Blogpost 5 : The Philosophy of Parallel Universe

Back when we were kids, we always wanted to touch the stars, be like superman and fly to the space and wonder out in outer space. We always imagine ourselves back then floating in outer space and talking to our alien friends. In the past, we always wonder that what would happen to us if we have a different gender, different dominant hand, different number of fingers, different number of toes? We think about this kind of stuff back then because we're not satisfied on what we have.

The only thing I knew about the universe is the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and the stars that are in the space. As time goes on, the things that I know what's out there in space is increasing. I've come up with an idea that aliens do exist because there are other planets out there instead of the 9 planets in the Solar System. I was so naive to think that the things that I know about the universe is so many that everything that is out there I know because I think that there are other universes like ours, a parallel universe. I know what universe is but what about Parallel Universe?

As I was searching about the Universe and Parallel Universe, I saw an article entitled "My So-Called Universe" by Jim Holt in the site of Slate. The article provides me a philosophical definition of what Parallel Universe is. It was an eye catcher because I now know that I was really naive.

"1) very, very large; 2) "causally isolated" from each other (meaning that an event in one cannot have an effect in another); and hence 3) mutually unknowable by direct observation (since observing something means causally interacting with it). The case for saying the two domains are separate universes is further strengthened if 4) they have very different characters: if, say, one of them has three spatial dimensions (like ours), whereas the other has 17 dimensions. Finally—and here is the existentially titillating possibility—two domains might be called separate universes if 5) they are "parallel," meaning that they contain somewhat different versions of the same entities, like your own alter ego." stated by Jim Holt.

I believe that Jim Holt is trying to say on his first philosophical perspective of what parallel universe is that that the universe we know is very, very large that it may have parallel universe in it. Second, if we do something in our world it cannot effect to a parallel universe like when an atomic bomb is fired in the Philippines and erased it in the map it cannot affect in a parallel universe since the universes are causally isolated to each other. Third, it connects to the philosophical definition of the second one because since the universes are causally isolated from each other, we cannot interact with another parallel universe. Fourth, the universe we know is just a part of a super large universe so our 3-dimensional universe is just a part of it and there's other kind of universe out there with different kind of dimensions. And lastly, there's a replica of something what is in there just that it's somewhat different since it's parallel.

By learning the philosophy of Parallel Universe, I realized the things or factors that don't allow us to see another universe. I realized that our 3-dimensional universe is just another piece of a puzzle of what universe is since there's a possibility for parallel universe. Another thing I realized is that my daydreams when I was a kid that I want to be a girl or left-handed at least may actually be true but not me since I can't change my appearance but the one in a parallel universe.