provides the condition of its scientific viability, reconfiguring the boundaries among physics, philosophy, and religion.

The structure of the multiverse, the nature of each universe within it and the relationships among the various constituent universes, depend on the specific multiverse hypothesis considered. Multiple universes have been hypothesized in cosmology, physics, astronomy, religion, philosophy, transpersonal psychology, and fiction, particularly in science fiction and fantasy. In these contexts, parallel universes are also called "alternate universes," "quantum universes," "interpenetrating dimensions," "parallel dimensions," "parallel worlds," "alternate realities," "alternate timelines," and "dimensional planes," among other names. The physics community continues to fiercely debate the multiverse hypothesis. Prominent physicists disagree about whether the multiverse may exist, and whether it is even a legitimate topic of scientific inquiry. Serious concerns have been raised about whether attempts to exempt the multiverse from experimental verification may erode public confidence in science and ultimately damage the nature of fundamental physics. Some have argued that the multiverse question is philosophical rather than scientific because it lacks falsifiability; the ability to disprove a theory by means of scientific experiment has always been part of the accepted scientific method. Paul Steinhardt has famously argued that no experiment can rule out a theory if it provides for all possible outcomes. This book discusses the numerous concepts and theories concerning multiple universes.

Critical acclaim for John Gribbin "The master of popular science." —Sunday Times (London) "Gribbin explains things very well indeed, and there's not an equation in sight." —David Goodstein, The New York Times Book Review (on Almost Everyone's Guide to Science) "Gribbin breathes life into the core ideas of complexity science, and argues convincingly that the basic laws, even in biology, will ultimately turn out to be simple." —Nature magazine (on Deep Simplicity) "Gribbin takes us through the basics [of chaos theory] with his customary talent for accessibility and clarity. [His] arguments are driven not by impersonal equations but by a sense of wonder at the presence in the universe and in nature of simple, self-organizing harmonies underpinning all structures, whether they are stars or flowers." —Sunday Times (London) (on Deep Simplicity) "In the true quantum realm, Gribbin remains the premier expositor of the latest developments." —Booklist (on Schrödinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality)

Cosmologists have reasons to believe that the vast universe in which we live is just one of an endless number of other universes within a multiverse—a mind-boggling array that may extend indefinitely in space and endlessly in both the past and the future. Victor Stenger reviews the key developments in the history of science that led to the current consensus view of astrophysicists, taking pains to explain essential concepts and discoveries in accessible terminology. The author shows that science’s emerging understanding of the multiverse—consisting of trillions upon trillions of galaxies—is fully explicable in naturalistic terms with no need for supernatural forces to explain its origin or ongoing existence. How can conceptions of God, traditional or otherwise, be squared with this new worldview? The author shows how long-held beliefs will need to undergo major revision or otherwise face eventual extinction.