Clipmarks | Multiverse Clips

Is our universe fine-tuned for life? The Anthropic Principle Under Scrutiny

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:21:43 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Adams selected a range of possible values for each of these constants, then put them into a computer model that created a multitude of universes, or a virtual "multiverse". Each universe within the multiverse used different values for the three constants and was subject to slightly different laws of physics.

About a quarter of the resulting universes turned out to be populated by energy-generating stars. "You can change alpha or the gravitational constant by a factor of 100 and stars still form," Adams says, suggesting that stars can exist in universes in which at least some fundamental constants are wildly different than in our universe.

Clip Source: space.newscientist.com

DON'T take our starry skies for granted. If you were unlucky enough to be living in some other universe, you might have nothing to stare at but black holes.

At least, that's the view of a new study that examines the nature of other universes that might support life and suggests that our cosmic habitat is nothing special after all - wondrously starry skies apart.

The idea that certain aspects of our universe make it uniquely suited to life has never been properly tested, says Fred Adams

You hear people say our universe is fine-tuned for life, that stars are rare and couldn't form if certain things were different," he says. "The truth is, no one has done the calculations." Adams has now rectified that situation and found that it is not unusual for stars to form that can support life.

Adams reckons his results, which will be published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, suggest that the "specialness" of our universe could well be an illusion

Tags: astronomy, anthropic principle, multiverse

David Deutsch: Quantum physicist

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:01:47 GMT

clipped by: zalisan

Clip Source: www.ted.com

David Deutsch's 1997 book The Fabric of Reality laid the groundwork for an all-encompassing Theory of Everything, and galvanized interest in the idea of a quantum computer, which could solve problems of hitherto unimaginable complexity.

Why you should listen to him:

More than any other thinker, David Deutsch will force you to reconsider your place in the world. This legendary Oxford physicist is the leading proponent of the multiverse (or "many worlds") interpretation of quantum theory -- the astounding idea that our universe is constantly spawning countless numbers of parallel worlds.

In his own words: "Everything in our universe -- including you and me, every atom and every galaxy -- has counterparts in these other universes." If that doesn't alter your consciousness, then the other implications he's derived from his study of subatomic physics -- including the possibility of time travel -- just might.

Tags: quantum theory, parallel worlds, subatomic physics, evolution

Mame on Ubuntu Linux

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:07:33 GMT

clipped by: Milentija

Clip Source: my.opera.com

MAME on Ubuntu Linux

sudo apt-get install xmame-common

This will install the emulator, if it doesn't work, enable Universe and Multiverse repositories. After xmame is installed you need gxmame which is a front-end application for MAME.

wget http://surfnet.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/gxmame/gxmame_0.35beta2-1_i386.deb

If the URL above does not work get gxmame here.

sudo dpkg -i gxmame_0.35beta2-1_i386.deb

After mame and gxmame packages is installed you need some ROM files, a ROM file is a game which runs under MAME. These can be obtained from a lot of places but you might want to try one of the following:

Mysteries of time, and the multiverse

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:05:23 GMT

clipped by: einbar

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

In his studies of entropy and the irreversibility of time, Caltech physicist Sean Carroll is exploring the idea that our universe is part of a larger structure.

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Caltech physicist Sean M. Carroll has been wrestling with the mystery of time. Most physical laws work equally well going backward or forward, yet time flows only in one direction. Writing in this month’s Scientific American, Carroll suggests that entropy, the tendency of physical systems to become more disordered over time, plays a crucial role. Carroll sat down recently at Caltech to explain his theory.

What's the problem with time?

The irreversibility of time is sort of the most obvious unanswered question in cosmology.

Time has been talked about in cosmology for many years, but we have a toolbox now we didn't used to have.

We have general relativity, string theory, discoveries in particle physics that we can use to help us find the right answer.

Dark, Perhaps Forever - Clueless about the universe

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:40:42 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Whatever proposal is eventually selected, the dark energy satellite will return a tidal wave of data about the universe and its weird denizens, both visible and invisible. This data is likely to transform astronomy in unpredictable ways, but there is no guarantee that it will nail the mystery of dark energy.

“We really need new theory, and we have none,” Dr. Krauss said.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

A decade ago, astronomers discovered that what is true for your car keys is not true for the galaxies. Having been impelled apart by the force of the Big Bang, the galaxies, in defiance of cosmic gravity, are picking up speed on a dash toward eternity. If they were keys, they would be shooting for the ceiling.

