The Multiverse is real. Just not in the way you think it is. | Sean Carroll

What do physicists actually mean when they talk about the Multiverse? Sean Carroll explains.
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The Multiverse is having a moment. From “Rick and Morty” to Marvel movies, the idea that our Universe is just one of many has inspired countless storylines in recent popular culture.
Why is the Multiverse so compelling? To theoretical physicist and philosopher Sean Carroll, one reason is that we’re drawn to wondering how things might have turned out differently. What if you had chosen a different career path? Married someone else? Moved to a different city?
Of course, there’s obviously no guarantee that you’re living out those alternate timelines in a different universe. But there are real scientific reasons to think that the Multiverse exists. And as Carroll explains, that possibility comes with some fascinating philosophical implications.
Read the video transcript ► bigthink.com/series/the-big-t...
0:00 Hollywood’s Multiverse
1:35 Physics’ Multiverse: Cosmology vs. Many Worlds
3:28 The Many Worlds theory
4:25 Are there many versions of you?
6:39 Your alternate lives
8:09 Your one life in our Universe
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About Sean Carroll:
Dr. Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy - in effect, a joint appointment between physics and philosophy - at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. Most of his career has been spent doing research on cosmology, field theory, and gravitation, looking at topics such as dark matter and dark energy, modified gravity, topological defects, extra dimensions, and violations of fundamental symmetries. These days, his focus has shifted to more foundational questions, both in quantum mechanics (origin of probability, emergence of space and time) and statistical mechanics (entropy and the arrow of time, emergence and causation, dynamics of complexity), bringing a more philosophical dimension to his work.
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Read more of our stories on the multiverse:
Other than Doctor Strange, is the Multiverse good for anything?
► bigthink.com/13-8/multiverse-...
Why the Multiverse is a “God-of-the-gaps” theory
► bigthink.com/13-8/multiverse-...
The power of regret fuels our love of the Multiverse
► bigthink.com/high-culture/reg...
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[@larryfulkerson4505]

For a long time I thought Sean Carroll was a theoritical physist but it turns out that he's a real live person after all.

[@ladyofithilien7572]

I see what you did there 😂

[@JourneyWithHavi]

Clever

[@theg4925]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@jembailey8757]

Nice.....Yup, not just a hypothetical man...😎

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

I was a fan for a long time, but after this video I'm a whole airconditioner

[@alanbooth9217]

imagine a parallel world where Sean Carrol argues vehemently against the multiverse idea

[@jge123]

Must exist exactly because of entanglement, when one quantum system is measured the one it is entangled with instantly assumes the opposite value.

[@Audio-apps]

Sean Carroll and Sabine Hossenfelder engaging on the multiverse might be the closest approximation possible. With any luck, that might happen in a universe I inhabit.

[@alanbooth9217]

look - please explain to me why a quantum system ( us ) is having difficulty explaining the interaction with any other quantum system. The measuring devices do it all day long - what's our problem?

[@boliussa]

@@Audio-apps Well Sabine isn't going to buy his baloney pivots to movies and psychology. He is so obviously a con man even a child should be able to see it. He has lost the argument before it has even started.

[@vincentrusso4332]

​@boliussa both aforementioned scientists don't believe in free will so they are effectively 2 sides of the same coin. IMHO

[@BjornTalks925]

So 9 ad breaks is appropriate right

[@arsenalwilson]

Or you pay the monthly ad-free subscription...

[@chadgina5012]

uBlock Origin

[@_J.F_]

So there may well be a parallel universe where you made all the right decisions, became a rock star, an astronaut, or a Hollywood celebrity, but it still wont change the fact that you are stuck in this universe where you are sitting watching a KZbin and wondering if multiverses are real or not.

[@Studio_234]

You have to act outside your loop to transition to another loop.

[@sunbeam9222]

To me it makes a difference actually, I kinda can surf other planes a bit , get a feel and smile.

[@late_night_club7217]

Don’t hold your breath

[@GeGe-fg3hx]

I never thought they were real the whole idea of one is stupid

[@jayem84]

​@@sunbeam9222can I have some of the drugs you're taking?

[@kami1778]

i make the bad decisions so me in another timeline can thrive

[@cydkriletich6538]

I hope the other me finished college and eats better than I do!

[@DLRS1]

Yes I kind of agree, but somewhere in the multiverse I died yesterday when I slipped in the shower 😂 😅

[@kathleencross-cj1xd]

I wish my other me would do that.

[@JodyMay05]

Bars

[@sunbeam9222]

I have gone to the gym every day for the past 10 years in my other me's realm gosh I'm hot 😅

[@Allofyoush]

Imagine a different universe for every picosecond of every directional spin of every electron in our universe. Effectively infinite.

[@yourlogicalnightmare1014]

That's always been my favorite technique to grasp infinity. Just imagining the continuation of space is useless. Imagining traveling away from earth at the speed of universal expansion for trillions of years is useless. Every planck time an entire copy of the universe being made with a wholly different future

[@stussymishka]

feel like the manyworlds universes split at the planck length/planck second. Some universes different by a particle some completely unrecognizable to us.

[@FearlesSLaughteR1]

How about the brain? Is it being observed?

[@ingvaraberge7037]

And where all these universes located?

[@nescionetizen295]

@@ingvaraberge7037 Infinity= plenty of room

[@ggggia]

I can listen to Sean Carroll all damn day. He is one of the best communicators of science.

[@spaceinyourface]

Me too. We've both been Carrollised.

[@catcrue9656]

Agreed 💯😎👍

[@misslayer3340]

@@spaceinyourface Goddamn it, this should not be as funny or true as it is. Yet, it is. Count me in. Officially Carrollised🤣

[@spaceinyourface]

@@misslayer3340 😁🙂🙃

[@ggggia]

@@misslayer3340 People get baptized. We got Carrollised. 😅

[@AgentSmithers]

I get that perspective and see how it can help. But I also found it helpful to think it's possible to "change" the past through actions done today. Not in the literal sense of actually altering events in the past, but in the sense that, if we change the way we think about the past or learn about it more, we can effectively change our understanding of it. So if you do a good deed or reveal truths formerly kept hidden ,you can alter the way people understand the past and thereby also influencing the future. This is not at all supposed to be taken as concretely literal.

