In other posts in this blog (see one of the
thematic threads at the end of this post) I have talked about various theories
of multiverses and asserted that none of them is scientific, as it is
impossible to prove that they are false. In fact, I doubt if they can even be
considered philosophical. I consider them imaginative fantasies: science
fiction, rather than science.
The funny thing is that the idea of the multiverse
is not new. I’ve
mentioned before that its first appearance in science fiction was in a
novel by Clifford Simak (Cosmic Engineers, 1950) that develops a short
story published in 1939 by the same author.
But Simak’s novel also has precedents; quite old,
by the way. Chapter 21, verse 1 of Revelation, a book written towards the end
of the first century, says this:
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first
heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more.
A new heaven and a new earth. What is this talking
about? Obviously about another universe, where we are supposed to go, after our
death. It seems, therefore, that in the Christian vision of the cosmos, God has
made at least two universes: ours, and another one for the next life. This
would be the theological
multiverse, a name I’ve just invented.
When physicists talk about other universes, they
often give free rein to their imagination. I’ll do the same.
The second universe would have its own time,
independent of ours. If we want them to be related somehow, I’d say
that the two axes of time are orthogonal (perpendicular to each other). Christ
(God incarnated as a man), in his death, leaves our time and passes through to
the other time. On his way, he captures all the human beings that have ever existed
or will exist, and drags them to the other universe. We all reach the other
universe at the initial moment of its own time. We all arrive at the same time.
No one must wait for anyone in the next life.
I will add two additional considerations:
- Some atheist cosmologists cling to the various theories of the multiverse to
safeguard their atheism. They seem to believe that, if the multiverse
were proven to exist, this would show that God does not exist. I can’t see
why. If God has created a universe, what can prevent him from creating
two, one hundred or one hundred thousand? The discovery of a multiverse
would do nothing but expand our field of vision, pointing out that there are
more levels in the universe than are dreamt of in our philosophy, paraphrasing
what Hamlet told Horatio. But this has happened before: Until the
beginning of the 20th century, it was believed that the universe consisted
just in the nearby stars. Later it was discovered that these stars make a
galaxy, and that there are billions of galaxies, separated by huge empty
spaces. This enormous increase in the size of the universe posed no
problem for the faith of believers. If it were discovered that there is a
multiverse (in other words: that the universe is even larger and more
complex than we thought) it won’t be a problem either.
- I’d never dare to present my theory, described in this article, as
if it were science. As things stand just now, none of the theories
of the multiverse is science. There are several, most of them incompatible
with the others. If an unexpected scientific advance were ever to take
place, proving that one of them were true, that theory would become
science. Just now there are no signs that such thing can happen. As for my
theory, I am afraid we won't know whether it is true until after our
death.
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