You Are Because You Have to Be- Professor Brian Cox on the Multiverse

"You are because you have to be." This beautiful and thought-provoking quote comes from physicist Brian Cox in his recent BBC show "Human Universe". He is referencing the concept of the "multiverse" as it stems from inflation theory. Developed by Alan Guth, Andrei Linde, Paul Steinhardt, and Andy Albrecht, the theory proposes a period of extremely rapid, exponential expansion of the universe prior to the more gradual Big Bang expansion. It's suggested by some that the inflationary expansion continues in different regions of the universe, creating "bubbles" of spacetime that develop into other "pocket universes" resulting in an infinite multiverse. If there were an infinite number of universes, each with possibly different physical laws (strength of gravity, speed of light, etc), some of these universes would have the combination of laws and fundamental parameters that are suitable for the development of matter, elements, galaxies, stars, planets, life.......us. Perhaps there are an infinite number of copies of you and me where anything that can happen, does. We are already specks in a vast universe but could we be specks in a vast infinity of universes? Further reading: http://www.ctc.cam.ac.uk/outreach/origins/inflation_zero.php http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/bb_cosmo_infl.html http://www.space.com/21421-universe-multiverse-inflation-th… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle Oh, Star Stuff is a project meant to shift perspectives and explore the beauty of science, astronomy and space exploration. http://ohstarstuff.com http://instagram.com/ohstarstuff http://twitter.com/ohstarstuff http://www.facebook.com/Ohstarstuff Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. All copyrighted materials contained herein belong to their respective copyright holders, I do not claim ownership over any of these materials. I realize no profit, monetary or otherwise, from the exhibition of these videos. (Video Credit: BBC Human Universe, Music by Hans Zimmer, Aquarius Simulation from Virgo Consortium | Descriptions credit: NASA, Brian Cox, Alan Guth)