It is still shocking. Although cosmologists have adopted a cute name, dark energy, for whatever is driving this apparently antigravitational behavior on the part of the universe

nobody claims to understand why it is happening

“The discovery of dark energy has greatly changed how we think about the laws of nature,”

By weight it is 4 percent atoms and 22 percent so-called dark matter of unknown identity

That leaves 74 percent for the weight of whatever began causing the cosmos to accelerate about five billion years ago

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

he said, maybe physicists should give up trying to explain that number and look instead for a theory that generates all kinds of universes, a so-called multiverse.

Tags: astronomy, cosmology, dark energy

Strange ring circles dead star

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 11:15:06 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Strange universe, or multiverse, we live in.

Clip Source: www.astronomy.com

Magnetars are neutron stars with extremely powerful magnetic fields. NASA/Swift/Sonoma State University/A. Simonnet

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found a bizarre ring of material around the magnetic remains of a star that blasted to smithereens.

The stellar corpse, SGR 1900+14, belongs to a class of objects known as magnetars. These are the cores of massive stars that blew up in supernova explosions, but unlike other dead stars, they slowly pulsate with X-rays and have tremendously strong magnetic fields.

"The universe is a big place and weird things can happen," said Stefanie Wachter of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, who found the ring serendipitously. "I was flipping through archived Spitzer data of the object, and that's when I noticed it was surrounded by a ring we'd never seen before." Wachter is lead author of a paper about the findings in this week's Nature.

Tags: astronomy

Astronomy Radio from the BBC

Sat, 31 May 2008 00:25:48 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: A selection

Clip Source: www.bbc.co.uk

BBC Radio 4

Cosmic Quest

Listen - Omnibus

Just Six Numbers

Wed, 28 May 2008 22:01:34 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: Martin Rees argues that six numbers underlie the fundamental physical properties of the universe, and that each is the precise value needed to permit life to flourish. In laying out this premise, he joins a long, intellectually daring line of cosmologists and astrophysicists – not to mention philosophers, theologians, and logicians – stretching all the way back to Galileo, who presume to ask: Why are we here?

Clip Source: kemo-d7.livejournal.com

the fuel that powers the sun

converts .007 of its mass into energy when it fuses into helium

If the number were only a mite smaller— .006 instead of .007— a proton could not bond to a neutron, and the universe would consist only of hydrogen. No chemistry, no life.

And if it were slightly larger, just .008, fusion would be so ready and rapid that no hydrogen would have survived from the Big Bang. No solar systems, no life.

And that's just one of Rees's six numbers. If you toss in the other five, life and the structure of the universe as we know it become unlikely to an absurd degree.

Astronomer Hugh Ross has compared the state of affairs to "the possibility of a Boeing 747 aircraft being completely assembled as a result of a tornado striking a junkyard."

Rees proposes that our universe is a tiny, isolated corner of what he terms the multiverse.

Tags: science, universe

Does Time Run Backward in Other Universes?

Thu, 22 May 2008 15:37:15 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: The intro to a very readable article. I like the reference to multiverse.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Key Concepts

The basic laws of physics work equally well forward or backward in time, yet we perceive time to move in one direction only—toward the future. Why?
To account for it, we have to delve into the prehistory of the universe, to a time before the big bang. Our universe may be part of a much larger multiverse, which as a whole is time-symmetric. Time may run backward in other universes.

The universe does not look right. That may seem like a strange thing to say, given that cosmologists have very little standard for comparison. How do we know what the universe is supposed to look like? Nevertheless, over the years we have developed a strong intuition for what counts as “natural”—and the universe we see does not qualify.

Tags: astronomy, space, universes, time

Does Time Run Backward in Other Universes

Wed, 21 May 2008 20:47:09 GMT

clipped by: ekorstanje
clipper's remarks: Long article but worth the read.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Does Time Run Backward in Other Universes?

One of the most basic facts of life is that the future looks different from the past. But on a grand cosmological scale, they may look the same

The basic laws of physics work equally well forward or backward in time, yet we perceive time to move in one direction only—toward the future. Why?

To account for it, we have to delve into the prehistory of the universe, to a time before the big bang. Our universe may be part of a much larger multiverse, which as a whole is time-symmetric. Time may run backward in other universes.

Tags: time

Science and Unobservable Things

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:42:52 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Quite interesting article.

