The Development of Parallel Worlds: An Experiment

[Amy, Queen of Time]

I heard an interesting news story on NPR this morning about the differing development of parallel worlds and how much chance plays a part in our world. Of course, this theory is difficult to test in the real world, but that's where virtual worlds can test the theory for us. The researcher set up several online worlds and gave the members of the worlds the ability to determine which songs, pieces of art, etc. were the most popular in their respective worlds. A song in one world ended up being at the top of the charts. But in another world, that one placed nearly last. Anyhow, the point was that so much of our world and our lives are driven by chance. A true parallel world probably would have developed very differently from our own. I'm reminded of the parallel world in the Sliders television series where penicillin was never invented. While several people had researched the antibiotic qualities of certain fungal cultures before Fleming, the research that led him to penicillin was the result of accidentally leaving a petri dish out overnight. And then there's the latest scientific bit of wonder (currently under investigation for duplicability) where a female Japanese scientist decided to give cells an acid bath in order to create stem cells. Acid. How many years before someone ever thought to do that?

Anyhow, the scientist responsible for the parallel worlds experiment is Matthew Salganik. More details about his project can be found here: http://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/musicl... and his other interesting research items can be found on here: https://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/

[Robert]

Amy wrote: "I heard an interesting news story on NPR this morning about the differing development of parallel worlds and how much chance plays a part in our world. Of course, this theory is difficult to test ..."

Interesting. Happens to be a major theme in a (nameless) group member's Xmas novel (who just picked up major endorsement from a well-known scientific figure; I guess he'll post that news soon). The Observer Effect and Uncertainty Principle may also play a huge part in outcomes found in parallel universes. The possibilities (and universes) are indeed endless. But time travel may play a part, too, if you were able to travel to and from such parallel worlds. Depends on what level those worlds are.

I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that our universe is part of something grand. What that grandness is is the real question.

Thanks for the interesting post, Amy.

[[deleted user]]

This is great info for time travel writers. I have spent quite a few hours working out a single sentence of dialogue based on the possible consequences of a single choice that the protagonist makes. And I can see that parallel worlds would/could be different by a single choice followed by the evolution of all choices moving forward.

[Howard]

Re: Parallel Worlds:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[[deleted user]]

Thanks for sharing Howard. I really enjoyed the read. I think I've done an adequate job of providing a rationale for what Jones experiences as a time traveler. So far no one has said that it was so far fetched that they couldn't suspend disbelief.