[@fjb4932]

AgentSmithers, I wonder if those "Woke" kids dedicating their lives to tearing down monuments and statues of our Civil War heroes feel this way. Or do they even Know what they are doing ? ☆

[@peterszilvasi752]

"If anything, it is the quantum measurements that force you to make a decision. Not your decision forcing different universes to come into existence." - Sean Carroll

[@michaelfoxbrass]

Yes! A most welcome clarification of the “multiverse” existence and behavior from a physics perspective, which in my view is the one that truly matters. And one which actually goes so far as to challenge the notion of a human being possessing free will.

[@FromTacoma]

Science for substance and conscious awareness for meaning.the object, the subject, and it’s relationship. The Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Christ. It’s so interesting!

[@cristianproust]

So complex, so empty. The multiverse is not science, just a religious belief without the slightest evidence. There is no difference in thinking in the Copenhagen interpretation or the Multiverse

[@samaelmalkira9420]

@@FromTacoma Leave the cult shit out of it

[@FromTacoma]

@@samaelmalkira9420 my point is that it is all semantics. Science without meaning is dead. Yeah I mentioned in Christ to trigger you lol. cults have very rigid beliefs😉

[@rush21hit]

"...there are some decisions you can't undo." That's also my wife's argument about her mother living in our house, of which I regretfully agreed to. I could use a soul swap with any other *me* out there in the multiverse, any day now.

[@ProfessorDrock]

lol

[@chewinggum5550]

so those videos come true in ur home. Just sayin

[@chewinggum5550]

@@ProfessorDrock XD

[@catojames9771]

Damn bro

[@jimc.goodfellas226]

It can't be that bad, can it?

[@racookster]

I don't spend much time thinking about universes where one decision made my life different, but I do wonder about universes where different outcomes millions of years ago led to completely different worlds. Say, a world where a type of dinosaur became sapient. Or a mollusk. Or a miacid. Or even something as close as a different primate. The possibilities seem endless.

[@eightiesmusic1984]

Or one where neoliberalism did not destroy the world by spreading its poison around the globe to so many countries since 1979.

[@lilmupp875]

The immortal snail.

[@anxiousbaddie444]

this is so me. i though i was crazy

[@gistfilm]

I'm not sure if my biggest regret is: a) living through now instead of a million years from now b) being born in a boring galaxy/universe

[@bitofwizdomb7266]

All cause and effect

[@rezaulkarim7703]

The thing they did with the two opposite tables with identical plant pots but with slightly different orientations and plant types is really awesome in paying attention to detail.

[@jrvaughn9038]

I love the mirrored set in the episode about the multiverse. That was clever.

[@jaymzx0]

This video was longer than most of the great videos on this channel, and I'm very happy it was. So many wonderful topics that required great coordination with the guest, production, post-production, and ultimately posting it here - but they only touched on the subject. I'm almost always left wanting. The reading material on the Big Think site is great, but the videos are wonderful. I suppose I'm saying, longer videos please! :)

[@JonMajorCCIE47884]

I hate how hard this hit me. I've been struggling with some choices recently, and this video (unexpectedly) helped a lot.

[@jamestmather]

Thank you for the amazing videos. You’ve really taught me to wonder again. 🙏 Request: I’d love to hear about how the splitting universes are getting “thinner” (although the occupants wouldn’t notice). Can you talk more about this? How does this work and why? Would there be any observable artefacts of this? Thank you

[@larrynguyen85]

Dr. Carroll is an amazing intellectual not just because of his intellect and expertise, but also because he able to explain these very complex concepts in such a concise and lucid way as to allow others who don't have the same background and education to understand.

[@jamesbentonticer4706]

I think you mean Dr. Carroll.

[@wulphstein]

No he's not. All I see is zero evidence of a multiverse.

[@yan-amar]

@@wulphstein He just explained the evidence is in the math.

[@larrynguyen85]

@@jamesbentonticer4706 You're right! Editing it now. Thank you!

[@sacredlunatic]

If you say so. I find it no less mystifying than anyone else's explanation.

[@jalfonsodelbusto]

Usually, when a question is puzzling in a philosofical way, for example “Are alternate versions of myself myself?”, it is because those are wrongly formulated questions. You need to step back and think, and consider more fundamental questions even if their answers are likely to dissapoint you.

[@Goldslate73]

It's always a massive treat to hear Sean Carrol. I was a bit surprised when he said John Hopkins University rather than Caltech. (I didn't know about the changes.) I'm happy for him, though. Thank you for the video.

[@Briantreeu123]

I can't get enough of Sean every time I see a video about things that he discusses I get drawn in

[@spaceinyourface]

He's so dam convincing. I love him .

[@FiveFootPerimeter]

I enjoy Sean Carroll's explanations. I had trouble understanding some quantum mechanics/physics principles and watch a multipart lecture series of his and finally got it in a way that I could explain it to others. Which, I think is an important part of learning.

[@Chadillac-xq7xk]

Do you know what lecture you watched? I'm always look for them. If you haven't yet, James Beacham has a fantastic one. :)

[@FiveFootPerimeter]

@@Chadillac-xq7xk pretty sure it was from the Great Courses library: Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time. It covers a lot of concepts including entropy, time arrow, quantum mechanics, etc.

[@TheLastOutlaw289]

There is no such thing as quantum mechanics. Something can not be a wave in a medium and a particle emission in a vacuum at the same time. There is no such thing as quantum state super position. Something cannot be in two states at the exact same time.

[@Thekingmaker]

It has been said that , if you think you understand quantum physics, then you don't.