Clip Source: cosmicvariance.com

If you are firmly convinced that talking about the multiverse and other unobservable things is deeply unscientific and a leading indicator of the Decline of the West, nothing I say will change your mind. In particular, you may judge that the question which inflation tries to answer — “Why was the early universe like that?” — is a priori unscientific, and we should just accept the universe as it is. That’s an intellectually consistent position that you are welcome to take. The good news is that the overwhelming majority of interesting science being done today remains closely connected to tangible phenomena just as it (usually!) has been through the history of modern science. But if you instead ask in good faith why sensible people would be led to hypothesize all of this unobservable superstructure, there are perfectly good answers to be had.

Tags: universe, scientific approach, speculation, multiverse, unobservable, science

Parallel Worlds Theory Recordings

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:05:18 GMT

clipped by: wghrad

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The recordings are believed to have been made in 1977, after a physics conference at which Everett's parallel worlds theory was resurrected after being shunned for two decades. The tapes were thought lost after his death at the age of 51 in 1982.

The tapes document how Hugh Everett, a quantum physicist, developed his idea at the age of 24, while a graduate student at Princeton University in 1957. Everett's theory gave rise to the concept of a multitude of universes, or a "multiverse", where all life's possibilities play out. It means that somewhere Elvis is still rocking, the Nazis won the second world war and England qualified for Euro 2008.

The only known recordings of a brilliant physicist who predicted the existence of parallel universes have been found in the basement of his rock star son's flat.

Ian Sample, science correspondent
The Guardian,
Monday November 26 2007

Tape shows how physicist predicted parallel worlds

Parallel universes beguile science

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 09:57:19 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Another type of multiverse arises with the theory of chaotic inflation, which tells us that all these parallel worlds are expanding so rapidly -- stretching further and further in to space -- that they remain out of reach even if one could travel at the speed of light forever

Clip Source: physorg.com

Is the universe -- correction: "our" universe -- no more than a speck of cosmic dust amid an infinite number of parallel worlds?

A staple of mind-bending science fiction, the possibility of multiple universes has long intrigued hard-nosed physicists, mathematicians and cosmologists too.

We may not be able -- as least not yet -- to prove they exist, many serious scientists say, but there are plenty of reasons to think that parallel dimensions are more than figments of eggheaded imagination.

The specter of shadow worlds has been thrown into relief by the December release of "The Golden Compass," a Hollywood blockbuster adapted from the first volume of Philip Pullman's classic sci-fi trilogy, "His Dark Materials".

"The multiverse is no longer a model, it is a consequence of our models," explained Barrau, who recently published an essay for CERN defending the concept.

"Your alter ego is simply a prediction of the so-called concordance model of cosmology," he said.

Tags: parallel universes, chaos, quantum theory, multiverse

God and the Multiverse: science, philosophy and theology

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:32:05 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Need to read whole article. Represents a strand of thinking that sees little conflict between science and theology if they are both seen as doing different things.

Clip Source: commentisfree.guardian.co.uk

Of course, theologians and scientists differ in many respects, vis-à-vis their disciplines. Theology, for example, puts mind at the base of all things; science proceeds as if matter were the brute fact of existence (though that does not of itself exclude mind). But for the theist, the possibility of the multiverse can make perfect sense: it would be every possible state of things that could exist, formed in the mind of God. After all, God must be able to conceive of everything possible since that is implicit in the concept of divinity. Augustine and Nicholas of Cusa were just two theologians to have contemplated the possibility centuries ago.

Tags: theology, science, philosophy

Multiverse theory

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:56:21 GMT

clipped by: duvelic
clipper's remarks: Ops! The first part of this clip-universe has strange characteristic – it is invisible.
You have to press “Ctrl+A” (select all) to see this part. Sorry for inconvenience.

Clip Source: www.astronomy.pomona.edu

"This new concept is, potentially, as drastic an enlargement of our cosmic perspective as the shift from
pre-Copernican ideas to the realization that the Earth is orbiting a typical star on the edge of the Milky
Way."

There are stars with enough mass to collapse on themselves, forming what have been theorized as black holes. It is thought that within these black holes there is a point called "singularity" at which all physical laws may cease to exist. At this point the curvature of space-time becomes infinitely large, and modern science can no longer predict what will happen.

Einstein's theory of relativity cannot determine what effect singularity will have on an object, forming an uncertainty in our universe.

The Multiverse theory itself, regardless of parallel universes, has many implications.

Maybe life in another universe has a different meaning, but we know that our universe, at the very least is special in that it houses our kind of life.

Tags: science, theory, paralel, universe, multivere