03-05-2009, 07:45 AM
Hi,
Parallel universes come about from extension of theories (quantum mechanics and general relativity) which are testable (and have been extensively tested). Parallel universes today stand in the same place that electromagnetic waves stood in 1865. They are predictions made on the basis of equations which are in turn based on observation and experiment.
When Maxwell unified electricity and magnetism, manipulating the resulting equations resulted in a prediction of waves propagating through space. Had those waves not been found, Maxwell's Equations would have had to be modified. Since Hertz was able to generate and detect those waves, the likelyhood that Maxwell's equations were valid was increased.
--Pete
Quote:My point is that our theoretical or hypothetical knowledge consists of many things which are invisible, and/or unprovable.Strictly speaking, anything unprovable is unknowable. We can postulate it, speculate about it, imagine it, write sf stories about it, etc., etc., but we can't know it. We can believe in it, but it would have to be a faith based belief.
Quote:I don't look down on people who want to talk about "God" as embracing a fairy tale, any more than I would Dr. Stephan Hawking when he is talking about parallel universes. Currently, parallel universes are just as much a fairy tale, . . .Major difference: 'god' is a concept that has no basis. Belief in god is strictly unsupported faith. There is no theory that falsifiability explains part of existence and that extrapolates to 'god'.
Parallel universes come about from extension of theories (quantum mechanics and general relativity) which are testable (and have been extensively tested). Parallel universes today stand in the same place that electromagnetic waves stood in 1865. They are predictions made on the basis of equations which are in turn based on observation and experiment.
When Maxwell unified electricity and magnetism, manipulating the resulting equations resulted in a prediction of waves propagating through space. Had those waves not been found, Maxwell's Equations would have had to be modified. Since Hertz was able to generate and detect those waves, the likelyhood that Maxwell's equations were valid was increased.
Quote:Might proof of parallel universes or proof of the existence of God occur tomorrow?No. The difference between testing for radio waves and testing for parallel universes is that no one knows how to do the latter (yet) and it will probably take many orders of magnitude more energy than we know how to control or generate at this time. Parallel universes are a prediction generated from the extension of tested theories, god is just an unsupported hypothesis, underivable and untestable.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?