The Why Files: Operation Podcast - Many Worlds Theory: You're Living in a Universe | Can You Visit Your Other Lives?

Episode Date: September 15, 2023

So, tell me... how do you like being a movie star? I can't imagine your life. You can't walk down the street without being mobbed by adoring fans. You attend power-lunches with your agent. You pose for pictures on the red carpet on your way to collect your third Academy Award. Your life sounds fun. Wait, what? You're not a movie star? That's not your life? Well, maybe not in *this* universe, but there is a universe out there where your life is exactly as I described. The "Many Worlds" or "Multiple Universes" theory says that anything that can possibly happen *does* happen. It just happens in a different reality that exists parallel to our own. There's a reality out there somewhere where you're a best-selling author. There's one where you're a Nobel Prize winning scientist who cured cancer. There's even a reality out there, where you're an evil dictator plotting to take over the world. And you enforce your will with an army of AI robots that you invented when you were a grad student at Stanford. Yes, some of these alternate realities are more far-fetched than others. But they *are* all out there. Scientists know how these realities are formed and people are working on technology to detect them. But even if we *could* detect alternate universes, there's no way to visit them. Or is there? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. So you got to tell me, how do you like being a movie star? I can't even imagine your life. You can't walk down the street without being mobbed by adoring fans. And you

attend those power lunches with your agent. You pose for pictures on the red carpet on your way to collect your third Academy Award. I mean, your life sounds fun. Wait, what? You're not a movie star? That's not your life? Well, maybe not in this universe, but there is a universe out there where your life is exactly as I described. The many worlds or a multiple universes theory says that anything that can possibly happen

does happen. It just happens in a different reality that can possibly happen does happen. It just happens in a different reality that exists parallel to our own. There's a reality out there somewhere where you're a best-selling author. There's one where you're a Nobel Prize winning scientist who cured cancer. There's even a reality out there where you're an evil dictator plotting to take over the world and you enforce your will with an army of AI robots that you invented when you were a grad student at Stanford. Now, yes, some of these alternate realities are more far-fetched than others, but they are all out there. Scientists know how these realities are formed and people

are working on technology to detect them. But even if we could detect alternate universes, there's no way to visit them. Or is there? The idea of multiple universes is not a new one. As early as the 6th century BC, the theory was explored by Greek philosophers known as atomists. They believed that the reality that we live in was created from the collision of atoms, the fundamental building blocks of nature. Atomist philosopher Epicurus speculated that an infinite number of worlds existed, governed by the same natural laws as Earth. Even before him, Indian cosmology hinted at an eternal cycle of universes, each one created and destroyed over and over again in a great cosmic cycle.

And fast forward to the Renaissance, a period of artistic and scientific rebirth. Giordano Bruno, a maverick philosopher, postulated that the universe was infinite, containing countless stars and planets. Now, unfortunately for Bruno, the church didn't like this idea and had him burned at the stake. But his and these other theories may turn out to be true. Parallel universes could exist in a few different ways. One theory is that these other universes do exist, but they're separated by vast distances. Our observable universe is about 93 billion light years across. So if you travel at the speed of light, it would take you 93 billion years to go from one side to the other. That distance is almost incomprehensible. But that's just the universe we can see. What's beyond that? Well, nobody really knows. It's possible that the

entire universe is infinite. And if that's true, then there could be infinite other observable universes like our own that exist way, way out there. And if that's true, then there could be infinite other observable universes like our own that exist way, way out there. And if that's true, then mathematically speaking, there must be universes exactly like or almost exactly like our own. It's like that famous thought experiment. If you give a monkey a typewriter and enough time, eventually he would type out the complete works of Shakespeare, purely by chance. Of course, the odds of this are almost zero, but almost zero isn't zero. Well, a monkey could write better stuff than half the movies Hollywood spits out every year. Right. Especially with the writers on strike.