[@TheLastOutlaw289]

@@Thekingmaker yeah cause it’s bullshit. Why would the defining statement of a system of knowledge be “if you think you understand it, you don’t” the perfect gate keep phrase to keep people thinking their common sense isn’t good enough to see through this garbage. Explain how light can speed up after moving through a medium like glass or water if it’s a particle…completely breaking the law of conservation of energy. If it’s a wave it makes perfect sense why it behaves like this. The speed of light isn’t even constant.

[@nexstory]

My take on time travel, though it is always fun to postulate, is that if you were to go back to a former period in time, the entire universe would need to conspire to do the same.

[@xcal99999]

you literally have to go faster than the speed of light to travel backward which is not physically possible

[@user-wn8mc1yc1g]

😂😂😂 I’m glad you two figured this out for us. Now everything is great!

[@nexstory]

@@user-wn8mc1yc1g About time!

[@jayall00]

@@xcal99999 if you went faster than the speed of light, wouldn't you see pitch black until the light catches back up to you?

[@lisaknowles15]

I question wether time travel is encoded into our DNA & we have just forgotten how to do it

[@kiabtoomlauj6249]

And one of the earliest proponents of the multiverse, or a version of it, is David Deutsche of Oxford. Deutsch also is considered one of the most important pioneers of quantum computation... I randomly came across his THE FABRIC OF REALITY years ago, shortly after college when it first came out, and still remember the gist of it to this day... especially on his argument about why immensely powerful algorithms like Shor's algorithms are possible... and such algorithms, or the logic of it, are possible only --- Deutsch posited in THE FABRIC OF REALITY ---- because of there are more universes than just our own local one...

[@rtyuik7]

this is why i love Futurama-- in the episode "The Farnsworth Parabox", they even account for the 'other outcomes' of measured events (mainly a Flipped Coin, but it still hits the Idea)...for example, the very coin-flip, that decided on Bender's "Foghat Grey" color, was the quantum-equivalent coin-flip to what made 'Alternate Bender' choose Gold instead

[@peterlaughlin930]

This was one of your best explanations well done

[@mikontisott]

gosh, I wish I grew up in a universe with teachers like this, absolutely captivating

[@wulphstein]

So you like fluff?

[@obsidianjane4413]

Sigh....

[@onidaaitsubasa4177]

Hmm if the quantum multiverse is indeed real, then maybe you did, someplace, somewhere, sometime, the main things that could keep different universes separate is probability and frequency, kinda like radio stations on a radio, but at the quantum level, perhaps a different level of entropy also exists, the number of positive outcomes vs the negative outcomes to situations could be the key factors to the differences between the different universes.

[@blizzard1198]

​@@onidaaitsubasa4177 if its real then he did

[@LoretoEsTorres]

The rapid “montage” starting at 06:33 is so reminiscent of EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE. 😊

[@plbyrne]

One of the best I have seen on this channel - Sean is awesome.

[@tedlemoine5587]

I've watched Sean for years and never heard him refer to himself as a Philosopher

[@7star7storm7]

He often references the crossover between physics and philosophy .. I have heard him make the connection countless times .. I'm not sure what you have been watching but if you pay attention it's there ✌️

[@tedlemoine5587]

@☆7STAR7STORM7☆ Yes I've heard that. Yet I've never heard him introduce himself as a philosopher. Those are very different things

[@2550205]

A marker of the end of critical thinking...if you can't do world to word get out of the kitchen and let the real scientists bend the language into the form needed to accurately diagonal diagonals diagonally the art crowd has already emptied the word pool by filling it with 8((((((((())))))))) bodies missing minds

[@derekfrost8991]

None of his theories can be proven or observed so he probably thought it's better to be a good philosopher than a bad scientist.. 😂

[@jimmyzhao2673]

Pay attention, he does so at 1:20

[@scottbrown2252]

Our obsession with the idea of a multiverse is a simple escape from responsibility. "Out there, another version of me is doing great things, so I can slack off and let the planet burn."

[@AndrewSzala]

That doesn't make any sense since those other versions aren't affecting the universe you're in lol. It's not like you can be lazy because another version of you is in this universe not being lazy 😑

[@scott-qk8sm]

I'm glad we're in an endless multiverse because I'm really tired of this universe

[@dougd3361]

Is it safe to say that even if we had the ability to go back in time and make any changes we desired we would come back to an unaltered present because unknowingly that decision to make a change had already been accounted for?

[@david_porthouse]

Just for fun, when polonium-210 emits an alpha particle, the Universe splits in half depending upon whether it happens before or after lunch. If the alpha particle causes a detonation in some nitrogen tri-iodide, then the Universe is spot-welded back together again.

[@rembrandt972ify]

Great, now I get to wonder what I'm going to do when that spot weld fails do to non-metal fatigue. You know you could have kept that to yourself. 🤥

[@nixx_vfx]

A physicist *and* a philosopher. What a killer combination. What wide horizons. Sean Carroll is an asset to modern science.

[@fibonaccisrazor]

Yes, great comment ! This combination allows him to open all doors.

[@alexmonza2823]

My dog knows more about quantum physics than he knows about philosophy

[@NickGhale]

@@alexmonza2823he’s a professional philosopher as well, are you regarded

[@marcelinogalicia7612]

Sean Carroll is the best, I have a question, in this reality, some people have observed things appearing that were not there before, could this be entanglement from other worlds? or merging together?

[@Jo1975S]

Good qs

[@knowledgetourwithsaumya119]

Sir Sean Caroll thankyou for explaining a concept that I was searching for many days and wasn't clear of anything. But sir could you please elaborate more on time travel because I think it is possible somehow.

