🪐 Here we investigate the mind-bending topic of Interstellar's complex parallel reality. Keep exploring at http://brilliant.org/BeeyondIdeas/. Get started for free, and hurry—the first 200 people get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

Part 1 of the Interstellar series:    • The Science of Extreme Time Dilation ...  
Part 2 of the Interstellar series:    • What If You Could Access the FOURTH D...  

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Timecode:
0:00 Opening
0:58 Interpretations from physics
1:41 Wormhole, time travel and alternate timeline
4:52 Parallel worlds in Interstellar
10:17 Higher-dimensional beings
12:15 Fun quiz!

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This video was sponsored by Brilliant. #Parallel #World

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A very important disclaimer, before we start this video. It is unknown to scientists whether there is such a thing as, a parallel universe. Even the concept of wormholes, which some would argue would be the hypothetical portal to enter an alternate universe, it’s also not known to exist. The chances that they exist naturally are exceedingly small. So what we could say is… they are only a theoretical consequence of the laws of physics as is known today.

But it doesn’t stop us from unravelling some of the most profound questions about the cosmos and our reality. We could describe the physicist’s interpretation of these concepts, and… I could tell you what physicists think they know about wormholes, backward time travel and parallel universes.

In 1988, Physicist Igor Novikov stated an astonishing idea about wormholes. If their existence is allowed by the laws of physics, Einstein’s relativistic laws would permit transforming them into some sort of time machine. But how would that work? Let’s explore that statement in detail.

Suppose we have this wormhole system with two different portals. To demonstrate the feasibility of using this wormhole as a time machine, we need the two portals to be carefully positioned at specific locations in the universe. They’re arranged such that the time difference between the two places could grow significantly over time. Let’s say one stable portal is located somewhere on earth with person A, while the other end of the wormhole is in orbit around a black hole, and we send person B in there. We can assume both persons A and B are the same age when this is happening.

So as soon as the wormhole setup is done, we synchronize time between the two portals. Because of the immense gravitational pull near the black hole, time dilation is starting to take effect. For this reason, time for the astronaut at the other end of the wormhole, slows down, as seen in the external universe. But time on earth doesn’t slow down, because that is our reference. But seen through the wormhole, the clocks from the two portals run at the same rate. They are still synchronized.

Now, suppose for our imagination, we unite the two ends of the wormhole back. Of course, because of the immense time dilation between the two spots, we could see that person B is still young, while person A is very old. That is of course, as seen from the external universe. But here’s the shocking thing. When you look inside the two openings of the wormhole, both persons A and B are the same age. And there, you’ll see that the two clocks are synchronized, just like the first time they were set.

Something crazy is going on. It’s the fact that you would create a time machine. If person B steps inside the wormhole, he would be able to go back in time, to the time when he is still the same age as person A.

Okay, in this very peculiar scenario, there are a couple of things that we could ask ourselves. Like: Would it be possible for person B to time travel back to the past, immediately at the time when both clocks were synchronized? Would person B then, meet his other self at that moment? Do we need an alternative timeline to explain this paradox?

Theoretical physicist Joseph Polchinski thought about this situation, which now becomes the Polchinski paradox. It’s basically the billiard ball version of this scenario, meaning.. instead of person B, we have the billiard ball that is sent through one portal of the wormhole.

Although the idea of a wormhole and a time machine is obviously very speculative, mathematical models have demonstrated that it is possible for a wormhole of some kind to connect different portions of space. That’s of course if it is kept open by some form of negative energy. And if this is the case, then the arguments in favour of parallel universes are on our side. Because given an infinite universe, and infinite time… everything is bound to happen somewhere, at another point in space or time.