Infinity Times Infinity Equals Multiverse

Looking up at the stars, as our long-ago ancestors did, one can only get a small idea as to the size of the universe. A telescope allowed us to see further and expanded our understanding. Today's research goes even further, and greatly augments our knowledge of the universe. In fact, the universe is so big that no one knows exactly how big it is, because light simply cannot travel fast enough to illuminate it. Now, take that, our one infinitely big universe, and multiply it by infinity. Now, you have the idea of the multiverse, a theory which states that there are a seemingly infinite amount of universes. Life, on the other hand, does not come so infinitely. The multiverse, a theory consisting of several contested explanations, and the anthropic principle, which universes must follow in order to sustain life, are necessary in order to greater understand our own existence, by showing its extreme rarity.

The multiverse is, in the simplest terms, multiple universes. It is a “proposal that there could also be other Big Bangs that might be completely disconnected from ours” (Bernard, and Ellis 2.29). If a Big Bang was possible in our own universe, then it should be possible for them to occur elsewhere under similar, or even perhaps differing, conditions. This idea seems rather simple, however, it encompasses an enormous amount theory and explanation, around a theory that is not yet well confirmed.

While the multiverse would seem to be a hard theory to prove, cosmologists actually have some evidence pointing to its existence. According to cosmologists, specifically Tegmark, the question is “not whether there is a multiverse . . . but rather how many levels it has” (1), suggesting there is enough evidence present to, at least somewha...

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...xists: us. Perhaps it will not be long until our loneliness in the universe comes to an end.

Works Cited

Carr, Bernard, and George Ellis. "Universe Or Multiverse?" Astronomy Geophysics 49.2 (2008): 2.29-2.37. Print.

Ellis, G. F. R., U. Kirchner, and W. R. Stoeger "Multiverses and physical cosmology." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 347.3 (2004): 921-936. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 3 Dec. 2009.

Khrapko, R. I. "A New Anthropic Principle" Astronomical and Astrophysical Transactions 22.6 (2003): 847-50. Print.

Kragh, Helge. "Contemporary History of Cosmology and the Controversy Over the Multiverse." Annals of Science 66.4 (2009): 529-51. Print.

Silk, Joseph. "Dark Matters." University of Victoria. Victoria, BC. 29 May 2009. Guest Lecture.

Tegmark, Max. "Parallel Universes." Max Tegmark. n.p., 23 Jan. 2003. 1-18. Web. 29 Nov. 2009.