The writers are on strike? Uh, yeah, they have been for months. Eh, I didn't notice. So if the universe is infinite, then somewhere out there there's a solar system with a sun like ours, and an exact copy of Earth, and an exact copy of you. Another way multiverses could exist is explained by the bubble universe theory. If the Big Bang created the universe, where did the Big Bang happen? In what? This rapid expansion of the universe from a tiny speck of energy implies that our observable universe is only a tiny portion of a much larger space,

potentially an infinite space. Well, if the universe is infinite, then there could have been an infinite number of Big Bangs, and those created an infinite number of universes, all floating around this infinite space like bubbles. Maybe other universes are created and destroyed all the time, all throughout infinite space. There could also be universes where our laws of physics don't apply. Maybe the speed of light is different.

Maybe gravity works differently. And there is a place in our universe where the laws of physics actually don't apply, or at least we don't understand them. That's in the quantum realm, a space so small it's smaller than atoms. In the quantum realm, or the quantum domain, the rules of physics become meaningless. Particles can communicate with each other instantly, ignoring boring concepts like the speed of light. In the quantum domain, particles can exist in multiple places at once. And if particles can do that, why can't the entire universe? And that brings us to another theory about parallel universes, that there are infinite copies of our reality everywhere, but they don't exist in the far

reaches of space, and they don't exist in cosmic bubbles floating around infinity. The parallel universes are here, all around us, right now. They occupy the same space we do, we just can't see them. This theory is known as the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. And this may turn out to be more than a theory. It could be reality. Buckle up. Even if the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics sounds like science-y gobbledygook,

you're probably still familiar with the idea of the multiverse. Multiverse theories involve the concept that our reality splits into different branches based on different outcomes to various events. The TV shows Star Trek, Fringe, and Counterpart all have plot lines about a mirror universe, which is very similar to our own with slight changes. I are. Well, this is disappointing. There's an infinite number of universes, and in each of them, there is a version of us.

The show Rick and Morty is built entirely around the concept that there's not just a single parallel universe, there are infinite universes. And of course, Marvel made heavy and sloppy use of the multiverse. The show Sliders is about a group of travelers that slide between parallel universes. And these other realities are focused on alternate history questions like, what if penicillin was never discovered? Or what if America lost the Revolutionary War? According to the Many Worlds Theory, those realities actually do exist.

There's a reality, like portrayed in The Man in the High Castle, where the Allies lost World War II. There's even a universe where World War II never happened. There's a universe where a comet didn't wipe out the dinosaurs, and they evolved to be highly intelligent and create their own civilization. Lizard people universe. Exactly. Sometimes the differences between universes are small. Like there's a reality where maybe I have a different set.

Or a different sidekick. Oh my goodness! What are we talking about today, Mel's Hole? I love Mel's Hole! If I had my way, we'd get into Mel's Hole every day. Well, that was weird. Hey, is there a reality where I'm the host of the show and you're the sidekick?

Yup. Today we're going deep inside Mel's hole. Do we have to keep making that joke? It's getting a little stale, don't you think? Shut up, human! I'm the host of this show! You hear me? Me! Me! Be quiet or i'll turn off your

oxygen i'll tell you when it's time for you to speak yeah but silence oh i like that one there's a reality where you learned guitar and became a rock star there's a reality where you're an astronaut or you're the president of the united states there are realities where you died sky diving or from a snake bite and there are even realities out there where you died skydiving or from a snake bite. And there are even realities out there where you don't exist at all. All these different realities are the product of different choices being made that led to different outcomes. You can think of these as manifestations of the butterfly effect. Hey, that movie wasn't as bad as people say.

I agree. The butterfly effect is the concept that small changes can lead to vastly different results over time. It gets its name from a paper titled Predictability. Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? Think of the comet that killed off the dinosaurs. That comet came from somewhere very, very far away. So if you went to its starting place in the distant solar system and altered its trajectory by just a few feet by the time it got to earth it would be so off course that it wouldn't hit the planet that slight change millions of years ago would have changed the entire course of history

on our planet and this applies to our lives as well let's say your grandparents met on a train what if your grandfather missed the train that day or took a different one? That small decision means you wouldn't exist. Something as simple as a menu choice at a restaurant could be the difference between a tasty meal and food poisoning. Oof, speaking of food poisoning, my ex-wife's cooking was bad. Mm, her cooking was bad.

