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In an alternate universe...

M

Marquis Rex

New Member
Most people these days are familiar with the concept of a parallel universe.
It has been theorised that every quantum possibility or reality that CAN occur DOES-thus forming parallel universes or quantum realities, perhaps seperated by a single event which made the universes diverge. Without wanting to delve into the physics of it, it can be a "fun" thought.

In this universe I am a single guy, a loner who is rarely alone, a people person who hates society in general and an accomplished senior engineer responsible for Engine performance development of Jaguar engines. [ This may soon change if things go according to plan...].

In a parallel universe me and Charlotte never broke up and she never went to Sweden,perhaps because her friends never influenced her the way they did, perhaps because we worked through things better...

In a parallel universe, I became a racing driver, living life much more on the egde, perhaps taking more risks with a contravercial career eating up everything in my life.

In another parallel universe I might have been a rock star if I had continued with my heavy metal group from my teen years and into University....

Most of the engineers I've asked this question to, don't have the imagination,artistic license or the candid vision to be able to answer this.
I know you people are different. What were YOU in a Parallel universe?
 
It is kind of a neat idea, isn't it - that every decision ever made spawned a parrallel universe for every option.

I'll have to think about my parrallel universes, though

Cheers, Martin
 
:eek: This is unbelievable!!!! I am now reading something about quantum reality that kind of thing. And I am much surprised and confused in reading!!!! wanted to find a time to talk about it. and now here is the thread!!!

So, I suppose that you must have known something about that cat, what's his name? :rolleyes: schrondinger's cat? Help me, i mean, would you like to explane a little about that??
Thank you so much. :)

Sorry to distract a little bit your topic. :eek: :)

Best regards,
 
Schrodinger's Cat:

First, we have a living cat and place it in a thick lead box. At this stage, there is no question that the cat is alive. We then throw in a vial of cyanide and seal the box. We do not know if the cat is alive or if it has broken the cyanide capsule and died. Since we do not know, the cat is both dead and alive, according to quantum law, in a superposition of states. It is only when we break open the box and learn the condition of the cat that the superposition is lost, and the cat becomes one or the other (dead or alive).

We know that superposition actually occurs at the subatomic level, because there are observable effects of interference, in which a single particle is demonstrated to be in multiple locations simultaneously. What that fact implies about the nature of reality on the observable level (cats, for example, as opposed to electrons) is one of the stickiest areas of quantum physics. Schrodinger himself said, later in life, that he wished he had never met that cat.

Cheers, Martin
 
Martin said:
Schrodinger's Cat:

We know that superposition actually occurs at the subatomic level, because there are observable effects of interference, in which a single particle is demonstrated to be in multiple locations simultaneously.
Cheers, Martin
Click to expand...


:rolleyes: :confused:
 
:D thanks for the copying thing! and

FAINT!!!!! :(


will be waiting for someone who can help me out, though, hopefully. :)
 
I'll give it a go.

The cat is just an example - what they're saying in that bit you quoted is this: the cat is not in a 'superposition'. It's just that every single atom out of which the cat is 'built up' is in a superposition (meaning: being both dead and alive, whatever that means on a subatomic level). And they think this is the case, because scientists have observed particles being in multiple locations at the same time.

I think.

Cheers, Martin
 
OMG, i would invite you for a big ice cream if I can do it now!!! It does help!!!!

LOTS LOTS..... thanks, martin. :)
 
Well, you know ...

Just wait, Litany will come round with a way more thorough explanation.

Cheers, Martin
 
Martin said:
Just wait, Litany will come round with a way more thorough explanation.
Click to expand...
Quantum physics is bunkum. How's that?

Basically, and paraphrasing like a naughty monkey, a thing has to be measured for it to have happened. But though you make that measurement with a mechanical gidget, it's the act of observation by a conscious observer that actually makes the event have happened (or collapses its Eigenstate (sp?)).

So the cat was in the box along with a radioactive isotope, a device for measuring the decay of radioactive isotopes, and some tangy cyanide. If the radioactive material decayed, the device would pick it up and cause the cyanide to be released. If not, the cyanide would remain sealed and the cat would live another day and get the opportunity to partake in yet another screwed up experiment.

Before you open the box and observe that the cat has popped its clogs or is alive and well and incredibly pissed off, it exists in the state that Martin mentioned. It's neither alive nor dead. So we open the box, we collapse the Eigenstate, and the cat scratches our eyes out.

The cat is just used as an illustration. The whole universe has no set state without an observer, and nor does any isolated part of the universe.

But it doesn't really have anything to do with parallel universes, unless the box is a gateway to the parallel universe and you reckon the cat is just hanging around there till it's safe to come out. But I think that might really screw up the experiment. Afterall, you could open the box and find the cat gone, or it could swap places with a cat from a universe where cats are impervious to the effects of cyanide, or it could just go off and buy a really big gun to shoot you with.

Personally I don't believe any of it. Why can't the cat observe itself? Anyone who's seen a cat will know that cats do more observing than most people. They're always sitting around on sofas or garden walls staring at the universe around them.

And what about Shroedinger? He's seen the cat, but who's looking at him to collapse his Eigenstate? Cats aren't intelligent enough to observe themselves but physicists are? I just don't buy it. Cats aren't my favourite animals, but there are certainly cats that are more intelligent than some people I've met.

So, if a tree falls in a forest and there's no one there to see it, is quantum physics all bunkum?

And so to return to the topic, my parallel universe would be a universe where parallel universes didn't exist. Time travel would be rife with unsolvable paradoxes and I would be my own grandmother.
 
And there you have it.

Don't forget to tip the waitress on your way out, folks!

Cheers, Martin
 
Yes! I've often thought about "what if". I'll not bore y'all with details about everything I've thought, but I will add one small example to this discussion.

In my alternate universe, I would have expounded on a short story I wrote in my teens and would have pursued writing as my life-choice career.
 
Hmm, so for every decision that you've made, there would be a parallel existence for the opposite decision, right? I think I've made good decisions for the most part, so I think that in a parallel universe, it would be much bleaker.

Of course, the most compelling difference for most people is the romantic angle, especially as you're a different person depending on who you spend your time with. I can see opportunities where I would've spent time around more conservative thinking people, and less conservative people. But not any people who form cults, live in bunkers, or try and assassinate public figures. So the changes would not be hugely different.

Of course, there's the argument that the person I was at the moment I made the decision could only make the choices I made, so there isn't any real chance of divergence.

My head hurts. This is why the only philosopher I like is Voltaire.
 
Actually, the quantum universe is infinite so there are infintie amounts of you. So I guess there would be lots of you that are not even you because, like you say, you would no longer be you. Makes your head spin! lol
 
Ashlea said:
I can see opportunities where I would've spent time around more conservative thinking people, and less conservative people. But not any people who form cults, live in bunkers, or try and assassinate public figures.
Click to expand...

Does that mean you won't be round for dinner any time soon?
 
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