[@richardtheweaver4891]

The multiverse would split at each quantum event, generally not once but bazillions of times (infinite?), but faded unequally. Note that the new position of an electron in a frisson must have an infinite number of boxes (it could tunnel to wherever), but some of those possibility-boxes will be more probable than others. Since all boxes must have at least some probability, they’ll all have some reality after the frisson. Now weave in that there are bazillions of light-speed interacting local frissons involved with a single thought, let alone a choice… The near-infinite sea of quantum events each stuttering out infinite bursts of grossly unequal probabilities/universes, which all interact with each other into the future (next year a light year away will interact…. This is getting too complex. Lots of infinities stacking up in mutually-improbable ways

[@jayall00]

Exactly my thoughts. That's a ridiculous amount of infinities. I really doubt an overflowing spam-verse exists only to explain away the improbability factor. I always felt like it has something to do with anti-matter in a way, or the other 50% shows up in another particle we have no clue about, but in the same universe

[@jcolvin2]

Most quantum events don't amplify into macroscopically different worlds. Think of worlds as very large (but not infinite) fuzzy sets of attractor states.

[@amihart9269]

It's not science. The multiverse is not a scientific theory, it's not even a hypothesis. The Many Worlds Interpretation offers no new predictions to quantum mechanics than we already have, it offers no new solutions to any structural consistency problems of quantum mechanics like the Measurement Problem. It offers nothing to the theory while positing some fantasy of infinite universes. It's equivalent to saying God causes the wave function to collapse.

[@shucklesors]

that's a very very good guess, especially asking the question whether it is infinite. Veritasium had a DAMN good video on this called "parallel worlds probably do exist", but it's more of for... let's just say people who have propensities to be smarter (but still completely good for laymen with a high school understanding of physics!) super recommended.

[@obsidianjane4413]

@@jcolvin2 The Butterfly Effect would say no.

[@JustinLCooper]

We can explore the rules that govern the physical reality we exist in. The underlying principals that govern what we are observing and attempting to describe shall remain inscrutable until we can use existing reality to probe whatever stuff underpins our universe. Certainly lots of fun for the foreseeable future in physics, but anticlimactic for us that won't live to witness ultimate discoveries. The best advice that I've heard in remedy to this problem is to keep busy and stay positive, eat well, take some exercise 😀

[@antenazbiorcza3560]

I was watching the images during Carroll's lecture and wondering what's the name of the film with these two identical worlds, one normal and the other upside down ....Can somebody help me?

[@sajayagopi]

best line - recognise what we can change and accept the things we cant change as well as to be able to tell the difference between them

[@joshhallnz]

It's an old prayer

[@ergophonic]

The almost symmetrical plant tables either side of Sean are like an abstract representation of the parallel universes that co-exist with ours.

[@lillylay5527]

nice catch

[@micahleamer2704]

They're not a different person if quantum fluctuations place them close enough to merge with ours. Quantum fluctuations don't simply cause splits in the future they also cause different closely related pasts to merge. However since entropy increases with time splits are more likely, except in places where certain aspects of entropy are operating backwards like as when matter converges in a black hole or in certain decision making systems that are designed to reduce complex scenarios to simple outcomes, brains may possibly interact with quantum mechanics in this way.

[@spaceinyourface]

I love this guy,,I could listen to him for ever. It's a total pleasure for me to be "Carrollised " again & again by him 😀

[@BLACKBEARD-117]

if they all occur simaltaneously kinda like they are superimposed or something, this would explain a lot of moments where someone swears they remember something differently.

[@BLACKBEARD-117]

@newtonvoig I mean a few or maybe a good amount but if there's a large groups of people feeling the Mandela effect it's unlikely they are all being dumb.

[@BLACKBEARD-117]

@newtonvoig I mean not to say people aren't being dumb lmao but there's been shit that people I know are not crazy and are very smart people that remember things differently. Lot of it is just people not paying attention and ur brain filling in the details and so on tho

[@sobreaver]

I always console myself thinking there is another version of me out there living a 'better' life than I am.. I am one of many sacrifice of ourselves for that one lucky bastard who got it all, in a galaxy far far away....

[@rubncarmona]

is there anyone exploring the possibilities of extradimentional geometry being the cause of these weird quantum measurements? we recently got evidence of entanglement and wormholes being alike so I hope this concept is explored more now

[@captainoates7236]

I'm not sure there is an experiment you could do to prove the multiverse theory over the Copenhagen interpretation which just basically says that on a quantum level nothing is real until you observe it.

[@joszsz]

I theorised something similar to this with a friend some weeks ago. I tried to imagine that entangled particles were just two poles of a single particle that were occurring at opposite ends of a string ... In our view they would be at point A and B (the edges of the string) , but from another perspective/dimension, Point A and B would be a single point connected in a sort of loop. I'd say it's likely worth looking into.

[@oUncEblUnt420]

I wonder if geometry would be the right word, since that implies three dimensional plane. Maybe like planometry or queueftometry. But it’s weird to think that those particles could simply be snapshots of a four dimensional object, maybe like 4d spheres interacting with each other’s intersections, giving rise to the different particles we find in the standard model

[@mnrvaprjct]

@@oUncEblUnt420that’s literally what string theory is about

[@mnrvaprjct]

This is literally just string theory, look up calabi yau manifolds. They’re the 6 dimensional spaces that closed strings (the type of strings we’re made of) oscillate inside of. They are the bedrock of reality

[@dominiccobb6470]

great video, and great editing!

[@fibonaccisrazor]

The spectrum of probability is 0 to 100%. So 0 is equally as likely to happen as 100. Taking the average as 50, this gives us basically 3 realistic outcomes. I think Sean mentions this is in another related video. In other words, we shouldn't overburden ourselves with infinity, an incomprehensible level of complexity, but with existence, non-existence and something in between, i.e. something that we decide (or appears to be our decision).

[@xnonsuchx]

My problem is that the infinite multiverse means that every slightest change in quarks (or smaller derivatives, if there are any) in the entire universe somehow automatically spawns another universe based simply on configuration.

