Parallel Worlds pro et contra

Before they could react in any way, Ruthra himself answered:

– Yes, you're going to say it's huge. And I will say, yes, it's grandiose, comparable to the first human space flight. And what would you say at that time if someone asked you to explain the existence of molecules or the structure of the solar system? You would have considered it magic, devilry and fantasy, if not to say nonsense. So now in our world quite serious scientists, and for a long time already, consider the existence of parallel worlds. Yes, yes.

Ruthra took note: although their faces remained serious, a slight chuckle ran through them.

– Let's hear what science has to say about it. A multiverse is a hypothetical set of all possible real-life parallel universes, including the one we are in. According to the hypothesis of Hugh Everett, the creator of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, we live in a universe, or rather, a multiverse, in which many successive worlds are constantly being born and branched off, each containing a different version of you. I'll tell you right away – don't try to memorize everything by heart. We will come back to this topic many times, and I will give details, explain everything. So, physicists who studied this topic used the many-worlds interpretation to explain the incomprehensibility of the Copenhagen interpretation, namely, the statement that an unobservable phenomenon can exist in two states. There is the Copenhagen interpretation, Everett's many-worlds interpretation, and a bunch of other theories, but these are the main ones. So instead of saying that Schrödinger's cat is both alive and dead – the many-worlds interpretation says that the cat has simply "branched off" into different worlds: in one it is alive, in another it is dead. Now here we need to sort of move on to this cat.

Ruthra looked at Andrian and noticed his desire to show his knowledge of the subject, but the girls didn't know, because it wasn't a woman's subject. So, with a nod, Ruthra continued:

– So, the cat experiment. It was presented to the world by someone very clever and imaginative – Uncle Schroedinger. What is the experiment? The point is that at the atomic level there are processes that are miracles and mysticism for our material world. These are such processes as, for example, a flying atom, which at first has the shape of a ball, but as soon as we decide to photograph it, that is, see it, it turns into a line. There are such oddities in the microcosm. It's as if this particle sees us, or rather, the observer, and appears in a different image. You may ask, how do we know that the atom was a ball before it was seen? And I will answer you: there is a trace that it leaves on the screen in front of it. It has to be recorded somehow, that it was there at all. I'll explain more about that later, but for now about this cat. It's actually a thought experiment. There is no cat. So, conditionally, we take a cat and put it in a box. We put a flask of poisonous gas, a radioactive atom and a Geiger counter. The radioactive atom may or may not decay at any moment, that's its nature. If it decays, the counter will detect the fact – and a special mechanism will break the flask with gas, and the cat will die. If it doesn't, the cat stays alive. Here's the one with and without surveillance. We close the cat in the box – from this moment, from the point of view of quantum mechanics, our atom is in a state of uncertainty: whether it has disintegrated or not. For us, while we are in ignorance, without precise observation, before we open the box and look in it – it will be in two states at once. And since the cat's life directly depends on the state of this atom, it turns out that the cat is literally alive and dead at the same time. That's how quantum theory depicts this situation. Now we move smoothly to the multiverse. So what's the point? In different variations it is as if the life of the cat, i.e. atom, and consequently – of all atoms and, of course, of everything that consists of these atoms – is under question: how it is there – in the world where another event happened. Here I will go a little bit ahead and say that we should add such a mystical phenomenon as quantum entanglement. This is such a thing, when two particles are friends, let's say, but they were separated, they scattered. Well, they're twins, let's say. So these twins can fly apart over incredible distances, but they can stay connected to each other. A bond so strong that it's instantaneous, faster than the speed of light. Of course, you don't have to know all the laws of physics, but I'll tell you that in our world, in our universe, there is nothing greater than the speed of light. No, because it's a law! But not in this case. Nevertheless, it is still a kind of mysticism: how and with what help they make this connection – no one knows yet. A miracle in the solid laws of exact science. It sounds delusional, but it is a fact. Here I have already told you about two mystical phenomena. Now, of course, you'll think: why did he gather us here and tell us such things? But you're interested, aren't you? Aren't you?

– Well, yes, hard to understand, but interesting," Iulia replied expectantly.

Ruthra looked around at everyone: those gathered were a little pensive and tense, but satisfied.

