In Search of the Multiverse

Title: In Search of the Multiverse

Author: John Gribbin

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2009 (First)

ISBN: 978-1-846-14113-3

Pages: 228

Coming from the lair of one of the greatest writers of popular science, the book commands attention not only for its title, but in layout too. Cosmology and astrophysics are exciting subjects of the genre, finding wholehearted support from all classes of readers. Questions on the origin of the universe and time have been raised from prehistoric times, but physics explains it with a flourish. This book is all about a fundamentally new idea gaining ground in academic circles where the feasibility of multiples universes existing side by side is accepted. Each of these worlds might be slightly different from ours, with different histories which will not affect us in any way. With this convenient postulate, Gribbin answers the confusing problem of the cosmic parameters so fine-tuned for life. After all, if there is an infinite array of possible universes, it is natural that some of them would be conducive to life and hence we are here! The question of verifying the postulates does not arise, since the technology is not yet ripe for generating the tremendous quantum of energy required for the test run. In fact, some of the arguments may never be tested. Then, what is the sanctity of this concept as a scientific principle, which assumes testability and falsifiability as sacrosanct touchstones of reason? Astrophysicists are not concerned with this paradox and they continue to churn out theories and predictions which shuts commonsense out of the loop. In one part, Gribbin calls in the arguments of Richard Dawkins regarding evolution in the biological world caused by natural selection as the basis for the creation of multiple universes which differ slightly among one another. The idea of multiple universes is so tentative that we, the readers are under no obligation to accord the level of respect we bequeath to scientific theories. With this preface firmly in mind, a reader might find the book inspiring by granting a glimpse on the state of thinking in the global physics community. We would be amazed by the range of ideas and speculations that are produced by analyzing quantum mechanics and general relativity. Moreover, Gribbin sums up the work performed and results obtained during the first decade of the present century. The book is essential reading just for this reason.

The sequence of events that led to the germination of the idea of Multiverse is explained succinctly in the first part. The book assumes previous exposure to the concepts and weirdness of quantum mechanics in order to understand the argument. We have heard about Schrodinger’s famous thought experiment on a cat held in a box which contained a sealed vial of poisonous gas and a radioactive substance. Whenever a gamma ray is emitted, it breaks the vial releasing gas to kill the cat. We don’t know what goes inside and after a time, if we bother to look inside, the cat may either be dead or alive. But what if we don’t peer inside? Uncertainty guides the release of gas and quantum physicists say that when we are not looking at it the cat may be in a superposition of states – of being dead and alive at the same time. Made any sense of that statement? Unfortunately quantum physics is that strange and yet so absolutely true! The American Hugh Everett also thought it absurd and he proposed an even stranger postulate to explain the crux of the experiment. He proposed that the universe consists of countless multiverses in which all the outcomes of an event take place, but don’t have the ability to influence events in other multiverses. Suppose we toss a coin and turns a head. Everett states that the multiverse splits at the instant of tossing, in which the head appears in one world and the tail in the other. This argument turns the claim of philosophers that ‘nothing is real’ on its head to argue that ‘everything is real’. But there is a caveat. Those outcomes occur in other multiverses and don’t affect us anyway.

Gribbin includes an informative chapter on the coincidences of physical reality that made intelligent life possible. There are many parameters like the strength of gravity when compared to electromagnetic force, the density of the universe and the unique energy states of carbon which are among few of these, that seems to have precisely tuned values. Without these, life as we know it would be impossible. All this is fine science, but Gribbin commits a blunder not to assert specifically that this was not due to a creator (or intelligent designer, in more fashionable terms) tweaking the dials of some celestial machine to cause those parameters to have the exact desired value. The author’s meaningful silence at this point will surely be considered a cue for creationists to come out with tall claims that scientists support the fallacy of creation or Intelligent Design. Gribbin’s criminal omission is pardonable for an author who wants more circulation for his books and more money to himself and his publisher. But as a scientist, his action is unworthy of the code of ethics that must be followed by all authors of popular science. When one deigns to read the rest of the chapter, it would become evident that what Gribbin meant is that these parameters are fine tuned in a multiverse that is suitable for life to evolve. In another multiverse, it would be different and life as we know it (italics mine) would not originate. But pseudo scientists jumps out at half truths and so, a warning on the part of the author excluding the possibility of a creator would have been in order. And we find such a clear posture right at the end of the book. The author forcefully rubbishes followers of Intelligent Design without mincing words. But it is strange that he waited till the last page to lambast any claims to the supernatural.

Talking on the issue of pranks and charlatans misinterpreting or pulling ideas out of context from genuine scientific discourse, another case is represented in the chapter on inflation, the phenomenon in the early universe when the primordial object expanded by a huge factor, in a way becoming the big bang. Before the Big Bang theory was accepted as scientific wisdom, another idea called ‘Steady State Theory’ did the rounds as the explanation for the origin of the universe. This was propounded mainly by Fred Hoyle and his Indian colleague Jayant Narlikar. The central concept in the model was the idea of so called ‘C-field’ (‘C’ stands for creation) which filled the universe and was responsible for both the creation of matter and a pressure which caused the universe to expand. Hoyle and Narlikar’s coining of the term ‘Creation-Field’ may be innocuous  and perhaps the best appellation. But, such a term causes enough scope for confusion and misrepresentation by proponents of religious concepts masquerading as science. Scientists should be more careful in such matters, silly it may seem. In the present case, as the steady state theory itself was discarded soon, nobody caught on to it.

The book takes us through a bewildering array of new notions in cosmology, each more bizarre than the last. To borrow a phrase from Arthur C Clarke, the concepts on the cutting edge of advanced physics are indistinguishable from magic. Putting aside the wisdom of the world we acquired over the ages and even common sense, we learn that time travel is possible by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, a universe may spring up spontaneously out of nothing, and that numerous parallel universes exist side by side. In any case, most of the reasoning can’t be tested by today’s technology, even the Large Hadron Collider falling by the wayside. What we gather from this jumble of tall claims and fantastic postulates is the myriad opportunities offered by cosmology and quantum physics to the budding young scientists among the new generation. No amount of prejudice or peer pressure need confine them to look within the walls of established wisdom alone. Perhaps physics provides more space – infinite, or even into other universes, for that matter – for creative intellect to float on the wings of relativity theory, quantum mechanics, or any other theory that’d come to occupy pride of place.

However, it couldn’t be denied that the book is very dry and difficult at many places. For a book of this nature, lack of illustrative diagrams is unpardonable. As is usual in any book of the same genre that hit the shelves after Hawking’s  ‘A Brief History of Time’, Gribbin also tells the same story in background – of the development of quantum theory which no one understands, the quest for a theory of everything and about string theory, that seeks to don that mantle. This book puts forward the concept of multiple universes, or multiverse, as a corollary to the ideas we assimilated from the previous titles. The book is endowed with a decent bibliography and a fine index.

Gribbin is a favoured author whose many books were reviewed earlier in this blog, Watching the Universe, The Universe - A Biography, In Search of the Big Bang and Richard Feynman - A Life in Science, being a few of them.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star