A Flipbook Existence

[taykair]

We've all seen, or perhaps even made, a flipbook animation. You draw, say, a stick figure on a sheet of paper and then draw another, slightly different figure on a second sheet, then a third, and so on. You stack the sheets, one atop another, and then...

Well, if you haven't seen or made one, then thank God for YouTube, right?

As a kid, I used to make flipbooks by doodling in the corners of my textbooks instead of studying (which is probably one of the reasons I wasn't that good in school). I found an old book of mine recently which had one of these masterpieces of adolescent artistic expression, and it got me to thinking:

Imagine a group of containers arranged in all directions, spreading out into infinity. Now imagine that each container holds a static universe - that is, a universe in which nothing is moving. Each of these universes is different in that they either do not contain the same amount of atoms or, if some of them do, then those atoms are arranged in a slightly different way.

Now imagine that your consciousness is moving from one container to another. Would you not perceive that things are moving, even though each universe is totally still? Would you not perceive this change from one static universe to the next as time passing?

In this "flipbook multiverse", there would be no creation event and no ending. There would be no past or future, since each and every state of what we perceive as the universe exists in its own container right now.

Let's make things even weirder by standing at a vantage point where we are able to see the entire group of static universe containers. (I don't see how this could be possible, but what the hell, it's pre-breakfast, and I still have five impossible things left to think about before I have my bacon and eggs).

Looking closely, we notice tiny lines of light connecting one container to another. Upon closer inspection, we see that the lines are made up of small pinpricks of light. These pinpricks are individual consciousnesses zooming from one container to the next in a fraction of a fraction of a slice of a nanosecond. We notice that some of the pinpricks jump from the path that that the others are moving along for awhile and then return to the group. Are these time travelers? Victims of the so-called "Mandela Effect"? Explorers of alternate universes? Dudes who scored some really, really good weed? Who knows?

Do I think that this is an accurate model of reality? I don't know. Probably not. There are, very likely, a lot of holes in this idea. The more scientifically-inclined among us (I'm looking at you, Harte) will no doubt be able to spot the flaws in it. I just thought that it was a neat idea to play with.

 

[Harte]

It's imaginary so I don't see why you expect my criticism.

But, since you seem to have asked, you're not broad enough.
The fundamental unit of spacetime is the "event."

There is a unit called "Planck time" that is the shortest amount of time that it makes any sense at all to talk about.
It is possible that the universe exists as a series of universes, each representing a collection of events, and each experienced in one unit of Planck time, the smallest unit of an event.

The question is actually whether spacetime is actually a continuum, or is it "grainy."

Anyway, that's not unlike a flipbook, but the book would have to flip so fast it would catch on fire.

In your scenario, BTW, each universe would have to be exactly the same (except for absurdly, laughingly tiny motions measured in Planck units") or we would certainly notice.

Harte

 

[taykair]

It's imaginary so I don't see why you expect my criticism.

Because I've been paying attention.

...you're not broad enough.

I don't see what my gender has to do with it. So I'm not a broad. So what? You tryin' to say sumpthin' buddy?

There is a unit called "Planck time"...

I just finished reading a bit about Planck time and Planck length. I stopped reading when my head started to ache - which was about five minutes after I started reading.

It is possible that the universe exists as a series of universes, each representing a collection of events, and each experienced in one unit of Planck time, the smallest unit of an event.

Yes. I could have just expressed my idea that way and thereby saved a lot of space.

The question is actually whether spacetime is actually a continuum, or is it "grainy."

Question: Has science determined which view (smooth continuum or grainy "flipbook") is actually the case? If not (and I rather suspect not) are there any arguments to be found which favor either side?

...the book would have to flip so fast it would catch on fire.

I wasn't really thinking about "flipping the multiverse flipbook" so much as I was thinking about consciousness moving between almost-similar versions of a static universe. It would be like having each page of the flipbook lying next to each other and having a tiny flea moving from one to the next. So I guess that, instead of the flipbook catching fire, the flea would. (Or, if the flea did not catch fire, then at least he would be one exhausted little bugger at the end of his trip.)

In your scenario, BTW, each universe would have to be exactly the same (except for absurdly, laughingly tiny motions measured in Planck units") or we would certainly notice.

I always envisioned a multiverse in that way anyway - only that none of them were static and that each version of "us" was imprisoned in each one (at least the ones we exist in).

Thanks for taking part, Harte.