The Home Parallel Universe Test

Sam Sachdev writes "David Deutsch, a physcicist at Oxford, has designed a home test for parallel universes. Using a pin, a red laser pointer, a piece of paper, and a relatively dark room, he claims that the results from this experiment confirm the existence of parallel universes." Okay, so it may not really be proof of parallel universes, but it's a fun trick to try with a laser pointer nonetheless.

FP

[Anonymous Coward]

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FP

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Jeez

[Anonymous Coward]

...about one and a half meters, or about five feet away for my metrically challenged Americans. At first, this humble journalist...

Man, what an ass. Sounds to me like a pompous buffon [schuminweb.com].

I'm pretty sure I've seen this before

[Ghostx13]

Oh yea, it was that one episode of McGyver.

perpendicular

[theguywhosaid]

i tried it and the laser turned 90 degress midair

does that mean i have a perpendicular universe?

And in other news...

[nukey56]

Detection of tachyons now possible via the usage of duck tape, scissors, a wooden spoon, and a very unhappy hamster.

Where are the pictures?

[foniksonik]

Dude, I really want to see this parallel universe... doesn't he even have pictures?

Parallel?

[physicsphairy]

Why not perpendicular, or skew? I think that differently oriented manifolds are being discriminated against!

Re:And in other news...

[Anonymous Coward]

That's nothing. All I need is the duct tape.

Macgyver~

Re:Isn't this just the double-slit experiment?

[irokitt]

Are you kidding, that was the best nap I had that whole semester!

Test to confirm the existence of laser pointers

[Anonymous Coward]

Sam Sachdev [mailto] writes "David Deutsch, a physcicist at Oxford, has designed a home test for red laser pointers. Using a pin, a parallel universe, a piece of paper, and a relatively dark room, he claims that the results from this experiment confirm the existence of laser pointers." Okay, so it may not really be proof of laser pointers, but it's a fun trick to try with a parallel universe nonetheless.

There is no alternet universe

[Felinoid]

When I tried this experement I ended up with a 3D holographic image of the words "There is no alternet universe"
and a few moments later someone whispered
"If you try that again we'll eat your soul"

So there is no alternet universe...
Ok mister spooky voice you can stop making my walls bleed. And could you remove the chains from the door? I will NOT be entering that hole in the wall ok?

And if you peek through the little holes...

[Black Parrot]

...you can see ladies taking their clothes off.

Re:Idiots

[Concerned Onlooker]

This is NOT proof of a paralell universe, it's proof that light travels as a wave as well as a particle.

Well, whatever. All I know is that when I tried it my cat died....

You bastards!

[Merovign]

I tried this, and everything changed! I'm fat! My beautiful wife is gone! My beautiful aircar is gone! All of my stuff is crammed into this stupid apartment!

I can't even find a link to the nearest spaceport on Google!

How do I get back home?!?!?!?!?!

Problem.

[PsiPsiStar]

My parallel self tried it and said that it didn't work.

It works!

[Yeechang Lee]

I tried the experiment myself, and Dr. Deutsch is right! Through the holes, I saw images from many parallel universes, worlds in which Columbus discovered Europe, Lincoln shot President Booth, and Germany and Japan saved the world from Nazi America and Fascist Britain in WWII. (However, Michael Jackson is a disfigured weirdo pervert in every parallel world. Must be a fundamental physical law, like the speed of light.)

Interesting way to test for the MWI

[physicsphairy]

In the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics, each possibility is represented is represented by a branching universe. So if you flip a coin, there is a universe in which it goes heads, and one in which it goes tales. (that is oversimplifying a bit--there would in fact be infinitely many of each)

Well, how do you know if you live in such a "multiverse"? The answer was proposed by Max Tegmark just a few years back:
Take a gun, put it to your head, and pull the trigger. Repeat several times. If the multiverse model is correct, then your "self" will continue to exist only in those universes where the gun does not fire. So if you try and pull it a bunch of times and nothing happens, you must be one of the many parallel yous who happens to live in a universe where, in spite of probability, the gun did not fire.

Of course, I would not recommend trying it. If the MWI is correct, well, then in another universe you already have tried.