– Since we have understood the topic, the essence, and, most importantly, each other, I suggest that we continue to delve further into the program in a more comfortable environment, for example, in a cafe, over a cup of tea. First of all, we forget about my proposal. The legend will be as follows: I am a researcher of one international organization, which is conducting a space project. Specifically, training astronauts to go to Mars. It's not much of a surprise nowadays. To be convincing, we need to talk about the ongoing program of flight simulation and crew cohabitation. There is a real program. You can refer to it. I will now give information on it, if anything – all your data will really be entered into that program. So everything is real. You have to live it, get into the roles so much that you can start having conversations among yourselves about it as if it were your real business.

– What about secrecy then? – Andrian asked.

– Secrecy is exactly what it is all about: the false story must look like the real story, no one must in any case know about the true deeds. Understand, great minds think there, so everything is provided for. Our program itself is so incredible that even if you tell about it – your false story will be believed more than the real one. I'll give you a few days to think about it. All your conversations are being monitored. I'll send you links to where and what to read about the program. You can talk openly about suggestions for the program. Now listen to a little more about the program that will be a legend. Are you ready?

Everyone shook their heads in agreement. Ruthra turned on a video: "Mars Flight Simulation: Participants in a new test will spend eight months in isolation. After a short introductory video, he looked around at everyone. Even this information was definitely something out of the realm of science fiction for the ladies.

– I hope the topic is clear? – he asked, turning off the video.

– It's clear," Andrian replied.

The others reacted in silence, though their faces expressed both delight and bewilderment.

– Now the following. You will be in Europe, directly in the dungeons of CERN. For those who don't know enough, CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the world's largest laboratory for high-energy physics. It is located on the border of Switzerland and France, near Geneva. Legend has it you'll be at the Ames Research Center, USA. It's one of NASA's laboratories. Areas of activity: information technology, space biology, astrobiology; research on the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe; research on the operation, capabilities of airplanes, their operation and safety. Located on the grounds of Moffett Federal Airfield, near Mountain View, California. Memorize quickly and, if you want to be on the project, stay focused. Now coming out.

They left the building and went to the same café from where Rutra had pointed to the place of this meeting, and soon they were sipping coffee together. Rutra continued:

– So, we pass to representations about parallel worlds, which form those very second particles escaped from the first ones. The many-worlds interpretation itself remains quite a controversial issue. Not everyone presents it in the same way. Even among scientists studying the subject, there is no agreement. That's because no one has ever been there. It's like heaven and hell. Everyone describes everything, but nobody knows anything for sure, because nobody has ever returned from there. Maybe they have, since everyone imagines these places as really existing. So there are no less interesting and hot disputes about parallel worlds. Here it is necessary to say something in favor of physics. Note, not everything is based on some notions and conditional belief: really experiments with particles are carried out.

Everyone looked at Rutra with even more interest.

– You want to know exactly what experiments and how? About that later, in the center," Rutra said the last in a whisper. – I'll just say that Chinese scientists launched the second particle into space on a satellite, and on Earth they influenced the first particle; so it changed there instantly. Nobody can understand how they communicate, and more importantly – at what speed, because it is literally instantaneous. Yes, yes, a miracle. However, let's go further. It is difficult for us to imagine even the size of the Sun relative to us, and the fact that we live in a multiverse of gigantic dimensions is beyond comprehension. We can imagine something huge, but here the mechanisms of our imagination are triggered, which were also formed by evolution. People once thought that space ended at the horizon line. Then they went to look for the edge of the earth, including the sea. But they soon realized that there was no edge. Then we went into space. Now we're trying to figure out how long a light year is. And that's a lot. For example, moving at 300,000 kilometers per second, light takes a second to reach the Moon. It's over eight minutes to the Sun. And to the nearest star other than the Sun, it takes four years. So calculate how many seconds and how many kilometers light travels in a year. And our galaxy is 100,000 light years across. And it's not the biggest. To the known "edges" of the universe – either 13-15, or all 37 billion light years. Imagine traveling at that speed for that many years. And that, it turns out, is not the limit of the multiverse's imagination. Imagine that our universe is one city, and there are more cities out there, somewhere very, very far away. Believe me, that's a lot. Our sun holds over 1,350,000 planets like Earth. And in our galaxy, how many stars do you think there are?

Ruthra was so engrossed in the story that he didn't notice how the tense, thoughtful faces of his listeners had changed to cheerful and mischievous ones.

– God knows," again the first was JULIA.

