Parallel universes might be real! This seems to be the implication as CERN scientists are close to achieving “inverse femtobarn” through their Large Hadron Collider (LHC). I have no idea what this means either. But I did get to watch a BBC documentary about this thing and this is what I understand: this LHC is basically a huge tunnel long enough for CERN scientists to collide particles at the speed of light, which would somehow recreate the atomic settings of the Big Bang, and by doing so, would help them see how matter is formed at its most basic level. And this is apparently important because it would supposedly answer the most important question in theoretical physics: what is reality made of?
By unlocking the basic spare parts of the universe, CERN scientists hope to finally explain everything that has been suggested by the Special Theory of Relativity, Quantum Physics, and String Theory to be possible. One of these things is the existence of a parallel universe.
However, before any sci-fi geek, aspiring time-traveller, or basically any person who have great regrets in life they’d like to correct get too excited over this, there is one caveat. As the linked article says: “Parallel universes could also be hidden within these dimensions, the thinking goes, but only in a so-called gravitational variety in which light cannot be propagated -- a fact which would make it nearly impossible to explore them.”
Don’t you just hate science?
Hollywood doesn’t care about caveats or science, which is why the movies “Another Earth” and “Upside Down” exist. Both movies operate under the “other world” premise but it’s the former that truly explores the “parallel universe” idea. In “Another Earth”, there literally exists a parallel Earth with parallel versions of everything including you. The story, judging from the trailer, seems to be this: a girl kills a man’s wife and kids in a car accident. This girl happens to have a ticket, which I assume is rare, to “Earth 2”. This gives her hope to redeem herself, to rid her mind of guilt, and to give the man another chance to live in a world where his family still exists.
Regrets and second chances are recurring themes in cinema, music, and art in general because they’re such strong and stubborn ideas. The CERN’s LHC project is so fascinating because it marries science with this human obsession. Theoretical physics gave us the idea that time and space aren’t straight and rigid but oblique and flexible. According to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, space-time branches out into an infinite number of parallel universes in every point of decision in one's life. Yesterday, for instance, while I was trying to decide where to eat for lunch, there instantly sprung forth a parallel universe where I ate at Papa John's, and another one where I ate at McDonald's (and where I apparently have totally given up trying not to be a fat slob), and another one where I probably got hit by a speeding truck. In short, reality isn't fixed.
This idea of parallel universes helped foster the romance of second chances in the modern world. But for decades this was more of a fantasy, or at best, a meditation.
Now we may come to a point where this could be real.
What if you could go to another reality where you made the right decision that changed your life for the better? What if you could go to a dimension, a new layer of space-time where you chose the right restaurant, the right course in college, or chose the right job, the right girl, the right thing to say, the right thing to do? What if hindsight – for the first time in human history – actually became valuable?
Imagine if all these were possible. The concept of regret would totally lose its teeth. The romance of second chances will be gone. The mystery of what-could-have-beens would dissolve into the ether of black holes, strings, and dark matter. We could go to a place where we would be happier and where it would be impossible to take that happiness for granted.
It sounds so mind-boggling and so strange that it doesn’t sound like life at all. A fact which would make it nearly impossible to explore them.
0 comments :
Post a Comment