Is there a real chance that there is a multiverse?

[SerenelyBlue]

I am intimidated by the fine tuning argument. In the past I subscribed to the "god of the gaps" view, but now I am more sensible. I believe, or want to believe, that the universe has a natural beginning and it makes sense to me that the universe probably went through a many versions before this one originated.
Are there any people here who believe in the multiverse, or at least think it is a viable option?


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[Alex K]

I think it's far from absurd. It would be a nice continuation of history. First we found out that the earth is not the center but just a planet among others going around the sun, then we found out that there are uncounted suns in our Galaxy, and then we found out that there just as many entire Galaxies in the visible universe, with no end in sight beyond the visible universe. That our "universe" should again only be a pocket in a much larger structure, seems quite plausible to me. On top of that, I find the "many worlds" picture in quantum mechanics is also rather compelling from a theoretical Occam's razor perspective. So count me in as someone who finds it very plausible, even if there is only indirect empirical evidence. I don't "believe" it though, for that I'd need a bit more evidence.

[Rhondazvous]

It takes light 2.5 million years to reach us from the nearest galaxy Andromeda. Imagine how long it would take light to reach us from another universe. By what means could we even determine that the light is in another universe and not another galaxy in our universe?

Space is infinite. Matter is not. Matter has volume that which is finite cannot fill that which is infinite. Yet, there is no law requiring the buck to stop here. There could be other universes. But they would go through tremendous cosmic evolutions before their light reaches us.

[Iroscato]

A wacky idea I once had about the acceleration of the universe's expansion was that it's surrounded by other universes that are also expanding. When parts of universes collide, they collapse down into singularities that then 'bounce back' and repeat the cycle, constantly reforging and ripping apart.

I probably gave Alex a nosebleed with that...

[Iroscato]

Or an erection. It's a coin toss.

[Brian37]

I am intimidated by the fine tuning argument.  In the past I subscribed to the "god of the gaps" view, but now I am more sensible.  I believe, or want to believe, that the universe has a natural beginning and it makes sense to me that the universe probably went through a many versions before this one originated.
Are there any people here who believe in the multiverse, or at least think it is a viable option?


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Why? "Fine tuning" is a bullshit argument. The theist is still stuck with the multitude of god claims in human history. And if their claim is everything has a creator, then something had to create their God, and that God also had to have a creator, and so on, that is the problem with "Infinite regress". 

The argument in science isn't infinite or finite requiring a super cognition. Trying to slap a cosmic factory boss sky wizard as a gap answer is simply bullshit. If science worked like that then Thor would be a valid gap answer to explain lightening. If science worked like that then Poseidon would be a valid explanation for hurricanes.

None of what we have yet to discover needs a super cognition as a starting point. 

The reason god/God/super natural/deity claims exist, isn't because they are real or valid, but because humans have flawed perceptions that lead them to project their own qualities on non human objects or events.  

Humans are NOT the center of the planet or the universe. Our planet has had 5 mass extinctions in its 4 billion year history, and in 5 billion years our sun will fry our planet, and the universe will go on with no record of our existence or the fictional gods we make up. Our sun, is only one star of billions in our galaxy. A galaxy so big it takes 1 ray of light at the speed of light to cross, in a 13.8 billion year old universe full of 100s of billions of galaxies. 

We have stars we have found that make our sun look like the size of a pea. We have scientific tools that have detected 3 billion year old gravitational waves from a black hole. Now I find it patently absurd to claim a master toy maker putting us in all this empty space on a very hostile planet full of natural disasters and disease, childhood famine, as well as child molestation and murder, and adult crime and war, in a solar system that has taken scientists 40 years to get a very slow object out of our solar system.

That seems to me not to be "fine tuning" but the crap shoot reality is that we merely are riding in. I think you don't need to assume a sky wizard one bit Dont mistake our natural ability to discover and figure things out as being divinely handed to us.

[account_inactive]

Dunno.

[Alex K]

A wacky idea I once had about the acceleration of the universe's expansion was that it's surrounded by other universes that are also expanding. When parts of universes collide, they collapse down into singularities that then 'bounce back' and repeat the cycle, constantly reforging and ripping apart.

I probably gave Alex a nosebleed with that...

It sounds like a weird mixture of Eternal Inflation and Lee Smolin's idea of new universes created by Black holes in a Darwinistic process, so, completely mainstream

[Iroscato]

A wacky idea I once had about the acceleration of the universe's expansion was that it's surrounded by other universes that are also expanding. When parts of universes collide, they collapse down into singularities that then 'bounce back' and repeat the cycle, constantly reforging and ripping apart.

I probably gave Alex a nosebleed with that...

It sounds like a weird mixture of Eternal Inflation and Lee Smolin's idea of new universes created by Black holes in a Darwinistic process, so, completely mainstream

Dammit, I'm tryna be a special snowflake here!

[Jesster]

Is there a chance? I'll use my usual answer for these things: I don't know. It's not so simple to weigh the odds for things without real data. We can make guesses, but that won't get you much beyond the same sort of day dreaming that theists go through.