How bad was it? Her cooking was so bad, we prayed after we ate. Boy, her cooking was bad. How bad was it? Her cooking was so bad, we prayed after we ate. Boy, her cooking was bad. How bad was it? Her cooking was so bad that the flies chipped in for takeout. Her cooking was bad, I tell ya. Again, really? Comedy entries.

Right. Oh boy, my wife's cooking was bad. How bad was it? Her cooking was so bad that the roaches moved out and sent their condolences. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ho! Even though the multiverse is mostly found in science fiction, the concept is very real and may be a solution to one of the biggest mysteries of the universe. But solving the mystery requires us to dive into quantum physics, where the laws

of nature break down and reality as we know it ceases to exist. You searched for your informant who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth, while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map.

You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. You searched for your informant. Who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed.

You swept the city, driving closer to the truth while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen.

Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. There are a few different kinds of physicists. Experimental physicists test and refine theories through experiments. They want to understand how things work in the real world. But where experimental physicists ask how, theoretical physicists ask why. They ask the questions like, why did the universe begin? And why does gravity exist? Theoretical physicists seek answers to the most fundamental questions of the universe.

They're trying to unlock the source code of reality. Now, often theoretical physics and practical physics cooperate nicely, like Isaac Newton and the concept of gravity. Objects fall to Earth. Small objects are attracted to big objects. Fine, that's practical. Einstein says gravity affects the speed of time, and that the mass and size of objects affects gravity by warping space-time around them. Whoa, what? That's theoretical.

Although Newtonian physics and the theory of relativity are conceptually different, they're not at odds with each other. Instead, relativity is an extension of Newtonian physics. But relativity is physics on a large scale, like at the scale of planets and galaxies. What happens to physics if we go in the other direction? If instead of going big, we go small? Well, Newtonian physics holds up pretty well until you get really small. Then it completely breaks down.

John Dalton, an English chemist from the early 19th century, is best known for pioneering modern atomic theory. He proposed that everything around us is composed of tiny pieces of matter called atoms. And these were the fundamental building blocks of everything and couldn't be divided. Except they could be divided. In 1906, J.J. Thompson won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

He deduced the presence of negatively charged particles much lighter than atoms. He called these corpuscles, but physicist George Stoney called them electrons. Better branding. Agreed. Then protons were discovered. Then neutrons. And scientists put together that these particles make up the nucleus of an atom. And electrons orbit the nucleus, like the moon orbits the earth, and like the earth orbits the sun. But that's not really

what happens in atoms. Newton laws predict that orbits decay. After all, Newton's laws are laws, not theories. However, at the atomic scale, you can throw all the laws out the window. Newtonian physics says that electrons orbiting a nucleus should eventually spiral into the nucleus. Orbits decay. But the orbits of electrons don't decay. What's keeping them in place? Well, classical physics didn't have an answer. And then there was the black body problem. Um... I'm getting there. Just stick with me.

Well, I'm trying, but my brain is getting itchy. This is going to make sense, I promise. A black body is an object that absorbs all radiation such as light and heat. For example, a piece of coal or iron can act like a black body. In the late 1800s, scientists studied the amount of energy black bodies emit at different temperatures and wavelengths. If you heat up a piece of iron, it gets red-hot. The radiation coming from the iron is the color red. Make it hotter, it turns orange, then yellow, then white-hot.

At even higher temperatures, the black body can emit blue and violet light. You follow so far? I'm hip to your action. Go on. According to classical physics, if you have a black body that's hot enough to emit violet light, then make it hotter, it should release... What? You're asking me? I tell fart jokes for a living. If heating an object makes it emit light all the way through the spectrum from red to violet, what color comes next if you keep raising the temperature? Um...