[@simpleanswer8954]

Who cares what your problem is? What does that have to do with reality? "I don't like this. It's too infinite and hard to imagine." Since when does that change anything?

[@peterpriego6503]

@simpleanswer8954 I wonder if there’s an alternate universe where you are not an imbecile. Huh. Maybe you’re the evil twin after all.

[@jotarokujo5132]

@@simpleanswer8954 this is a theory, not reality. it has many holes in it.

[@ericpelletier7721]

He is precise and concise. And really entertaining. I could sit crossed-legged for hours listening to him lecture me about physics and cosmology, forgetting that I’m not able to stay crossed-legged for more than 25 seconds unless I want to limp for a few days. Definitely will be looking for a book of his.

[@mind-gains]

Ok if we are trying to look at or observe particle spin and we are accounting for clockwise or counterclockwise spin then what happens when we observe the particle from two points of reference shifted 180°. If observation is a factor of quantum mechanic systems then how have we affected the system.

[@ReLeaseHaVoc]

Genuine question from an MA in Philosophy i.e., a former academic. I focussed on phenomenology, particularly Merleau-Ponty, that accepts from the start the limit of observation from a point in space in usually meaning our perception but more generally applicable to the instruments we use to measure things. Phenomenology aims to describe how we perceive things rather than the things we are perceiving. Science, generally speaking, takes an atomistic view of the universe. Reducing it to parts to better observe and understand them. So, my question, finally, is quantum uncertainty hitting the upper limit of that reduction? Science has extrapolated so much from the part, the atom, the micro. But whatever we observe, however we may isolate it, it remains a part of the whole. So, are we just reaching a point where we can't look at any one thing any deeper than we already are?

[@strpe9701]

I think the single most terrifying aspect of a truly infinite multiverse is that there would be a universe or group of universes were the human race is a type omega society. If so why have they not attempted contact?

[@thehermitman822]

Seems simple why they would not contact our 🌎 but maybe have contacted "worthy" populations.

[@lucyferos205]

Every time you try to interact with another parallel universe, you probably just end up creating a new universe branching off of it at the moment of your interaction. So we probably won't ever hear from another universe.

[@nerd26373]

Sean Carroll seems to be very insightful. His own train of thought gives us a whole new perspective on certain matters.

[@dominiusmaverick1854]

Yes. His and anyone's understanding of a/or this subject is quantum mechanical in nature.

[@jimmyquigley7561]

No; BS wiith nice vocabulary.

[@GGoAwayy]

He seems to be insightful because he often is.

[@Jaxan-dq2jy]

thats the philosopher part

[@axumitedessalegn3549]

No evidence showing multiple verse is real. He is a minority in his beliefs. He has left reality long ago and entered the land of fiction.

[@danisrael10487]

These videos are so well produced. Kudos

[@cmvamerica9011]

I’ve slipped in and out of alternate universes at times; sometimes having memories that everyone else denies; or observing something and have it change instantly.

[@bearybearbear7514]

The fundamental problem of causal inference says we can’t observe the effects of two different outcomes. If I make a mistake in this universe, I may never be able to see my life not making that mistake. But the closest we’ll get to solving this problem is through random experiments.

[@MrFlameRad]

@@presidentnada it could be. It is postulated that "free will" and consciousness actually rely on quantum systems within the brain, which is why a humans decisions or thoughts, theoretically, could never be predicted with certainty no matter how many variables you know

[@obsidianjane4413]

@@MrFlameRad AcTuALly, theoretically it could be predicted with perfect information. It just isn't practical so effectively impossible. Hence QM approximation.

[@GLBXA]

I think the universe doesn’t split in two when we measure it. All the outcomes exist already and it’s our conscience that jumps from one outcome to the next. And there are other consciousnesses before and ahead of us navigating the infinite possible outcomes.

[@yourlogicalnightmare1014]

Consciousness is not within time, time is within consciousness

[@marasmusine]

Can you demonstrate that?

[@GLBXA]

@@marasmusine I wish, I don't have high physics knowledge. Just giving my interpretation, hoping it helps somebody else demonstrate it or at least give them an idea so they go and find something new. We need all the help we can get to figure this out, mine is just one more interpretation.

[@marasmusine]

@@GLBXA Fair enough.

[@NOOBCRASTINATOR69]

Kinda Schrödingers cat experiment but something more detailed

[@akeem2752]

I went down a string theory binge many years ago it was mind blowing the ideas that exist and the possibilities that some of these things can be true

[@ucantseeme7477]

Can you share some if the videos which you found worthwhile?

[@LandonSwitch]

Can someone explain please why the idea of multiple universes automatically suggests that there are more of the same person living a different life with a different outcome etc? The way I see it is that there are many universes but it doesn’t mean, there is another one of me living in those universes. And I think in those other universes there are other lives etc. but they are not me.

[@Jack-ru5mh]

One of the reasons I like Sean so much is he can explain complex questions and ideas in a way where you don't have to have a PHD to get a good grasp of what he is trying to explain

[@boliussa]

he's a con man, he was asked about a scientific theory and he claimed belief in it then pivoted to psychology 'cos he doesn't care about what's true.

[@JeremyEssen]

Lol is that what you think is happening, that a ‘very complex idea’ is being explained? You’re watching science fiction entertainment for 12 year olds that has ZERO grounding in reality. It’s 100% made up entertainment for people who don’t know truth from fiction.

[@boliussa]

@@JeremyEssen Tat program is just meant to be asking an intelligent person a question on their area of expertise. It's not meant to be SciFi or for children (though if it were for children that's no excuse and is also at least as bad). Sean Carroll is just doing people a disservice. Sean was a bit absurd on Joe Rogan too. Sean tried that on Lex and Lex asked his famous question "What would your opponents say". And Sean basically refuted himself Saying that if it were literal then there'd be a conservation of energy problem or the universe would thin out. And then he admitted that the multiverse ething was just a way to explain the mathematics with no bearing on reality!

