An artist imagines the multiverse
The seemingly limitless possibilities promised by the idea of a multiverse are so captivating to the imagination that I doubt the idea will go away any time soon. It’s only grown in popularity in spite of constant criticism that it is completely theoretical and untestable. Most definitions of the multiverse would seem to explicitly rule out any human being ever interacting with another universe besides our own. But now some scientists have proposed an observational test based on our universe interacting with other universes.
The basic idea is that if there are multiple universes, they would bump into each other eventually. An event of such cosmic magnitude is likely to leave a mark; in this case, the mark is predicted to appear as specific circular patterns in the cosmic background radiation. We’ve gotten pretty good at detecting that background radiation, and we continue to get better images of it, so it is plausible that if those circles are there, we could see them.
So — if the predicted circular patterns are found, would that convince you that we live in a multiverse? If an exhaustive search for them is negative, would that cool your enthusiasm for the multiverse idea? Do you think God’s infinite glory deserves worship in every possible variation, making the diversity of the multiverse seem necessary? Does the idea of alternative universes imply to you that every Christian in this universe has an unbelieving doppelgänger elsewhere, clouding the hope of salvation?
