Although its allure and longevity is undeniable, the idea of infinite parallel universes –the multiverse - is untested and could never be tested. In this way it is unscientific in the barest sense, despite continuing to find supporters among serious, prominent scientists. With science in something of a slump, are these theorists simply indulging in a little fantasy, asks John Horgan.
Over a decade ago in 1990, I wrote a bit of fluff for Scientific American about whether our cosmos might be just one in an “infinitude,” as several theories of physics implied. I titled my piece “Here a Universe, There a Universe . . .” and kept the tone light, because I didn’t want readers to take these cosmic conjectures too seriously. After all, there was no way of proving, or disproving, the existence of other universes.*
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