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Journal nizo's Journal: Parallel universes 24

Journal by nizo

I recently bought the first two seasons of Sliders, a corny sci-fi show where the characters "slid" from one parallel universe to another (usually one or two per show). I find the idea of parallel universes compelling, and it has been theorized that there are an infinite number of parallel universes (see google or wikipedia for more info). The idea of searching for the perfect universe to live in sounds really cool, since at times it seems like this one (or at least, this planet) will take forever to "fix". But then it hit me: if there are an infinite number of universes, why are we not being inundated by travelers from parallel worlds? Certainly there are many hostile technologically advanced universes out there, capable of pillaging other universes right? Or is ours so horrible that it isn't worth visiting? (Talk about a depressing thought) Anyway, I am at a loss to explain why we haven't seen proof of visitors from parallel universes, unless it is impossible to travel between universes, or this is the only universe, or the only one with life in it, which seems unlikely. Unless we are being invaded, as our resources are quietly siphoned away, and our planet is slowly destroyed by the invaders. Where is my tinfoil hat anyway?

p.s. How come I can't pick the "Science" icon for journals? Ok maybe this isn't science, but still....

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Parallel universes More

Parallel universes

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  • Well, Uncle Nizo, do you know why Sliders only lasted 2 seasons. No, it wasn't because of the terrible acting or the poorly written scripts and cheesy dialogue. It was because the government thought the writers/creaters were hitting a little too close to home, if you know what I mean.

    Under my carefully constructed wig, I am now wearing a tinfoil hat. Shhh, please do not tell anyone! It may already be too late for you, but think of the children!!

    • Sorry, I meant to say it lasted 4 seasons. See? They are already getting to me!! ACK!
    • As one of the FBI agents said to the lady who kept coming into their office with a tinfoil hat on:

      You had better make sure it is grounded.

      She chose to link together paperclips and let it trail the ground. Let's see what you come up with. ;) I want pictures!

      Oh yes. And the obligatory: there is no such thing as sliding. Move along.
  • I love that Chili Peppers track.
  • There's only one universe, but it's damn big.
  • The most likely "travelers between universes" would be those who get here accidentally- from parallel universes so close to ours that only the pasts, not the present, would be different.

    Sometimes I think I'm such a parallel universe traveler- I remember things a LOT differently than Wikipedia says they happened for instance. Especially the Reagan years somehow. Nobody else seems to remember us killing priests in Nicaragua, or the Grenada invasion, and the terrorist attack that I remember causing a nuclea
    • It's strange, I also sometime have this feeling, but I always just write it off as acid flashbacks. I might just be a subspace anomaly.

      If this post disappears suddenly I'll know I've hopped universes again, no tinfoil hat can save me...

      (I was young and wanted to try everything. I'm glad I didn't try everything.)
  • If there are infinite universes (which is an infinitely large "if"), and if it is possible to move between them, some possible reasons why we haven't met any sliders:
    1. The (N+1)th dimensional distance between universes is large, and only a small number of them can reach us
    2. The universes are mutually inimicable to foreign matter (like Asimov's The Gods Themselves only moreso)
    3. Some entity within (or "near") our universe is blocking or redirecting sliders for their own purposes
    4. God rules over all of the other
  • I've pondered parallel Universes as well, but I had not considered why we have not been visited (though some might argue that that could be the Greys;-). I wonder if it simply a question of time. Each of the parallel universes could co-exist, but at a slightly different rate of time. In order to travel betwixt them then, you'd have to change the rate at which time moves for you and for any matter which needs to be transported as well.

    Time is rather fascinating, in that it prevades our existence and yet

    • Although the reports of people disappearing and appearing in locations at the otherside of the world could be considered proof. Although I've always considered it micro tears in time-space it could also be the case that somebody fell through the cosmic divide between universes into the next universe with the other person being pushed out due to the new person being introduced...

      Or am I just being paranoid.
      • I have not heard of this phenomena, could you elaborate a bit more? It would certainly put an interesting spin on the day to find your self suddenly in Instanbul whilst walking the puppy dog- especially if he ended up somewhere else. It also makes you wonder, if its truly happening, how many folks find themselves in the middle of the ocean?
        • I'm not sure where I read/heard it and I'm sure snopes has an entry but the story goes something like:

          A guy was walking around somewhere in the US and suddenly found himself in Tokyo.

          I'm sorry I don't have exact details, but it was a long time since I read/heard it and at the time I didn't have a good mind mapper to store it in.
    • If you let go of all of your attachments, and assimilate yourself to the nature of the universe (Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forebearance), then it will no longer restrict you and you will be free to do as you please (unless it's bad things, in which case you'll quickly find yourself trapped in this prison, the physical realm, again). Wanna know how to make all this happen? www.falundafa.org [falundafa.org] Or, you can remain here, and enjoy reincarnating over and over again, and never remembering who you truly are.
    • Actually time and the speed of light are constants that should hold true in any universe with the same physical laws.

      There is a long term drift in the speed of light in our own universe that we have yet to explain, however.

      But the best explanation we have right now is that time is an artifact of quantum mechanics. This artifact is based on the Plank-Wheeler time; events cannot be measured at a time scale smaller than this. The time itself is dervied by the Plank-Wheeler length and the speed of light. A
  • >I am at a loss to explain why we haven't seen proof of visitors from parallel universes,

    How else do you explain GWB?

    • Re:huh? (Score:2)

      by nizo ( 81281 ) *
      Why is it we always get the evil versions of everyone? Maybe we are the "prison universe" like the one in, uhh, "The One".
  • too bad people have no taste in TV. That's why reality TV is STILL not punishable by death, and great shows like Sliders is relegated to DVD.

  • Yes. But what if they all start "now", and this universe is just the concretization of one of the infinite possible universes out there, where each new instant of time can make our universe cross over to another `thread` in the scala of many possible universes that continue from that instant of time.

    Think of it like the quantum uncertainty principle thought experiment, where you have a cat in a box. You don`t know if the cat is alive or dead. In fact, the cat can be both, but in our world (or so we seem
  • Taking as valid the idea that there are an infinite number of parallel universes, the seeming lack of visitors may mean a number of other things:

    #1 Where would we put someone who claimed to be from a parallel universe? That's right. The insane asylum until they were "cured" and could differentiate between reality and fantasy.

    #2 Travel may not be controllable. With an infinite number of parallel universes, it may be impossible to pick where you will land and even more impossible to get back home. Tho

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