String theory and religion

pug_

This may be in completely the wrong place, but it's something that popped into my head last night and I'm curious about peoples opinion on it.

I don't know if many people are familiar with string theory or not (I'm purely at a novice level myself), but one part of it states that multiple different realities exist at the same time in different dimensions, and that from a living beings perspective these realities can be created by the thoughts and actions of ourselves and others.

So here's the thing if someone were say in a bad car accident and it was touch and go with them for a while chances are there is at least one reality where that person is no longer alive. Where does that leave the soul if they are still alive and walking around in another reality? and what about all of the different realities where people take different actions and make different decisions some good, some not so good, is it possible there are there different souls some going to Heaven, some going to Hell all for the one individual?

Are things like string theory even considered possible where Christianity is concerned? Or would it be like the world is round/flat until it's conclusively proved one way or the other?

lmaopml

Hi Pug,

I think string theory is the theory that many random universes exist....?? We all live on a 'brane' of some sort or another and our atoms are stuck to that brane and cannot percieve the other universes.....within the multi-universe.... LOL

Yeah, I know it has it's birth within quantum physics, and the mathematics are engaging so may have some merit when more is actually known..... but could be a bit of a red herring too imo, doesn't it need the application of six other dimensions to our own space time universe?.........to me personally, it sounds more like science fiction..or very theoretical physics. I'm not so sure if these theorists are correct if it will ever be able to be demonstrated. If you can't test it, demonstrate it's existence, it's filed under 'theoretical' in the science world......which is the way it should be...


The 'M' theory is still just a theory at the moment I guess.....Some very weird ideas have sprung from it though...

It woud make a great movie though Ohh wait, I think they made one...can't recall it though..

kelly1

pug_ wrote: »

This may be in completely the wrong place, but it's something that popped into my head last night and I'm curious about peoples opinion on it.

I don't know if many people are familiar with string theory or not (I'm purely at a novice level myself), but one part of it states that multiple different realities exist at the same time in different dimensions, and that from a living beings perspective these realities can be created by the thoughts and actions of ourselves and others.

So here's the thing if someone were say in a bad car accident and it was touch and go with them for a while chances are there is at least one reality where that person is no longer alive. Where does that leave the soul if they are still alive and walking around in another reality? and what about all of the different realities where people take different actions and make different decisions some good, some not so good, is it possible there are there different souls some going to Heaven, some going to Hell all for the one individual?

Are things like string theory even considered possible where Christianity is concerned? Or would it be like the world is round/flat until it's conclusively proved one way or the other?

Hello Pug, does string theory propose parallel universes? What I do know is that it is built around multiple dimensions most of which can never be verified.

I read "The Trouble with Physics" by Lee Smolin and according to him, the theory is at a dead end because it can predict very little and it depends on an existing "background" in order to work.

But to answer your question, it would be totally at odds with Christianity.

smokingman

It's kinda hard to prove string theory and seeing as there's a few variations of them, it'll take a while.

When it does happen I wouldn't bet on them agreeing with it - maybe it'll take a little less than the 600 odd years they took to admit being wrong about Galileos assertion that Earth wasn't the centre of the universe; who knows...

lmaopml

I think they haven't ruled it out though Pug. They are still looking for the graviton or the existence of super symmetry....not much luck yet! Also, the project is being delayed for a year, I think?? due to copper re-enforcing on the LHC.

Fanny Cradock

The multi-verse is critiqued here by George Ellis. Essentially, with the multi-verse no direct observational tests of the hypothesis are possible. According to Ellis, there is a leap required from known physics to arrive at the multi-verse. This leap is hypothetical physics (not necessarily wrong, of course, but it is untestable) which involves quite a bit of extrapolation.

Probably somewhat controversially, Ellis says, "The multiverse idea is not provable either by observation, or as an implication of well established physics. It may be true, but cannot be shown to be true by observation or experiment. However it does have great explanatory power: it does provide an empirically based rationalization for fine tuning, developing from known physical principles. Here one must distinguish between explanation and prediction. Successful scientific theories make predictions, which can then be tested. The multi-verse theory can’t make any predictions because it cant explain anything at all."