Andrian remained silent, the other ladies shrugged their shoulders, smiling.

– I understand what you're thinking. You're thinking, what does the amount of money I outlined have to do with a reasonable job offer from the organization we met in the basement of? Why did we leave there, fearing a wiretap, what does that have to do with an interesting astronomy story? Hello, though. You have to listen to understand. Now on to the next one. So, there are so many of them that scientists can't tell the exact number – whether it's 100 billion, or 200, or 300, or even 400 billion. And that's just in our galaxy. Let's move on to this very interpretation. Interpretation is also a kind of inaccuracy, a kind of representation that it is like this… I am telling you all this to make you realize that it is really very difficult and unrealistic to understand information at first. I told you – you have to believe me. If I do not bring you to the secret center and do not give you the first part of the sum – then you will have the right to consider everything a lie and fantasy. That would be natural. So now is the moment of truth. Don't laugh, don't be surprised. Take it for granted; I didn't just tell you everything and give you examples. Imagine that tomorrow all the news agencies of the world will report the fixation of a signal from an unearthly intelligence. Would that be a shock? Yes, of course it would. And if these signals were constant? What would you say a year from now? It won't be a big deal. Everyone will get used to it. It's the same thing with the lighter, TV, real-time wireless video, organ transplants and all that. So now I'm going to shock you a little bit. Remember what I said about the mystique of the microcosm of particles? Well, these particles are somehow flying apart, but they're still connected to each other. From this fact, we began to develop the theory of parallel worlds. Yes, yes. It all fits. If there is an antiproton, for the discovery of which we have already received the Nobel Prize, why should not all substances exist in the opposite, i.e. antivariant? And now let's ask: what kind of world do they form? The opposite world, of course. These second scattered, they are called entangled pairs, particles and form their own world, which is as if mirror relative to ours. That is, parallel. Is that funny? Maybe. But the truth, like the author, is near. The inventor of this theory is before you. Your doubts are normal. Now we've come to the line where the scientific review begins. Let's take another coffee and listen to Rutra.

– I'll take the tea," Andrian said and raised his hand, signaling the waiter.

– We'll be right there," Iulia said smiling.

YatSan and Catherine stood up with her, all of them heading towards the inside of the cafe in a friendly manner.

– Is it really real? – Andrian asked.

Ruthra nodded thoughtfully and affirmatively.

– Absolutely.

– Parallel worlds?!

– Imagine a very, very small circle of people knowing about this. Now imagine how great a responsibility I've placed on you.

– I don't even know what to say. It's interesting, and curious… and unbelievable… and dangerous, or something.

– Yes, my friend, you are right, it is dangerous, but only if someone is blabbering. Or rather, no one will believe you at this stage, and at the next stage you won't really belong to yourself. You'll be in the system… and for the rest of your life. You'll have a very prestigious job there, too, for an official legend.

– How? How did you know they were there? Has anyone made contact before?

– No. You're the one who's gonna join.

– You gotta admit, it's fantastic.

– Believe me, it's very serious. I told you: your disbelief is natural. Wait until the second stage. When you get to the secret center, all your doubts will be dispelled.

– Okay, well, I can't wait to get there.

The ladies are back.

– What are we gonna do?

– What shall we have with tea? – The most talkative one, of course, Iulia, repeated.

– I'm fine," YatSan was brief as always.

– Why is that? – JULIA asked her, giving an indication of a different reason than might normally be the case with ladies.

– It doesn't have the brownies I like," she replied.

– Okay, guys, let's stay focused. The firm is paying. Let's take what we want.

– I'm ordering, okay?

– Yes, Iulia, get into character.

– What role? – She asked in a slightly wary tone.

– In the program, each of you has a specific role. You, IuLia, have the role of supporting the contact, counseling the protagonist.

– Who's in charge?

– In front of us.

Rutra looked at YatSan, tilting his head slightly to the side, smiling slyly.

– What-what? Did I miss something? – YatSan asked seriously.

– Yeah, missed it," Andrian said, picking up on everyone's joking smile.

Said Rutra has yet to be taken seriously because of the sci-fi component.

– What were you talking about? – YatSan asked Andrian sternly.

– He said he'd send you to a parallel world.

It was a joke on his part, but completely true for Rutra. He had planned to do it that way, but YatSan would have known how.