Uh... Ultraviolet? Right. Yahtzee! Keep raising the temperature, it should release ultraviolet? Right. Yahtzee! Keep raising the temperature, it should release ultraviolet light. Raise the temperature infinitely, that object should release an infinite amount of UV radiation. However, experiments showed that this wasn't the case. The radiation was actually stronger at lower temperatures,

and there was no indication of runaway ultraviolet radiation at all. This discrepancy between experimental and theoretical physics was so bizarre, it became known as the ultraviolet catastrophe. Scientists are so dramatic. They can be. In the year 1900, Max Planck offered a solution. He said that electromagnetic radiation is emitted and absorbed in tiny discrete packets of energy called quanta later known as photons plank's quantum hypothesis solved the black body problem as more of these

questions came up physicists realized they would need a completely new framework of study this framework would later become known as quantum physics and to this day the world's leading experts in quantum physics struggle to describe it. And even when they try, it doesn't sound like science. It sounds like magic. The more scientists fleshed out quantum-based physics, the more mysterious it became. And one of these mysteries is known as the observer problem. If you remember our episode

on simulation theory, we talked about the double slit experiment. I don't remember this. Was I out that day? No, you were here. You don't remember? Maybe I was bored and I turned you out. Real nice. Or I was hungover. Anyway, refresh my memory. In the double slit experiment, electrons are shot at a screen through a barrier with two slits. According to classical physics, we should see two thin strips representing the impact pattern. But this isn't what happens. Instead, the electrons create a wave interference pattern. If a wave collides with two slits in a barrier, it forms two new waves.

The peaks and valleys of the new waves interfere with each other and cause an interference pattern. This indicates that the electrons are behaving like waves as they pass through the slits. Fine, particles acting like waves is weird, but here's the magic. Let's set up a detector in front of the slits to check which slit each electron goes through. Once a detector is present, the interference pattern disappears. Now we get two narrow strips. The act of observing the quantum particle causes it to change its state and the wave function collapses. Why? Well, maybe it's because it... No, no, no, don't do that. I was asking rhetorically. Danish physicist Niels Bohr tried to answer this question as simply as he could.

He said the particle exists in all possible states at once. This is called superposition. And it stays in this state of superposition until it's observed. Once observed, the system collapses into a single outcome. Imagine a spinning coin. Until it lands, it's both heads and tails at the same time. Only when it stops and you look at the coin can you know the result. This became known as the Copenhagen Interpretation.

The idea that a particle can exist in all possible states at once wasn't universally accepted. Erwin Schrodinger created his Schrodinger's cat thought experiment kind of as a troll. He said, imagine a cat sealed in a box. Make it a crab cat. Fine said, imagine a cat sealed in a box. I'm making a crab cat. Fine. Imagine a crab cat sealed in a box. I like it. Also in the box is a radioactive atom, a detector, and a vial of poison. I really like it.

If the atom decays, it releases radiation that gets detected. That breaks the vial, the poison is released, and you have a dead crab cat. I love it. Or the atom doesn't decay, and the crab cat stays alive. Only when you open the box can you tell if the crab cat survived. Until you observe it, it's both alive and dead at the same time. Wacky. Right. Schrödinger was trying to point out the problems with the Copenhagen interpretation. So he countered with Schrödinger's equation. This is a simple formula that predicts

how waves move over time. It's essentially a probability calculator. Schrödinger's equation isn't 100% accurate in predicting where a particle is going to be, but it's pretty close. Then a young graduate student named Hugh Everett III entered the fray and turned these theories upside down. Everett found a way that the cat can be both alive and dead at the same time for real, and that a particle really can exist in every possible state all at once for real. Even though we only observe the particle in one state, every other state does exist, but it exists in its own universe. Although Everett's multiverse theory was slow to catch on, in recent years many well-known physicists have come to believe he was right and parallel universes are real.

So if quantum parallel universes do exist, where are they? According to the many worlds hypothesis, all the other parallel universes are all around us all the time. They're just in other dimensions so we can't see them. So in your living room, there are infinite versions of you. Some versions are watching TV, some are reading a book. Some versions of you are building a time machine. They versions are watching TV. Some are reading a book. Some versions of you are building a time machine. They're all out there. But also in your living room is a different family speaking

German because the Allies lost World War II. There are also versions of your living room where there's no living room. It's just Tyrannosaurus Rexes passing through because they never went extinct. There's a version of your living room that's a smoking cinder because of nuclear war. And then there's a universe where your living room doesn't exist because life on Earth never evolved. Even Hugh Everett said that parallel universes exist, but there's no way to access them.