Whatever about the existence or non-existence of other universes, I don't see how it would preclude God's existence. I imagine that the same metaphysical questions that apply to this universe (Why something instead of nothing? etc.) also apply to the hypothetical set of universes.

pug_

My phrasing may not be entirely accurate, but my understanding of it is that there are multiple different parallel universes (possibly infinite) each existing completely separate from each other and only accessible via the higher dimensions.

My question was purely hypothetical as I realise things like string theory are pure theory as no experiment has yet been devised to either prove or disprove, but I'm still curious on the wider implications if something like this were ever to be proved somehow.

It was a youtube video that got me thinking about it actually, it explains far better than I ever could

PDN

smokingman wrote: »

It's kinda hard to prove string theory and seeing as there's a few variations of them, it'll take a while.

When it does happen I wouldn't bet on them agreeing with it - maybe it'll take a little less than the 600 odd years they took to admit being wrong about Galileos assertion that Earth wasn't the centre of the universe; who knows...

I hope you're better at physics than you are at history.

Fanny Cradock

My understanding of this hypothesis is not simply that an experiment has yet been devised, it is that no testable experiment can be devised. This has something to do with these hypothetical domains existing beyond the cosmological horizon and the impossibility of observing anything beyond it. This is why the physics behind multi-verse is described as hypothetical (again, not necessarily wrong) and extrapolates to a domain beyond our observation.

Morbert

A few things need to be ironed out here before this conversation continues.

The first thing that must be emphatically made clear is that string theory does not claim there are multiple universes. String theory can accommodate a huge variety of possible universes, but this is seen as a weakness in the theory and a testament to the fact that it is incomplete. When the physics is better understood, it is hoped that string theory will be constrained and that these many possibilities will be removed from the formalism.

Also, the video "Imagining the tenth dimension" should be ignored entirely. It has nothing to do with physical dimensions, and is new-age wishy washy nonsense.

The idea of a multiverse stems from the formalism of quantum mechanics, where summing over possible histories will allow you to predict quantum phenomena with remarkable accuracy. It is somewhat similar in idea to the Many-Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.

My opinion is that "many-worlds" is our attempt to crowbar classical terms and concepts into a non-classical regime. The reality of quantum mechanics is just too strange for our usual terminology, and a single equation such as the schrodinger equation will tell us much more about the physical world than a thousand page essay on the philosophy of quantum mechanics ever will.

lmaopml

Exactly Fanny Cradock. They can further theorise if they find the graviton, it lends some credence to the multiverse theory but never proves it.......it would go a long way towards explaining dark matter, dark energy etc. too in the observable universe...

Fanny Cradock

lmaopml wrote: »

Exactly Fanny Cradock. They can further theorise if they find the graviton, it lends some credence to the multiverse theory but never proves it.......it would go a long way towards explaining dark matter, dark energy etc. too in the observable universe...

Would it? I would have thought that dark energy etc. need not have an explanation lying in the existence of other universes. But then again I get most of my info from Horizon.

lmaopml

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Would it? I would have thought that dark energy etc. need not have an explanation lying in the existence of other universes. But then again I get most of my info from Horizon.

It would just help to explain it.....They really can't observe beyond the horizon where they believe dark energy resides speeding up inflation....

Personally, I believe there must be more particles out there that we just don't understand or know about yet......While the Multi Universe theory is fascinating entertainment, ( and a holy cow to some physicists ) I think the super symmetry proposal has some merit...

It's necessary to theorise though I guess...

janeeen

String theory, and multiple universes have no place in Christianity.
To be a christen and believe these "theories" you would have to believe in
several Gods and several heavens existing all at once.
I'm sorry but i thought christens believed in one God and one heaven.
How this made its way and then stead on a christen forum is beyond me.

pug_

Well that's why I posed the question in the first place, there's no reason the two have to be mutually exclusive in my mind anyway. If God is omnipresent there's no reason that omnipresence has to be exclusive to just one universe there's no reason he couldn't just create another one and be omnipresent there too. The idea of heaven and hell is something I've always thought of as being separate from the physical reality we inhabit.

Morbert

janeeen wrote: »

String theory, and multiple universes have no place in Christianity.
To be a christen and believe these "theories" you would have to believe in
several Gods and several heavens existing all at once.
I'm sorry but i thought christens believed in one God and one heaven.
How this made its way and then stead on a christen forum is beyond me.

Indeed. And God doesn't play dice either.