Re:Since I can't see air it must be another univer

[citog]

You have understood nothing. The phenomenon is real and one of the strangest and most spooky things in physics. It shows that it it possible to get a particle (in this case a photon) to interfere with itself.

and so, out of guilt and self-loathing, it hides itself from the observer?

Re:Idiots

[AvantLegion]

Well, whatever. All I know is that when I tried it my cat died....

Are you sure?

Re:Where are the pictures?

[hovercraftSpareWheel]

They're in the other universe of course.

Re:There is no alternet universe

[wadiwood]

And in this non-existent alternate universe, they can't spell either (or did you make a copying error?)

Or is the "Alternet" a parallel universe Internet?

Re:And in other news...

[Young Master Ploppy]

You can prove quantum interference with a catapult, an egg-slicer, and a gerbil - all you have to do is fire the gerbil fast enough at the egg-slicer, and it diffracts VERY well - on the wall, you get vertical areas of less gerbil, and areas of MORE gerbil.
Sounds like a classic interference pattern to me...

RESULTS CONFIRMED!

[Anonymous Coward]

I did the experiment and have confirmed the results! Parallel universes exist, and I think David Deutsch is a genius! I have registered www.daviddeutsch.com and I will be building a shrine site to David Deutsch this week, so check back often! If there are people in this parallel universe, we need to contact them!!! Does anyone know if the people you talk to on an Ouija board are from this parallel universe?

Re:Isn't this just the double-slit experiment?

[krymsin01]

Photons are WMDs! Ever heard of a thing called a photon torpedo?!?

Re:Isn't this just the double-slit experiment?

[SageLikeFool]

He believes the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics adamantly, and thinks that any other interpretation is, if not outright wrong, not a useful frame of mind to understand QM.

To be fair, the other scientists may be right in a parallel universe. Just not this one.

My Interpretation

[neoshroom]

My interpretation, the "Many-Copenhagen" interpretation, states that all the parallel universes are carbon-copies of Copenhagen [wikipedia.org].

Priceless!

[xscottyx]

One red laser pointer: $19 1 pin: $.99 1 sheet of paper: $.05 Proof of an infinite number of parallel universes where you're STILL not getting laid: Priceless

Re:Two people.....in a dark room?

[nacturation]

Hey honey, come back to my place and we can make paralell universes together.

And she replies, "Sorry dude, your laser pointer is too small."

Re:Fabric of Reality??

[Anonymous Coward]

I like your post. You're saying this does prove parallel universes by redefining the term "parallel universe".

slightest interest?

[Anonymous Coward]

False. I have a very sligh interest in parallel universes, but I had not heard of this until now.

Re:It's all about models

[SAPHRguru]

You are so right... It is all about models.. My favorite models are multi dimensional... (preferably 36-22-34 or thereabouts!)

Re:Isn't this just the double-slit experiment?

[Genom]

Whats more this probability is never equal zero so there is a slight chance that you can find that particle anyware in the universe.

Which, of course, was the basis for Douglas Adams' Infinite Improbability Drive. Just give it a really hot cup of tea, and you're all set ;P

Re:Isn't this just the double-slit experiment?

[Prowl]

everytime a photon interferes with itself, one of schrodinger's kittens is killed

Re:RESULTS CONFIRMED!

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia joke repeats you

Re:Since I can't see air it must be another univer

[BlowChunx]

Quantum Physics is the single most successful theory in the history of science.

What about F = ma?

Re:Actually it was on Star Trek: TNG

[Yewbert]

I'm recalling "Mirror, Mirror" from ST:ToS, but, um, I already have a goatee. Does that mean the me in the parallel universe is nice?

Re:Actually it was on Star Trek: TNG

[Robmonster]

In the Parallel universe where George Bush is in Mensa, Slashdot is actually a site where gorgeous IT chicks post personal ads trying to get dates.

Re:You bastards!

[Anonymous Coward]

Mojave Airport [mojaveairport.com] is the nearest place with a commercial spaceport licence.

Re:Since I can't see air it must be another univer

[SharkJumper]

Exactly. It's the Woody Allen phenomenon.