[@surbhibhattar]

So, if I understand correctly, there could be an infinite (or finite) no. of universes based on different quantum states of electrons that forms all the matter in the observable universe. And those multiverse could contain similar (or different) physical laws and might (or might not) have life

[@Galvvy]

Essentially yes, but you still have the same problem of singular universes. Why do they exist, how do you end up with a closed system that exists at all without infinite regression of causes etc. I don't necessarily agree with the idea that multiverses are separate and you are not you in a different universe either, since those same quantum states are effecting the same particle in the same space, just with a different outcome. Leading me to rather believe all universes exist simultaneously but collapse into one reality on observation.

[@ShakilShahadat]

There is no proof of that. Multiverse is a BS.

[@Maddolis]

If I understand (or don't) correctly, everything (or nothing) about your comment was right (or wrong).

[@M67-antohno]

@@Galvvyinteresting way to see it. time to sit and think about this for a bit.

[@AnnNunnally]

@@Galvvy That makes much more sense than a parallel universe. Where would a parallel universe be?

[@asjsjsienxjsks673]

I like to think of the Multiverse as a GitHub or a git branch. As you start to make changes you create new branches. If those branches are important, they get collapsed back into the main branch if those branches are useless, eventually branch and subbranch and sewing and so forth, but if they are useless, they eventually get pruned and they’re no longer use. They get discarded and sometimes you truly have branched forks which created a completely different, repository and different set of logic, which turns out completely different, but overall, there are few stable branches most collapsed back in, and most get discarded because they’re not usable

[@tayzer22]

I wonder if the multiverses occupy the same space but are confined to differing frequency bands for lack of a better term, which separates them.

[@clientesinformacoes6364]

After someone accurately predicted my future, I believe we are living the past, the predictions were impossible if it' was not already happened.

[@bigthink]

Are you a fan of Big Think? Check out bigthink.com for new articles every day!

[@marcosalazar7090]

What about the recent wormhole that was used to teleport an electron? electrons teleporting can be explained by quantum entanglement

[@uncletrashero]

NOPE. there is no mirror universe. just you thinking there COULD be one, and then insisting that it must exist. it makes no difference if there COULD be a parallel universe based on the math, because the math doesnt ever say there IS one, just that it is possible. POSSIBILITY IS NOT EQUAL TO PROBABILITY let alone certainty lmfao

[@marcosalazar7090]

@SK Nuruddin nobody gives a shit about your fairy tale book

[@TheSolarScience]

"Mandela Effect" can (subjectively) prove multiverse exists IF you notice an unequivocal change in your universe suggesting YOU have shifted to another universe in the multiverse. What such change has occured that virtually ALL people recognize? Query ... how many vertical lines in the "S" of the dollar sign? 2 lines? Nope. In this universe the dollar sign has always had only one $. Look through your old physical files taxes phones computers … all of the dollar signs will be with just one line .. you will not find physical evidence of 2 line dollar sign. Everybody remembers 2 line dollar sign … I bet you do too. It seems that all of us are not from this universe .. which is odd (and suggests to me our multiverse is contracting rather than expanding right now).

[@huk5414]

Yo, some AIs can be made to make, statically therefore scientifically, better schooling environment. But ya know... Nobody actually looking out for other humans has that type of scientific """INDUSTRY""" commissioning power Just Watch ZEITGEIST I'm a tired INTP

[@joshg469]

I really like how the TV show Devs did it, that we're on trajectory and our past defines our future

[@lkjhgfdsayxcvbnm]

Which mechanism decides which multiverse I (and everyone else) experience? Assuming the multiverse is an continuous infinite dimensional hyper space, where every possible state of existence in every possible order and at every time is contained. Like a big soup. And everyone is somehow moving through this hyper soup on a single, unique and unambiguous trajectory and is stuck to whichever next instance of existence is presented to him by time. But how is this trajectory for us observers determined? And once for every split, who is the "me" in the parallel universe? And what the hell is he doing with all the millions I did not win in my timeline?

[@car103d]

It’s just SF and it’s quite old!

[@superstringcheese]

You should do a "Dimensions are real; they just aren't what you think they are" video.

[@gossamyr]

We need more media of this nature, sure it might be slightly disappointing for fantasy, but the ground we stand on should be kinda boring in order to walk properly...

[@jonathanwalther]

I conform to the first part of your statement, but for the second part, the opposite is the case: the ground we are walking on is incredibly complex and far from boring. You don't need esoteric/religious nonsense or other fantasy (nothing wrong with the latter, thou), bc modern Physics discovered some nearly mind bending stuff in the last 100 years. And I am talking only about the near certain things like General Relativity or QFT. Have fun.

[@gossamyr]

@@jonathanwalther I think the coolest thing about our universe is that, for those unfettered with mixing fantasy and reality, is that is as complicated as your brain allows. I think our survival as a species requires downgrading the hyperbole of religion to hobby status, like sports. Soccer players don't condemn basketball players for using their hands which is against their sport(lol). You don't have professional baseball players refusing to make a cake for cross country runners, claiming freedom of sport. And all of these sports can exist in one city and have arenas, fields, stadiums(churches) and anyone can be a fan of them all(or none) and participate in all of them(or none) and retain being a painter or a civil engineer. That's how religion won't kill us all. Sports don't have immunity to taxation, this is the first step...(/end hint)

[@jonathanwalther]

@@gossamyr That's a cool statement and idea to come about religions. I for one fear, humankind as a whole is way too dumb to downgrade religion. Hopefully, I am wrong. The thing is, religion does not even play in the same ball park like modern sciences and their rigorous and "brutal" rejection of obviously false ideas do. Religions always try to immunise themselves against reality by combining love/help/compassion with hilarious claims, instead if seeking truth. I like the sports metaphor/comparison, thou.

[@jonathanwalther]

@@gossamyr And to remove religions from the list of tax profiteers is high time!

