Try to hang on to your reality

According to a paradigm-shattering mathematical discovery by Oxford scientists, parallel universes seem to be the natural way things work, and seems there is nothing we can do about it—short of ignoring the whole concept, and science is not about to do that.

The parallel universe theory was first proposed back in 1950 by US physicist, Hugh Everett. The theory helps make sense of the many mysteries of quantum mechanics that have left scientists scratching their heads for decades. In Everett’s “many worlds” universe, every time a new physical possibility is explored, the universe splits off. For each possible alternative outcome, each one is played out in an alternate universe.

The implication would mean that the number of alternative scenarios in each individual’s life would be bizarrely and unfathomably endless.

Because the idea is so uncomfortably strange, it’s dismissed as sci-fi by many critics. But there are also many credible, respected proponents of the theory—a group that is continuously gaining new adherents as new research unveils new evidence. The new research stemming from Oxford now—for the first time—offers a mathematical answer that sweeps away one of the key objections to the controversial idea. Their research shows that Dr. Everett, a Ph.D student at Princeton University was indeed on the right track when he came up with his multiverse theory.

According to quantum mechanics, unobserved particles are described by “wave functions” representing a set of multiple “probable” states. When an observer makes a measurement, the particle then settles down into one of these multiple options, which is somewhat how the multiple universe theory can be explained. Nothing at the subatomic scale can really be said to exist until it is observed. Until then, particles occupy uncertain “superposition” states, in which they can have simultaneous “up” and “down” spins, or appear to be in different places at the same time. The mere act of “observing” somehow appears to “nail down” a particular state of reality. Scientists don’t yet have a perfect explanation for how it works, but that hasn’t changed the fact that the phenomenon appears to be real.

Dr. Andy Albrecht, a physicist at the University of California at Davis commented, “This work will go down as one of the most important developments in the history of science.”

SOURCE: Daily Galaxy