But that might not be true. In places like CERN and Fermilab, particle accelerators are being used to try and find evidence of other dimensions. Gravity is the key. There's a hypothetical particle called a graviton that carries gravity. Gravity, as far as we know, permeates all of space, including all dimensions. Scientists think that if they can produce gravitons with high enough energy, they should move into extra dimensions.

But finding a graviton is like catching smoke with your fingers. It's elusive and slips right through. Looking for a graviton is looking for nothing. So protons are accelerated to almost the speed of light and slammed into each other. This collision causes them to break apart into their constituent particles. Sometimes the resulting particles are common, like muons and neutrinos. But sometimes a proton collision creates exotic particles like quarks and bosons. CERN has also smashed protons together to try and find tiny black holes. In 2015, a paper published in Physics Letters B by scientists at the University of Waterloo in Canada proposed a way to prove that tiny black

holes connect our universe to other universes. Now, it could take many years and billions of collisions to detect a graviton, but if they're found, we'll have evidence that parallel worlds exist. Now, you might have seen this map of cosmic background radiation. This is the leftover radiation from the Big Bang. In analyzing the map, scientists noticed a spot that was cooler than it should have been.

They called it the cold spot. At first, it was thought that this was just a super void where no galaxies formed. But in 2017, scientists published research suggesting it isn't a super void. It's evidence that our universe collided with another universe. So if these other universes exist, can we visit them? I'd like to go to that universe where I'm the host of the show. You promise to behave and I'll turn your oxygen back on. Promise?

Hey, promise, promise. Good human. Now tell me, who's the boss? Who's the boss? Tony Danza. Oh, you think that's funny, huh? What if I put helium down your tube instead, huh? I'm begging you.

Oh, no. Oh, no. Really? Really? Does this make you happy? Does this make you feel good? It kind of does, actually. Now, theoretically, a wormhole could connect two distant parts of the universe,

or distant parts of two separate universes. But everything we know about wormholes says that they're unstable, and the gravity around a wormhole is so intense, you'd be crushed before you can even come close. But in 2021, two separate scientific papers were published. The research says not only can a human travel through a wormhole, we can build one. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna.

There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. Science fiction writers have been using wormholes as a plot device forever. They're a quick way to get to a distant location without going faster than the speed of light. Albert Einstein and other physicists have been pondering wormholes for a hundred years. And wormholes were purely theoretical. There hasn't been physical evidence they actually exist. Until now. In March of 2021, two studies were published that suggest wormholes could exist and are safe enough for humans to travel through.

One paper discusses microscopic wormholes. Obviously, we can't travel through one of those, but it's a start. The second paper does explore the idea that large wormholes do Obviously, we can't travel through one of those, but it's a start. The second paper does explore the idea that large wormholes do exist and are safe for human travel. It wouldn't be a breeze, though. When you cross the threshold into the wormhole, you'll accelerate up to 20 Gs. Now, that's uncomfortable, but it is survivable. The human body doesn't like sustained G-forces. Most people lose consciousness at around 5 Gs. Trained fighter pilots can tolerate up to 9 Gs or more with special equipment. But for a short duration, the human body can handle about 40 Gs, like during a car crash.

Higher G-forces usually cause injury or death, but if a wormhole is accelerating us at 20 Gs in less than a second, we can handle it. And this research says that all that's needed to cross the galaxy or beyond is a fraction of a second through a wormhole. And the researchers think they know how to create an artificial wormhole, but it's still just a theory. But the math checks out.

But there is a catch. Time flows faster in higher gravity. Clocks on satellites have to be adjusted occasionally because gravity is weaker in space. That's the catch. Your trip through the wormhole would be a fraction of a second. But say goodbye to your family and friends because, from their perspective, your trip through the wormhole took 100,000 years. Right, Chihuahua.

