Where Is Your God Now? Multiverses and the Big Bounce.

This article, by Tim Folger, was published on the 10th of November in 2008. It consists mostly of information provided by Andrei Lind, a professor of Physics at Stanford. Linde discusses Multiverse Theory- namely, how it was formed as a way to contradict the Fine-Tuning dilemma (in case you're unfamiliar, the Fine-Tuning dilemma points out that there are too many convenient coincidences which made life possible and that indicates the work of an Intelligent Creator- it ties nicely in with the Anthropic Principle which suggests the universe was made-to-order for human life). It summarizes the idea that if any of a hundred thousand tiny things were even the tiniest bit different, life simply wouldn't be; it also goes over how space is the exact same temperature everywhere- an important detail, considering that if there was a Big Bang (an explosion of superheated matter) the universe would have to cool by exchanging heat throughout itself (and the universe is big, so that exchange would take lots of time to reach an equilibrium), and would not be a consistent temperature (i.e, some parts would be warmer or cooler than others at any given time because of the nature of heat). Now, given that nothing (not even heat) can go faster than light, it stands to reason that if there was a Big Bang then matter would still be cooling (as the Big Bang is a time of zero mass and infinite energy) and the temperature of space wouldn't be the same everywhere- but it is. That's where the theory of the Big Bounce comes into play; instead of an intelligent creator spontaneously existing everything with but a whim, it suggests that the universe's origin was a densely packed clump of all the matter it now contains; one capable of cooling quickly by the process of exchange detailed by the laws of thermodynamics. This dense block of matter then was subjected to inflation, growing to the size it is now (funnily enough, it's speeding up, too); however, the Big Bounce theory suggests that this is a cycle: the Big Bang (time of rapid expansion) follows a collapse of a previous universe with entirely different laws of physics (an entirely different reality), similar to the way it is suggested that our own universe will eventually reach a critical point of acceleration and collapse, to be followed by another expansion with totally different rules.

This is the iteration of the multiverse- infinite possibilities over as much time as it needs; although, to be fair, I doubt that the passage of time is as important to the universe as it is for us. In fact, Linde's 20-year long period of exhaustive research has even led to a connection with String Theory; as the theory requires a total of 11 dimensions to work (and unfortunately could never be disproved because of the number of total solutions the basic equations of string theory have- 10^1,000, which takes String Theory out of the running for legitimate scientific study). The article says that "When a new universe sprouts from its parent, the concept goes, only three of the dimensions of space predicted by string theory will inflate into large, full-blown, inhabitable spaces. The other dimensions of space will remain essentially invisible—but nonetheless will influence the form the universe takes". In short, everything is connected (be it by miniscule vibrating strings or theoretical ties of thought) and the multiverse is starting to look like a pretty legitimate idea.