The universe is an amazing place, and thanks to science, we are learning more and more incredible things about its structure. When one of the following theories about our existence appears, many of us perceive them with a certain amount of skepticism.
But do not forget that they were developed by famous scientists, and, despite the crazy ideas, there may be some truth in them.
1. The Universe is the Matrix
Theory: We all live in the Matrix
In The Matrix, the main character, played by Keanu Reeves, learns that the universe in which he lives is just a computer program created by a huge robotic intelligence. However, there are scientists who have seriously pondered the idea that we live in a real Matrix.
British philosopher Nick Bostrom has come to the conclusion that we are living in a very complex version of The Sims. The idea is that we are capable and inclined to build artificial reality, as evidenced by the ever-growing gaming industry.
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Inevitably, one day, when technology allows us, we will create our own Matrix. It will become more and more realistic and complex until one day it creates its own civilization, which in turn builds its own Matrix, and so on ad infinitum.
Later, physicist Silas Beane from the University of Bonn in Germany proposed his theory. According to her, if we live in a computer model, then our universe must have a "resolution". In other words, there must be a limit to how small an object can be, just as nothing can be smaller than a pixel on a computer screen.
Such a limitation was found and called the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin limit. While this sounds rather complicated in scientific parlance, it is believed to be the first evidence that the world around us is made up of artificial bits created by other intelligence.
2. Twins in the Universe
Theory: Your double exists somewhere
If some experts are right, your twin exists somewhere in the universe. According to this assumption, only a certain number of particle combinations are possible.
So, for example, if you leave sets of 5 LEGO pieces in a room with children, then someone will definitely build the same structures. Likewise, everything in the world, including people, is like LEGO structures made of tiny particles.
There are a certain number of combinations, and in the vast universe all these parts will inevitably come together again in the same place and create a different version of "you".
However, you are unlikely to cross. According to calculations, your double lives approximately 10 to 10 ^ 28 meters from you.
Nevertheless, the larger the Universe, the more likely it is that another "you" is walking somewhere. Scientists don't know how big the universe is, but if it turns out to be infinite, then the fact that you have a cosmic twin is quite certain. On an infinite scale, each structure eventually repeats itself.
3. Universe and string theory
Theory: Someday we will collide with another universe
According to string theory, the entire universe is bogged down in an enormous 4-dimensional sheet of fabric called a brane. Moreover, there are other branes floating in outer space outside of our universe. In other words, parallel universes. Nothing regulates their movement, and at one point they may collide.
So the physicist Anthony Aguirre from the University of California believes that it looks like a huge mirror that falls on us from the sky.
Tufts University physicist Alex Vilenkin discovered traces of a collision between our universe and another universe at some point in history.
It is known that relic radiation is a weak radioactive signal that permeates the entire Universe, and is uniform throughout the Universe. But in some places, "hot" and "cold" places were found, which may be evidence that other universes collided with ours.
4. The world is a quantum computer
Theory: Our world is like a huge computer
There is another theory that our world is a computer. According to this opinion, all stars and planets, galaxies and black holes are nothing more than circuits and processors on the motherboard.
In the theory proposed by Professor Vlatko Vedral of Oxford, the main component of the universe is not matter or energy, but a "bit" - the smallest unit of information that is used in a computer. Basically, one bit is the answer "yes" or "no", "1" or "0", and the computer uses tiny switches for its calculations.
Subatomic particles are also trillions of such "bits." Each time a particle comes in contact with another, bits of information are exchanged.
Professor Seth Lloyd of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also believes that the universe is a huge quantum computer that produced everything that we see and ourselves, launching the space program.
5. Black holes
Theory: We live in a black hole
As you know, black holes are such dense objects that even light cannot leave them. According to Dr. Nikodem Poplawski of Indiana University, all matter that is sucked into a black hole can turn into a new universe from the other side.
Until now, scientists do not know what happens if something ends up in a black hole. According to Poplavski's calculations, matter passing through a Black Hole is like a Big Bang in another reality. Thus, the Black Hole can become a door to another world.
In other words, a black hole pulls matter inward and squeezes it, while a "white hole" squeezes it out. The contraction and expansion of matter is mathematically equivalent to the creation of the universe.
6. The Big Bang theory and the stopping of the universe
Theory: The Universe May Stop
Since the Big Bang happened 14 billion years ago, the universe has been expanding. However, contrary to common sense, the rate of its expansion began to increase.
Until recently, it was believed that everything should slow down as gravity sucks all the galaxies back to each other.
Many physicists are theorizing about "dark energy" - invisible antigravity that pushes distant galaxies even further away. However, according to a new theory from two Spanish universities, the universe is not accelerating, and time is actually slowing down.
If this is indeed the case, this may explain why distant galaxies seem to be accelerating. It just takes a long time for their light to reach us, and we see them at that moment in time when they were moving faster than now. It also means that time continues to slow down until it stops altogether and freezes in place forever.