[@gossamyr]

@@jonathanwalther yeah, it came to me a week ago during the rage of that graphic designer and scotus thing, and it just works in most instances. I wanted an easy way to show it's gone a smidge too far and show that we are capable of tolerating many different similar things. thanks by the by :)

[@yuugen23]

Hypothetically, if the other me in another reality is their own being, how do we get glimpses of each other? Deja vu or dreams or 6th sense or some other inkling or whatnot of another self.. how are we connected then if not the same?

[@SarcasticTurtles]

3:00-3:30 If every measurement is relative, what's the point of even observing things at a quantum level? Seems about as useful as measuring soil quality from the ISS.

[@hartwigkoppi901]

Hello! I have a question to the multiverse theory: If all universes are expanding (maybe infinitely) like ours, is there no risk that they are colliding? And what gravitational impact must they have to each others?

[@ProfessorTimbo]

No; they don't and can't interact, in any way. His explanation of them being "literally billions of lightyears away" was overtly false, even if the multiverse hypothesis is true. They aren't a physical distance away -- that would require that there be continuous spacetime between us, which would make us in the same universe; not separate ones. Spacetime is the medium through which forces like gravity interact, and which mediates them. Without spacetime "between" us, there's nothing through which the forces of one universe (such as gravity) could interact with another. Sean Carroll does this often - GREATLY stretched metaphors, spoken as though they were objectively true, without the necessary caveats that would prevent grave misunderstandings.

[@jcolvin2]

@@ProfessorTimbo I think he's talking about the cosmological multiverse. If the universe is infinite in size (or even just very large), then other worlds like ours are bound to exist beyond our cosmic horizon. That's Tegmark's level 1 multiverse. Level 2 is other causally disconnected bubbles caused by inflation, they could have interacted with our universe in its birth and would leave a mark on the CMB, but this has not been detected.

[@jcolvin2]

That's a good question, there was indeed a risk of bubble wall collisions in the early universe, which would have shown up as a bruise on the cosmic microwave background. This has not been observed, although it has been looked for. After a period of inflation, the bubbles are too far apart to interact, the space between bubbles also continues to inflate.

[@ProfessorTimbo]

@@jcolvin2 what are you talking about, "space between bubbles"? There is no space outside the "bubbles". The bubbles are what define and contain spacetime.

[@jcolvin2]

@@ProfessorTimbo space inflates eternally driven by the inflaton field, which decays into causally disconnected bubbles. See Guth, Vilenkin eternal inflation

[@majedal-ossaimi8749]

This video made things more complicated than what it is

[@davidfoxrn]

I am tending to believe that all time exists and persists even though we don't experience it that way. We are probably just traveling through our timelines that have already been written for us. So, I wouldn't take life too seriously.

[@MiloMay]

That's know as Determinism

[@williamparrish2436]

Yeah that's about right. We have the illusion of free will. That includes the sinner and the saint. This is probably a simulation anyway. It's much more probable that we are running inside a computer of some sort than not.

[@omnimacrox]

The bigger concern about whether the electron is spinning left or right is that it is not spinning left or right before you measure it. You have to wonder about all the other physical properties, even the electron existing at all.

[@NullHand]

That's the traditional Copenhagen 'spin' on it. The Everettian 'spin' is that the electron does both, you observe both, but half of ensemble-you will only ever experience 1. The Decoherence 'spin' on it has the Copenhagen "does not exist till measured" paint job, as long as absolutely nothing touches the electron, but under the hood the math still looks like an ensemble. Sometimes I wonder if the measurement problem is math out of scope for humans. Maybe we have to pull a Doug Adams and BUILD something that can ELI5 us what all the 42s we keep getting actually mean.

[@ctaylor433]

The multiverse is all around us. Quantum mechanic told me every mind lives in different universe, then he charged me a fiver and polished the inside of my eyeballs.

[@bmeht]

Sean Carroll is my absolute favorite character from The Office.

[@Bill-tz3wg]

I think if there are other universes, they'll be their own distinctive places, not alternative versions of this universe. I think it's a real stretch of theory to believe other universes each contain a version of "me" and "my world" just with subtle (or not so subtle) differences.

[@jasmine1stan857]

Honestly I think the opposite.

[@Bill-tz3wg]

@@jasmine1stan857 Why?

[@jasmine1stan857]

@@Bill-tz3wg I don’t know I’d just feel like it’d make more sense as the universe is constantly infinite, the reality as we know it is an illusion anyways. Some people believe we are changing realities every second

[@on1kag326]

Sometimes though during certain scenarios you can make certain decisions now that help mitigate the consequences of past mistakes. example, you spilled the milk carton a second ago while you were going to charge your phone. you could make a decision to pick it up now right away or put your phone down first. the decision to pick it up right away will make it so you waste less milk from the past mistake of spilling it. There more possible scenarios more complex than that I'm sure. Just none come to mind right now, he said you cant make decisions that will change the past , but you can make decisions that will prevent a past mistake from causing the mistake to become a bigger problem in the future. Don't feel like typing more. Think of a war general. He could make decisions that cost life's then make a decision to mitigate a past mistake that will prevent it from being worse

[@tedcook5197]

In the quantum multiworlds description, there really is a timeline moving forward from our current reality where every single quantum measurement from here forward to the end of time no longer looks random or probabilistic, but sees only "spin left" every time. The Sean Carroll in that world is going to have some interesting things to say.

[@deborahsharon2284]

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[@justinbrandon9686]

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[@jasonryan1371]

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[@ericfrank3378]

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[@maimunatuabdussamad2845]

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[@humwapwashadrach748]

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[@CrystalHydrogen]

Ok, there are other realities where there is an other me that could have a completely different life or where my choices in this universe has gone right the opposite in the others universes, but where this happens exactly? In a parallel universe located where? Beyond the edges of our universe?

