Scientists Calculate How Many Alternate Universes We Can Screw With
endymi0n October 19, 2009
As a part of the lovely system of things that underlies and ultimately controls this holographic illusion we call reality, the Quantum Mechanics, Many Worlds theory is plum and ripe with delicious Sci-Fi goodness.
You can’t swing a bagful of tribbles around without striking a Sci-Fi movie or book that deals with the tricky alternate universe plot-line. The latest Star Trek extravaganza? Spock with a goatee? Nuff said. Boffins at Stanford, Andrei Linde and Vitaly Vanchurin (awesome scientist names) have calculated just how many universes humans or other conscious entities can observe and therefore ruin. The number of the beast is 10^10^16. This number is smaller then it could have been and its limitations have to do with the amount of information a human brain can gobble. It’s a finite number because there are a finite number of things in the universe and therefor a finite number of quantum states. Infinity (and real random numbers) are impossible in a closed system. Science is fun! Wrap your head around all that and go have another coffee. Thanks Popsci.
