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3
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México
13 4
Óptica y Electrónica some mind-bending shape?
ES-001
ES-001 16
No. universes doom implied by the third explanation.
Astrofísica, No. X does the Universe wrap around itself in
Instituto Nacional de
infinite Answers on overleaf barren place, we can hope to avoid the have edges? If so, what lies beyond it? Or
Mónica Rodríguez There are As long as we find the Universe a A finite Universe is also a crazy idea. Does it
themselves in a very short time.
★ Technological civilizations destroy
disprove? technological civilizations.
impossible to ★ Evolution rarely leads to
ideas are a simulation
★ Life is extremely improbable.
Which of these The Universe is
explanation): somewhere else in the Universe?
about the Universe Universe because (choose at least one version of yourself having a wonderful day
bad day, will it cheer you up to think of some
we haven’t found life elsewhere in the variations of our lives. If you are having a
Some crazy ideas Quiz good news. His argument goes like this: versions of ourselves living infinite
simulation, reasons that this might be number of times. We can imagine infinite
than when considering that we live in a possibly happen will happen, an infinite
N. Bostrom, here on more solid ground In an infinite Universe, everything that can
least in our corner of the Universe. Image taken by Сергей Корчанов.
ago with technological capabilities, at Olbers’ paradox.
the Universe five minutes that we are the only conscious beings ‘stars’, and you get
was created leads us to consider the possibility Change ‘trees’ for
We are alone in
The Universe The absence of evidence of alien life reach a tree trunk.
The Universe in my pocket forest, all your lines of sight will eventually
Are we alone in the Universe? If you are in the middle of a large, thick
2y

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3
Is the Universe a Simulation? An Infinite Universe?
Let’s assume that humanity Why is the sky dark at night? Imagine
survives long enough to achieve a an infinite Universe full of stars. The
technological development further you look, the more stars you
consistent with known limitations. see, with the increase in their
Wouldn’t it be interesting to run numbers compensating the decrease
many computer simulations that of their brightness. All the sky should
explore alternative histories for be as bright as the surface of the
Left: an image of the Hubble Space Telescope
(eXtreme Deep Field). Right: simulated image civilizations similar to ours? Sun. This is known as Olbers’ paradox,
from the Illustris cosmological simulation. Illustris This is a picture of a tiny dark spot in the and led J. Kepler to conclude in 1610
traces the behavior of nearly 20 billion ‘particles’ In fact, the philosopher N. Bostrom sky, much smaller than the moon, where the
that the Universe is finite.
from the beginning of time. Impressive, but a proposes that at least one of the Hubble Space Telescope, after an exposure
single grain of sand contains many more atoms! of more than 20 days, could detect
following statements must be true: Today we know that the darkness of
If there are civilizations in the Universe with thousands of galaxies. There are billions of the sky is mainly due to the finite age
very advanced technical capabilities, they ★ It is likely that our species will be galaxies in the observable Universe, and
might be able to simulate universes that extinct before we reach an of the Universe: the light of the stars
each galaxy contains
develop life and consciousness. The number advanced stage of development. billions of stars and that are outside the observable
of simulated beings might be much larger planets. Are we alone in Universe has not been able to reach
than the number of real ones! ★ It is extremely unlikely that
the middle of this sea of us yet. This solution was first
advanced civilizations will run possibilities?
Many people think that this is not a good proposed by the writer E. A. Poe!
computer simulations of their
scientific theory. It is neither productive The Scream, painted by E.
nor disprovable, and it is not clear that our ancestors. Munch in 1893, has become We still don’t know whether the
an icon of the anxiety and Universe is finite or infinite...
Universe or consciousness can be ★ We live in a computer simulation. loneliness of our age.
simulated in a computer.
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disprove them.
3 TUIMP Creative Commons
2
fruitful, and it must be possible to because it is not a scientific idea.
this idea. creator of the Universe a deceiver or
theory. Scientific theories must be allow us to disprove
http://www.tuimp.org very popular, either because it makes the
Therefore, this idea is not a scientific knowledge does not The omphalos hypothesis has never been
please visit
Our current
the Universe. presented in this booklet,
Image by Ondřej Synek.
provide any useful knowledge about series and about the topics programmers!) 66 million years ago.
true. Moreover, the idea does not To learn more about this mollusks that lived more than
message from the
Ammonites are extinct
is no way at all to prove that it is images taken from Wikipedia, Flickr and Pixabay.
right by finding a
this idea can be disproved. And there based on drawings of A. de Saint-Exupéry. Other
we could prove it by MathKnight.
this idea now (but Image by Allie Caulfield processed
There is absolutely no way in which by the Apollo 17 crew (NASA); the little prince is
We cannot disprove extinct 66 million years ago.
Team). The image of the Earth in page 12 was taken History). Triceratops became
with the rest of the Universe. D. Magee, and P. Oesch, R. Bouwens, and the HUDF09 Angeles Museum of Natural
memories and, for that matter, along Hubble Extreme Deep Field (NASA; ESA; G. Illingworth, Triceratops skeleton (Los
five minutes ago, along with all your page 8: Illustris Collaboration. Page 12: portion of the
Cover image: optical illusion from Themeson. Image in to be right. with all that evidence in place.
never happened. You were created
can never be proved by proposing that the Earth was created
According to this idea, these things Universe, see TUIMPs 12 and 13. Earth. However, it deduced from geological evidence and fossils
For current scientific theories of the of life outside the implied by the Bible with the much longer age
your first ride on a bike.
revised by Stan Kurtz, from UNAM, Mexico. any clear evidence 1857) reconciles the age of the Earth
remember your first kiss or the joy of Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica, Mexico, and The omphalos hypothesis (P. H. Gosse,
disproved by finding disprove.
for breakfast. You might also Rodríguez, from Instituto Nacional de This idea can be the omphalos hypothesis.
impossible to
of bed this morning and what you had This booklet was written in 2019 by Mónica This idea is It can be considered an extrapolation of
You probably remember getting out philosopher and mathematician B. Russell.
The Universe in my pocket No. 16 five minutes ago was discussed by the
A Five-Minute Universe? The idea that the Universe was created

