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Some science controversies arise in disputes over findings. The currentflap overtheJames Webb Space Telescopedata, for one. Others sound like clashes over philosophy claims about the multiverse (countless universesout there) are a good example.

Theoretical physicistSabine Hossenfeldertakes on the multiverse in in her new book,Existential Physics:A Scientists Guide to Lifes Biggest Questions(2022). She also addresses the topic concisely and wittily in a short video and a blog post at Back(Re)Action. She looks at three popular multiverse models: Many Worlds, Eternal Inflation, and String Theory Landscape.

Heres her take onEternal Inflation:

We dont know how our universe began and maybe we will never know. We just talked about this the other week. But according to a presently popular idea called inflation, our universe was created from a quantum fluctuation of a field called the inflaton. This field supposedly fills an infinitely large space and our universe was created from only a tiny patch of that, the patch where the fluctuation happened.

But the field keeps on fluctuating, so there are infinitely many other universes fluctuating into existence. This universe-creation goes on forever, which is why its called eternal inflation. Eternal inflation, by the way lasts forever into the future, but still requires a beginning in the past, so it doesnt do away with the Big Bang issue.

In Eternal Inflation, the other universes may contain the same matter as ours, but in slightly different arrangements, so there may be copies of you in them. In some versions you became a professional ballet dancer. In some you won a Nobel Prize. In yet another one another you are a professional ballet dancer who won a Nobel Prize and dated Elon Musk. And theyre all as real as this one.

Where did this inflaton field go that allegedly created our universe? Well, physicists say it has fallen apart into the particles that we observe now, so its gone and thats why we cant measure it. Yeah, that is a little sketchy.

Dont miss her take on Many Worlds and the String Theory Landscape, especially if you wish to experience elephants in the room which you coincidentally cant see oh, and getting married to Elon Musk (but maybe only inthatuniverse). On a serious note, she later addresses specific claims from physicists who defend the idea.

The concept of a multiverse arises from an alternative interpretation of the movement of elementary particles in quantum mechanics alternative, that is, to the more widely acceptedCopenhagen interpretation.In the Copenhagen interpretation, if the particle goes left rather than right, the universe just updates. In the alternativeMany Worlds interpretation,a new universe is created in which the particle goes right. There are other versions but thats the best known.

Read the rest at Mind Matters News, published by Discovery Institutes Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence.

Original post:

Is the Multiverse Science or Religion? - Discovery Institute