Parallel Universes—Exploring All the Maybes

Ever wonder about the possibilities out there in any given moment. That ‘maybes’ and the ‘then’ that comes afterward. What if you get to know that there’s a probability somewhere out there, you are trying out all those options, going down all those routes. Well, you are, but not you specifically. That is what the parallel universe theory suggests.

The ‘parallel universe’ itself is a facet of the astronomical theory of the multiverse. That is another rabbit hole on its own. The basic idea is based on how the Big Bang kick-started the universe, it probably created universes other than our own. To further explain the multiverse, the parallel universe is one of many explanations to the multiverse. This stems from the idea that space-time is flat and goes on and on as multiple universes. However, the number of sequences in which particles can be configured is limited. Hence the number of possible particle configurations in multiple universes would be limited to 10^10^122 distinct possibilities.

Meaning in an infinite number of cosmic patches, the particle arrangements within them must repeat — infinitely many times over. Precisely, there are infinitely many ‘parallel universes’ with another you in each one, living slightly varying lives from each other. That difference can add up to minor changes or a completely different situation altogether.

This can’t be real; out of all the evidence out there to support the theory of parallel universes, let’s look at a theory by a scientist whose name, even the average layman is aware of, Stephen Hawking. Just before his death, physicist's Stephen Hawking's last paper published in May 2018 also talked about the multiverse.

In an interview published in The Washington Post, Hawking explained that while the multiverse might be smaller than we anticipated, the chances that these universes still have another you, living similar lives to each other are still there.

"We are not down to a single, unique universe, but our findings imply a significant reduction of the multiverse to a much smaller range of possible universes."

But just because Stephen Hawking believed the theory of parallel universes, doesn’t mean we should also believe. As astrophysicist Ethan Siegal explained, although space-time could go on forever and ever in theory, the inflation of the universe didn’t continue after the Big Bang, because that kind of energy is not just lying around. As for the repeated or similar sequences of particles in the available cosmic space, Ethan Siegal said there are limitations with that idea. Since the universe is just under 14 billion years old, it is obviously not infinite, but a finite amount. This then limits the number of possibilities for particles to rearrange themselves. So, it’s less likely there’s an alternate you in an alternate universe, and that they explored the ‘maybes’ you didn’t.