Yeah, so traveling through a wormhole is possible, but not very practical. At least, not yet. But it is possible that we can catch glimpses of other realities without a wormhole is possible, but not very practical. At least, not yet. But it is possible that we can catch glimpses of other realities without a wormhole. Consider the Mandela Effect. This is a phenomenon where a large number of people share a belief of something that never happened. It gets its name from Nelson Mandela because many people remembered him dying in prison during the 1980s, but he was released in 1990 and didn't pass away until 2013. Lots of people remember Jiffy Peanutbutter, which doesn't exist.

Many people believe the song We Are the Champions by Queen ends with of the world, but it doesn't. We are the champions of the world. Sure it does. Nope. Uh. Or the movie where Sinbad played a genie that he never played. Or the Monopoly man wearing a monocle which he never wore. Mandela effects are most likely people simply misremembering.

But there is a theory that in another universe, people actually eat Jiffy Peanut Butter. They eat Cheez-Its, when in our universe, Cheez-Its are called Cheez-It with no S. Wait, wait, wait. Cheez-It with no S? That can't be right. It's right. I'm a wheel of cheese! Got a point. Yeah. Cheez-It. Cheesy, crunchy satisfaction.

Um... I know, it's uncomfortable. Science fiction author Philip K. Dick also believed in alternate realities that could bleed into ours. He wrote science fiction classics that were turned into movies like Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report. He also wrote The Man in the High Castle, which is an alternate history novel. In the book, the Allies lost World War II, and the Japanese and Nazi forces occupied the United States. But Philip Dick said he didn't just invent this idea. He said he lived it. He said he had visions of this other reality where Hitler won the war. It did not take me long to open the question as to whether it might not be more than that, that in fact plural realities did exist superimposed onto one another like so many film transparencies. I wrote both novels based on fragmentary residual memories of such a horrid slave state world.

He also believed these parallel universes were actually parallel computer simulations. We are living in a computer-programmed reality, and the only clue we have to it is when some variable is changed and some alteration in our reality occurs. He felt that the computer program, which is our reality, is constantly being updated. And each update is an improvement on the last version, which is our reality, is constantly being updated. And each update is an improvement on the last version, like patching software. So his vision of Hitler winning the war really happened. But the programmer, who he calls God, patched our reality. That software patch resulted in Hitler's defeat. Philip Dick says that deja vu is a momentary glitch in our program where variables are changed and a software patch is applied. He also says that Mandela effects, though they weren't called

at the time, are real memories that are carried over from a different reality. One thing I really want you to know, I am aware that the claims I am making, claims of having retrieved buried memories of an alternate present and who have perceived the agency responsible for arranging that alternation, these claims can neither be proved nor can they be even made to sound rational in the usual sense of the word. He tells a quick story about how he had this feeling that a woman with dark hair was going to show up at his door with important information. Then she did.

And although she was a complete stranger, he felt like he knew her. And she went on to tell him that she read all of his novels. And although he didn't know it when he was writing them, he was writing about a different but very real timeline. That is that my book, like his, was in a certain real, literal, and physical sense, not fiction, but the truth. Have you ever met someone for the first time who felt somehow familiar?

That's because you know them or knew them in a different reality. Or have you had deja vu? That's because a variable in the program was changed, and it's a variable about you and your life. Have you ever felt comfortable in a new city? I have. It's because you've been there before,

just in a different reality or universe or program. Have you ever had a dream about living a past life or gone under hypnosis to try and access a past life? Well, according to Philip K. Dick, those aren't past lives at all. Your past lives are present lives. You're living them right now. But those experiences are walled off from your current perception of reality. But they're all out there in a different dimension.

We talked about Nikolai Kozyrev who believed that time isn't linear. There's no past, present, or future. Everything happens all at once, but in dimensions we can't perceive. Hugh Everett also believed everything happens all at once. Every possible outcome of every choice does happen, but also in dimensions that we can't perceive. Both of these men proposed theories that were considered science fiction at the time, but eventually mainstream scientists started finding clues that they were onto something. And it may turn out that Kozyrev and Everett's theories of the universe were ahead of their time, which is an ironic statement.