[@mimo-bine]

In a galaxy far far away…

[@bobbobby1263]

I drop a ball and it hits the ground if I think of the possibilities of its direction after hitting the floor and layer them on top of each other I would end up with a cloud of possibilities yet I only experience one of them. But as soon as I have let go of the ball physics dictates the path of the ball and if I reverse and replay all the atoms and forces again and again the ball will always follow this path. What changes? I can see that the quantum is either independent from time but how does this override the time dependant ball? If a multiverse of the possibilities is created, when was it created? If the ball was nudged by a molecule of air this must have been created at the beginning of time meaning our experience may just be us sliding down a possibility path that was set out at the moment of creation pushed along by time.

[@NBAlejo]

in a paralell universe, This guy Sean is the combination of Sheldon and Leonard :)

[@guyincognito.]

Man that show sucks.

[@jpe1]

One of the most clear cut and decisive statements that we don’t have free will. 👏 🙏

[@nochill9722]

That our worlds could only have existed if the universe is the way it is, yeah sure. That it's not ridiculous to assume that all our actions were previously decided and/or planned (even unconsciously), that we have no say in what we do now and in the future, that I couldn't have decided not to debate this statement about your opinion about free will or that I didn't have a say in whether to add a silly colon at the end of my comment, that's even more far-fetched than thinking you have the free will to travel back in time and change your decisions; in my opinion 🙏🏽😊

[@mashable8759]

Wait how

[@Woodesies]

@@mashable8759 Everything that will happen and that has happened was always going to happen. Since time is just another dimension, future events are already part of the overall Universe, so everything is sort of predetermined anyway. Everything that can happen, will happen.

[@DeAguaMusic]

​@@Woodesies Half right. I think it's probabilistic. It's most likely that you make the desition of stealing something from the supermarket if you did it once and didn't get caught, which is what buddhism calls karma. I would rather say: "Everything that can happen, is very likely to happen again.

[@rjd53]

It has nothing to do with free will, but just with how the circumstances we live in have come about. The question of free will requires to have solved first the question about what is consciousness. And we are still far from the answer.

[@terencereyes696]

I came here expecting a MCU level answer to my multiversal questions and I got out being advised to speak to a therapist. Thank you, I need it

[@zotaninoron3548]

The question I have in terms of the many worlds theory and the quantum mechanical divergence of ourselves is why does the continuity of my conscience experience get entangled to this particular universe as opposed to a different quantum reality.

[@ciredlonra9048]

I’d like to see the multiverse version of this video where they put some effort into filming this guy in front of a better set

[@RakeshSingh-zo3zw]

The day when we would be using these theories in our lives is not so far !!

[@JCChavz]

Just remember this is still one person’s perspective along with a collective few in the field…one should caution bandwagonning anyone you deem to be great at communicating. With that said, Sean Carroll is certainly one of the few worth listening to closely.

[@HuygensOptics]

In the real world (outside theoretical physics), it's never about what could have happened, but about what happened. Alternate realities are like the dead ends that the human mind does not want to accept.

[@bobrussell3602]

I am a retired company director, with only the most basic grasp of physics, if that. And yet I feel that if someone were to ask Sean 'What's it all about ?' He would give the same answer as I did, when my brother asked me that question 20 years ago : 'Why are you asking me ?'

[@barneyronnie]

It's not about anything. The benign indifference of the universe is our greatest blessing and a source of freedom.

[@rembrandt972ify]

Did your brother reply that he thought you were smarter than he was?

[@Jo1975S]

😅😅😅😅

[@Jo1975S]

Infact I shud say don't ask me stupid qs

[@piewert787]

Yes, thank you for the corrections here Sean. I hate it when pseudo intellectuals talk about alternate versions of themselves as if that’s the essence of multiverse theory

[@FVLS3CVLT]

Approximate understanding of a relatively obscure theoretical principal is better then ignorance of the concept™️

[@FVLS3CVLT]

Yeet

[@boliussa]

Dude this is all pseudo intellectual. He was asked about a scientific theory, and he's talking about psychology.

[@Smitty65721]

@@boliussa Absolutely.

[@alexmonza2823]

You are the pseudo intellectual with no capacity for critical thinking. Alternate versions of choices is one of the possible implications of this theory. Deal with it. He provided terrible arguments against it. And then at the end started talking about the alternative choices as though he hadn't implied that it's pseudo scientific earlier in the video like you said lol the guy is lost

[@onidaaitsubasa4177]

Hmm, It could be that we ponder the alternatives because those alternatives actually do happen in other physical universes, there are also scientists that think that our brains work at a quantum level, and that's why we can visualize different possible solutions to a problem so quickly, but if quantum reality works in a similar way, could it be that our brain is quickly accessing those other realities as a glimpse of the alternative outcomes, could our ideas and our dreams also stem from a connection to our other selves in alternate realities? It's food for thought, that's for sure.

[@TraceyIsNotMaryGrace]

I’m glad he explained that it’s not about our own decisions, but I still don’t understand this any more than my current understanding. If an electron is spinning clockwise, who is observing it counter clock wise, where and how ? 3:30 Or it’s theoretical, as in that was another possible outcome?

[@nishilee3029]

In this universe, Sean Carroll is a physician but in other universe he is a singer or literature

[@davidhess6593]

or a physicist.

[@1p6t1gms]

A very powerful ending to Carroll's science based narrative.

[@blackmullet6237]

Since we aren't able to observe smaller particles than quarks, who is to say our universe isn't practically inside an atom or a quark, and likewise, who is to say that each atom in our universe doesn't include one or multiple universes which to us are born and destroyed in milliseconds because of the sheer size our universe has in comparison to these ones? There could be organisms inside those miniscule (to us) universes that observe time as we do, and we and all animals in turn are such organisms to the organisms of the universe our universe is inside?

[@Ionizap]

In the many worlds theory where do the timelines split? At the atomic level? When you make a decision to look left or right?