Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Coocoo for Kaku

Today it was so hot out that I stepped out of the shower and my hair was instantly dry. I decided at that point that I wasn't leaving the house. It takes a real nerd to skip school to stay home and watch educational television, but that's pretty much what I did.

Lately I've been dabbling with quantum mechanics/physics and the theories of multi dimensions and parallel universes.

I have an audio recording of a lecture by Chuck Missler on alien encounters that I started on my way home from work last night. After 15 minutes of trying to grasp the notion of what a fifth dimension would look like, let alone trying to understand where the additional five after that would fit in, I was left completely confused but intensely fascinated. Missler tries to illustrate an object that is a step beyond a 3-D object (which we are more familiar with), by making reference to a "hypercube".

After a quick google image search, this is what I found for a visual of a hypercube.



Basically a box within a box. I get it, but didn't have the easiest time really applying it to our universe.

Lucky for me, while cruising through Comcast On Demand, I found a show called "Sci Fi Science"



Unluckily for me, anyone that spends a 90 degree day watching a show like this is destined to become a spinster with 15 cats. But regardless.

"Sci Fi Science" is hosted by Dr. Michio Kaku



Dr. Kaku (who's name is WAY too close to the word kaka for me not to make reference to), is a "theoretical physicist". Theoretical. How friggen cool is that? I have since decided to change my current job title to theoretical drug store cashier. "If I were going to ring you out, it would look like this. But I'm not." Unfortunately, I think my paycheck would be theoretical. Then again, that's not much different than... anyway.

Kaku's episode on parallel universes and how to travel between them, had a much simpler breakdown for my beginner mind.

I found that he has also written a book on the subject, if anyone is interested in following down my same path of the cat lady lifestyle.



Kaku describes the universe as bubbles. Our universe makes up one bubble. And all around us (in other dimensions?) are other bubbles that were created by the same "big bang" that created us.



If the same particles came together in the same way during the big bang that we did, you would have to guess that there would be solar systems out there with the exact same constructs as ours. That would mean same suns, earths, chemical make-up, laws of physics, and assumably living things. The interesting part to consider is would other earth-like planets be exactly the same as ours? Is there another Haley out there (scary thought)?



Or would humans in other universes make different choices than we have in our history, creating a completely different world?



Without traveling to these other universes, we would never know. And that's where the difficulty comes. Traveling to a parallel universe would be ultimately impossible. Or would it? Kaku believes that this notion may not be as impossible as it seems and constructs an actual scientific plan to make the voyage a reality.

If you're interested in hearing that plan, you'll have to check out the show for yourself. Not because I found a new career in advertising, but because there's no way in hell I'd be able to explain it. It's worth an hour of your time anyway. I'm pretty sure it would give even the mildest of Trekkie's a hard-on.



If you are interested in parallel universes and want to learn more, there is a plethora of information out there. I found website after website explaining all the different theories and explanations. If I come across anymore that strike my interest, I'll be sure to post them. As for today, if my brain tries to absorb any more information, it's going to burst.

2 comments:

  1. Love that dude. The esposa watches his lectures on tv regularly. Im convinced that in an alternate universe she actually keeps her cellphone charged and the car clean. She's convinced that in another universe I "put things where they belong".

    Ah, nerd fights.

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