What if there is another version of you that lives in a completely different universe, living a completely different life, making completely different decisions? Have you ever wondered about the idea of a multiverse? Many people have a vague idea of what a multiverse is since many shows, movies, video games, and books such as “Star Trek” and “Doctor Strange” incorporate the idea of a multiverse into their plotlines. There’s actually quite a bit of evidence that suggests a multiverse is real, but before we go into those theories it’s useful to understand how our universe even came to be.

According to  this  website approximately 13.7 billion years ago when the big bang happened an unknown trigger caused the cosmos to expand and inflate in three-dimensional space. There was a gigantic amount of energy caused by this explosion and as that energy cooled, light began to seep through. Soon enough the small particles became bigger pieces of matter such as stars, planets, and galaxies.

There are three major theories that make the most sense out of all the information about multiverses. Mathematical universes, bubble universes, and infinite universes. The mathematical universe theory suggests that the structure of mathematics changes depending on which universe you are located in a 2012 article Max Tegmark of the Massachusetts institute of Technology said “A mathematical structure is something that you can describe in a way that’s completely independent of human baggage.” He goes on to say that he really believes that there is a universe out there that can exist independently without human intervention. Moving on to the bubble theory, this theory talks about how multiple universes come from “eternal inflation.” Based on research from Tufts University Cosmetologist Alexander Vilenkin, space-time as a whole has some areas that stop inflating like the big bang inflated our universe while others continue to inflate. If we imagine our universe as a bubble, it is sitting in a system of bubble universes of space. What’s fascinating about this theory is that other universes could have completely different laws of physics then our own, since they aren’t linked. Lastly the infinite universe theory talks about how we don’t know the approximate shape of space-time. Meaning that there is a possibility that it is flat and goes on forever. That would mean that there are countless universes out there, but with that in mind that also means that the universes can start repeating themselves.

With that all being said there is still a considerable chance that multiverses are not real. The main problem is that our universe is only about 14 billion years old. That means that since our universe has only been around for a small amount of time it would limit the possibilities for particles to rearrange themselves and give your alternate self less chances of a different life. In a 2015 article on Medium by astrophysicist Ethan Siegal, he said that putting aside all the major problems there is still not a guarantee that there is a parallel universe identical to this one. Meaning that even if a multiverse existed that doesn’t automatically mean that there is another you or even another earth.

In conclusion even if there really is a multiverse out there, with our current technology we are limited to explore it. We have only explored four percent of our own universe, trying to explore other universes is a dream now unless we expand our technology and create new inventions to help us understand the multiverse through engineering. There might be a ton of different versions of yourself, but as of right now you are the only version of yourself you know of, so make choices that you feel comfortable with, live life with no regrets and don’t count on your alternative self to live a better life then you are living now.