Is our universe part of a larger multiverse?

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Interessting that you should start this thread. I say "interesting" because I listened to a news piece on NPR this evening about how it might be possible in the next 10 to 20 years for physicists to create universes.

I guess it depends on how you define "universe." When I was in school (long enough that a lot of what is now history was current events) the working definition of "univers" was "everything in existence." So now, when I hear scientists talking about "multiple universes," my first question is, "When did we redefine universe so that it means everything there is except for...?"

And if we didn't redefine it, then what exists outside of "everything that is"?

It's the same problem I have with the Big Bang. "At one time, everything that existed was compacted into a tiny point, called a singularity." Well, I may be dense (but probably no more dense than was that singularity) but doesn't positing the existence of something imply more than that something? If the singularity was, the implication is that there was something that was outside of the singularity, or something that was not the singularity.

It's like the old joke, "How many Zen masters does it take to change a lightbulb?" The answer: "Two. One to change the lightbulb and one to not change the lightbulb.

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I think so.

I have a strange thought all along,the universe is one our bodies,and the earth is one the cell of the organises,and there are many such bodies,they live in the similar environment as ours,they are bouncers in size.....

It sounds interesting,but I think in this way.

Talk of a multiverse reminds me of having one pizza then cutting it into several slices and saying that you now have several pizzas. Our universe has enough space in it that it does not matter whether we speak of one or of many. In the end it all boils down to one. The multiverse idea was concocted to increase the odds of life developing by chance. It was unnecessary since we could have the same odds in an infinite universe. In the end, 100 bananas still produce only one bunch of bananas.

I went to a pizza parlor last night and ordered an extra-large pizza. The kid behind the counter asked me if I wanted it cut into 9 pieces or 18. I told him 9, because I didn't think I could eat 18 pieces of pizza.

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Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control;
these three alone lead one to sovereign power.
Tennyson

At least some string theorists think so, for what that's worth.

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If anything is possible, then the statement, "anything is possible," is possibly false.

Universe: n. the totality of known or supposed objects and phenomena throughout space; the cosmos; macrocosm.

By definition, no. It also is not static. Our knowledge is always growing, so as we know of new objects and phenomena, our "universe" would change to encompass them. However, I do believe that there are many more than the known dimensions and what we know of space-time. Personally, I do know that there are three realms, though I wouldn't consider them different dimensions, so if there are other realms that a lot of people never know about, why not have other dimensions? (If we ever came up with proof of them, they would still be part of our universe, by definition.)

Rev. Rex, if I accept your explanation of the universe I would have to conclude that until Copernican theory was accepted the sun did orbit the earth.

You wouldn't be far off, since that was accepted cosmology at the time. Of course, there was no mathematics or established scientific facts and theories that supported that idea at the time, but empiricism didn't begin until after that time period.

It makes little difference what science has accepted or who wrong they are. In fact, I'd venture a guess that many of the "solid" theories of today will be totally turned on their ear in the next 50-100 years. Look how many 'established facts' of the 40's and 50's have already been either severely changed or obliterated entirely.

Rex, are you serious in suggesting that reality depends on what man actually believes?