The Souls of Millions Some people think

of Light Years
Is the Universe full of aliens? An Infinity of Universes?
that there is no
Away: the work of Y. In the last three decades, we have paradox, that the An infinite number of universes, a
Kusama illustrates discovered thousands of planets aliens are already here. multiverse, is predicted to occur by
beautifully the orbiting nearby stars (see TUIMP 8). As evidence, they several crazy theories.
concept of infinity. There might be billions of planets just in might point out the Quantum mechanics, one of our more
Image taken by Adam many sightings of UFOs (Unidentified Flying
our Galaxy. And some of them were successful theories, has
Fagen. Objects), the crop circles that have been
probably born a few billion years before counterintuitive implications, like
Eternal inflation predicts that quantum found in several parts of the world, or the
fluctuations are continually spawning new the formation of the Earth. Even if just particles that seem to exist in
reports of persons claiming they have been
universes at different regions of space. a tiny fraction of these planets develop abducted by aliens. several places at the same time and
String theory proposes that our Universe life and civilizations with technological that can communicate with other
coexists with infinite universes that have capabilities, the Galaxy should be As depicted in many movies and books, our
all possible physical laws. The mathematical first contact with an extraterrestrial particles instantaneously. The many-
teeming with extraterrestrial civilization would be momentous. Hence, the
Universe of Tegmark posits that reality is worlds interpretation of this theory
civilizations. So, where is everybody? aphorism made popular by the astronomer
mathematics and that all possible proposes that every time a particle
mathematical structures exist somewhere This was the question posed by E. C. Sagan applies: ‘Extraordinary claims
require extraordinary evidence’. interacts, the Universe splits into
in the multiverse. Fermi in 1950, and it led to the most
different universes, each with a
Close-up of a popular name for this problem All the claims of contact with aliens that
different outcome for the
region in the (previously discussed in 1933 by K. provide enough information to be
Mandelbrot set, Tsiolkovsky): the Fermi paradox. Many investigated have resulted in explanations interaction.
a mathematical explanations of the paradox, also involving natural phenomena or hoaxes. Other tentative theories that
structure
known as the Great Silence, have been We also tend to believe in interesting predict a multiverse are: string
created with the
proposed, but it is difficult to find an things. Wouldn’t it be nice if aliens were theory, eternal inflation, and the
function f(z) = z2
explanation that will work for all possible already here and willing to help us fix our
+ c (Binette228). mathematical universes of Tegmark.
civilizations. problems?
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