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Why There Must Be a Multiple Universes

Professor of physics at Columbia University, Brian Greene explains how the idea of multiple universes, or a singular “multiverse”, supports other theories of how our universe came to be.
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In his new book The Hidden Reality, theoretical physicist Brian Greene says multiple universes are harder to avoid than to find. He traces the history of the idea from its inception to its current manifestation: “From the plain old ‘Quilted Multiverse theory’ that postulates that in this infinite universe there is bound to be repetition of the order of things, to the ‘Inflation theory’ that suggests that our universe began as a rapidly expanding bubble of empty space, Greene discusses them all. … The Hidden Reality both popularizes scientific ideas and shines a light on the path that will be explored by future physicists.”

What’s the Big Idea?

What is the true structure of our universe? Is it such that there is more than one universe? “‘String theory’ gained popularity because it successfully unifies General Relativity and Quantum Theory and verification is expected from the experiments currently being run at the Large Hadron Collider. Greene also ponders over the possibility of a ‘Simulated Multiverse’, theorising that we may all be part of a simulation, like that in The Matrix. Extending this supposition further, the creators of our simulation might themselves be part of another simulation and the final wonderland is the ‘Ultimate Multiverse’ in which everything that can exist and is mathematically consistent actually exists ‘somewhere’.”

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