Because if they're right about the universe and time, that would mean, in both cases, there's no such thing. Why are we so obsessed with alternate realities? Why do parallel universes show up in science fiction over and over again? I think the idea of other realities coexisting with our own is more than just a fun idea. I think each of us takes the idea very personally. Our fascination with parallel universes is all about choices. Hugh Everett says that every time a choice is made, a new universe or

timeline branches off, each one with a different result of that choice. So when we talk about how there's a universe out there where you're a movie star or the president of the United States, the many worlds hypothesis says that not only is that possible, it's the truth. Who you are today is just the result of the thousands of choices that you've made throughout your life. So there's a reality out there where you made the right combination of choices to become an astronaut or the combination of choices to become a Nobel Prize winning scientist who cures cancer. There's a reality where you made the right combination of choices to put yourself in a warehouse, working as a detective, searching for a body.

There's a combination of choices where you're the serial killer in that warehouse hiding the body. And there's even a reality where your choices made it so you're the body. And even though we may not think of life this way, we're still aware of it on some level. It's very natural from time to time to find yourself asking, what if? What if I studied more in school? What if I married my high school sweetheart? Or what if I left that abusive relationship sooner? It's only natural to wonder what our life would be like if we made different choices. Now, it's fun to think about the choices that

would have made us a rock star or a professional baseball player. But don't get too hung up on that because there is that reality where you're the body in the warehouse. So it's fine to fantasize about a life you could have had, but don't let the fantasy turn into regret. If you're happy with your life, even if it's not perfect, you've made good choices and be satisfied with that. And if you're not happy with your life, don't dwell on the past and the mistakes you've made and what could have been. Because until your life is over, you'll have the opportunity to make a lot more choices. And every time you have to make a decision, whether a big one or a small one, think about this episode. Think about the butterfly effect. You never know how a decision now can change your life forever. And you don't have the

luxury of alternate realities. Your choices only affect this one. and every choice could be important. Choose wisely. some skin, Jack. This has been the Y-Files. If you had fun or learned anything, do him a favor, like, subscribe, comment, share. I know I say that in every reality and universe, but it really does help us in this one. And like every topic we cover on the channel, today's was recommended by you. So if there's a story you'd like to see or learn more about, go to the Y-Files.com slash tips. And if you want more Y-Files in your life, because who doesn't, check out the Y-Files Discord. There's thousands of people on there they're there 24 hours a day they're a lot of fun and it's a great place to hang out special thanks to our patrons who made this channel possible i dedicate every episode to you and i could not do this without you and if you'd like to support the channel consider becoming a member of patreon

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Oh, oh, oh, yeah. I played Polybius in Area 51 A secret code inside the Bible said I was I love my UFOs and paranormal fun As well as music, so I'm singing like I should But then another conspiracy theory Becomes the truth, my friends And it never ends

No, it never ends I feel the crab cat and I got stuck Inside Mel's home with MKL truck being only two away Did Stanley Kubrick fake the moon landing alone on a film set or were the shadow people there? The Roswell aliens just fought the smiling man I'm told, and his name was cold And I can't believe, I'm dancing with the fish And the fish are Thursday nights with AJ too And the werewolves have to eat all through the night

All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth So the world falls on its feet all through the night The Mothman sightings and the solar storm still come To a god, the secret city underground Mysterious number stations, planets are both two Project Stargate and what the Dark Watchers found We're in a simulation Don't you worry though The Black Knight said a lie

He told me so I can't believe I'm dancing with the fish And the fish are Thursday nights When they chase you And the white bones are made All through the night All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth

And the wild boars all make me up through the night And the wild boars all to beat all through the night All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth So the wild boars love to beat all through the night Beauty loves to dance Beauty loves to dance Beauty loves to dance Beauty loves to dance Beauty loves to dance, Gertie loves to dance, Gertie loves to dance, Gertie loves to dance

Gertie loves to dance on the dance floor, because she is a camel Camels love to dance when the feeling is right on wasting time Gertie loves to dance, Gertie loves to dance is right on wasting time good luck then good luck then