SharkJumper

Re:Since I can't see air it must be another univer

[operagost]

The photon marries its stepdaughter? Now you REALLY have me confused!

Re:I'm pretty sure I've seen this before

[nizo]

The best part about this experiment is that if there really are parallel universes, a less lazy version of myself in another universe will do it tonight when he gets home, so I don't have to worry about carrying out the experiment myself. Now if only taxes worked that way....

Re:Actually it was on Star Trek: TNG

[Dun Malg]

I'm recalling "Mirror, Mirror" from ST:ToS, but, um, I already have a goatee. Does that mean the me in the parallel universe is nice?

Mr. Yewbert, give me your agonizer!

Re:Actually it was on Star Trek: TNG

[Anonymous Coward]

In the Parallel universe ... Slashdot is actually a site where gorgeous IT chicks post personal ads trying to get dates.

Have you even TRIED calculating the Quantum Probability on that!? It not even happening in parallel universes!

Re:Actually it was on Star Trek: TNG

[b-baggins]

Yeah, right. Let's worry that an ANDROID in a group of primitive people might violate the Prime Directive by showing them what fire really is.

ITS A PLOT...

[andalay]

to sell laser pointers

Re:Since I can't see air it must be another univer

[Anonymous Coward]

Now that you've discovered the secrets of the universe, perhaps it is time to work on the great mystery of the English language.

Re:Interesting way to test for the MWI

[Alsee]

[ Anouncer voiceover ]
What happens when Darwin meets Quantum Mechanics? Nitwits who lost the lottery but could not get the gun to function correctly, Next on Sick Sad World!

-

Re:Actually it was on Star Trek: TNG

[shadowbearer]

Let's put the Heisenberg UC principle this way ( I'm *trying* to simplify it):

You fire a couple hundred billion volkswagons out of a *very* high speed cannon at a target a couple million miles away. In the middle of this target is a couple of slits just about the width of three volkswagons.

A couple million miles on the other side of that target, you have this larger target; we'll call it the "screen" for convenience. Now, because some of those volkswagons don't impact the slit directly, you have a "spray" of volkswagons erupting from those slits - they don't just stream thru nice and orderly, some get tangential velocities from "interfering" with one another, and with the borders of the slits.

If you map the patterns of the volkswagon impacts onto the "screen" you'll notice that they have a mathematical distribution. We call this distribution an "interference pattern". This pattern has a distinctive distribution; let's call it the "volkswagon" distribution.

So after repeated experiments, you determine that the volkswagon impacts have a certain mathematical distribution; but also you find that there is a small amount of randomness to that distribution. We'll call that randomness "quantum volkswagon mechanics" - thinking that perhaps there is some small variation in the mass, velocities, and impact geometry of each volkswagon that we can't quite qualify in our experiment. After enough experiments, we determine that our error levels are follow a distribution that has some mathematical relations to the size, mass, and average spin distrubtion of the volkswagons we fired. There may or may not be an additional statistcal factor relating to our observations, which we will call Force "X".

On down the line, we find that some of those volkswagon may shed pieces of themselves, which may or may not contribute to Force "X".

Over years of experimentation, we qualify some of those pieces, and their effects, but we know that we can't adequately predict nor determine the quantity nor various qualitative aspects of those pieces. So we develop more theories, and essentially, that's where we are at now. We suspect that there is a relation between the Q&Q+Unknown of those pieces, the volkswagons, the slits, and the fact that to detect those pieces, we have to employ smaller and smaller BBs to bounce off of them, but the more we observe, the more complex it gets.

Meanwhile we do have some math to describe the whole thing - it's called wave mechanics - but frustratingly, we can't seem to relate that math to simple things like the Apple falling on Newtons' head.

This results in thousands of journal articles by the more learned members of our society; and ultimately, after being filtered thru many learned and not-so-learned members of our society, results in a description on a information site called slashdot, in which the members debate it, including speculations on supernatural dieties, callings upon fantasm including time travel, and eruditions meant to inspire humorous responses.

Do I have it right?

I think I should go to bed...

SB