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Multiverses, Science, and Ultimate Causation

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Georges Lemaître: Life, Science and Legacy

Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library ((ASSL,volume 395))

Abstract

This chapter the motivation and evidence for the various types of multiverses that have been proposed. A key problem is their lack of testability, because of the existence of cosmic horizons; nevertheless they are claimed to be a scientific hypothesis. I review the arguments in their favour, and suggest none is conclusive, although there is one case where they could be disproved (the small universe case) and one that would indeed be quite convincing circumstantial evidence (circles in the CMB sky associated with variation of fundamental constants).

Multiverse proponents are in fact proposing weakening the criteria for a scientific theory, which is a dangerous tactic. The scientific status of these proposals is particularly brought in to question by various claims of physically existing infinities, which cannot possibly be verified. Finally I comment that multiverses do not solve issues of ultimate causation, as claimed by their proponents. If one wants to investigate this issue, one must extend the kind of data one considers beyond data obtainable from physics experiments and astronomical observations, to include broader areas of human experience, that are also evidence on the nature of the universe.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    An example of a paper that apparently only considers hypothetical ensembles is Bjorken (2004). The author talks about “constructing ensembles”. Regrettably, we are unable to do so.

  2. 2.

    For more detail, see the spacetime diagrams by Mark Whittle at http://sol.astro.virginia.edu/class/whittle/astr553/Topic16/t16_light_cones.html.

  3. 3.

    A discussion of testability in this context is given in Ellis (1975).

  4. 4.

    Gellman was quoting from T.H. White, The Once and Future King.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa

    George Ellis

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  1. George Ellis
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Correspondence to George Ellis .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , St. Edmund's College, The Faraday Institute, Cambridge, CB3 0BN, United Kingdom

    Rodney D. Holder

  2. , St. Edmund's College, Fellow and Treasurer, Cambridge, CB3 0BN, United Kingdom

    Simon Mitton

Appendix

Appendix

I am astounded that serious scientists and philosophers can propose that the universe could be a computer simulation (Bostrom 2003; Greene 2011). It is totally impracticable from a technical viewpoint, and ignores the way the human mind is bodily-embedded and not an algorithmic computer process. It raises far more questions than it answers:

  • Where is this computer?

  • How did it come into being?

  • Why does it not crash every few seconds?

  • How could this be proved to be the case—what evidence is there? How could it be disproved?

Protagonists seem to have confused science fiction with science. Late night pub discussion is not a viable theory.

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Ellis, G. (2012). Multiverses, Science, and Ultimate Causation. In: Holder, R., Mitton, S. (eds) Georges Lemaître: Life, Science and Legacy. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 395. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32254-9_11

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