– Wait a minute. You're gonna confuse things. Until you get it right, nothing's gonna change. So you're not going anywhere. Let's drink tea, eat cake and listen to Rutra. I can't get the science part down. So, in our world, everyone, or practically everyone, takes for granted the fact that the world we observe is one. Talking, much less scientific discussion, about a multiple universe has long been considered scientific heresy, but the idea that it is true has been on the minds of more and more. Physicists, cosmologists (even more so quantum fanatics) began not just to think about it anymore, but to try to fold it into scientific theories. Now some complicated words. What will be unclear now – I will gradually explain in everyday language. Don't worry, you will hear all this five times more, and not only from me. In my theory the main statement about the many-worlds interpretation is that all being consists of quantum superposition of unimaginably large (and most likely – infinite) number of universes. The term superposition means that very superposition, a kind of parallel. According to this interpretation, there must be an absolutely incredible number of alternative worlds. Now I will try to explain in more detail and at the same time in a simpler way what the many-worlds interpretation is. According to it: wholeness of life is a kind of illusion. We all perceive our life as a single and integral being in space and time. However, consciousness remains consciousness, and no matter how many worlds exist, no matter how many of us are in them – here and now our "I" is our consciousness. Listen, listen. I understand how you feel right now. Now, there are many versions of you. Yes, yes. Each of us, and everything around us, is made up of atoms, and these atoms are made up of particles, and these particles can have a bonded pair that naturally fly apart to form a parallel world. That's the kind of miracle. So, no matter how much you doubt, there is an almost infinite number of your copies, each of which perceives its world as a separate personality and does not know about the existence of other you. Correspondingly – and the worlds you are in. Though now you know, and they can find out too, because I and my brain are made of atoms, so somewhere there is a parallel copy of them. The interesting thing is that the parallel can be a little bit crooked. So our world is reflected in a mirror, but mirrors can be crooked. A kingdom of crooked mirrors. In different worlds and our life paths – a great variety. Everything is similar, but a little bit different. And at what moment this different became realized – the devil himself does not know. For example, somewhere in your infancy something was just a little bit different from what you have here, and there you are already living a similar but different life. From birth you, or what appears to be you, have branched off into different worlds. And in one world you may live in the future, and in another you may live in the past. If one travels back in time – it would mean moving into entirely new time paradigms. You will not be able to influence all brains at the same time and make everyone make the decision that copies in the other world have already made. That is, you will not be able to build a future that you have already experienced somewhere and therefore know. At the same time, you should be a little "past" in the past world, i.e. young. Your consciousness will be mixed up and it will be reincarnated into such a person as you are there. The most interesting consequence of the existence of an infinite number of worlds is that everything has already happened. Moreover, it will happen an infinite number of times. Now I'll leave you with a kind of homework assignment. You just need to convince yourself with the information available to everyone. You look on the net for threads about these interpretations and worlds. I assure you, you will be pleasantly surprised. Prepare yourself for the move. Prepare morally and environment. Further – in more detail, and with practice, everything will be in the very organization. I'll tell you right away – it's very deep underground. So for now, tune your brains.

Chapter 11. Places where they won't find us

Those months that were scheduled for preparation went by in vigorous activity. The euphoria was incendiary. We were done early, not even half a year later. The most difficult thing was to move the installations to the space station. Everything else was easier. The project for the new center was ready, and the place was chosen to match the methods of "spheroids". That's what those who were part of the secret clan of the world's rulers called each other. That place was North Sentinel Island. North Sentinel Island, one of the islands of the Andaman Archipelago, located in the Bay of Bengal, east of India and west of Myanmar. The islanders lived isolated from the rest of the world and were extremely aggressive to anyone who tried to make contact with them. The Indian government decided not to interfere in their lives and even set up a perimeter of about six kilometers to prohibit access to the island. Indian authorities prohibit contact with islanders who are not immune to infectious diseases, and it is a criminal offense to visit the island.

In 2017, the Indian authorities ruled that even photographing and videotaping the natives of the Andaman Islands could result in a three-year prison sentence. Of course, all these measures were taken on the recommendation of international organizations of the relevant kind, led by the Sphere system. But that was in the plans. In the meantime, proof was needed, so a successful experiment had to be conducted. For this purpose, a secret legend about the allegedly conducted experiments was invented. Partially it had to coincide with the program "Ribhu". The program included: transferring information from one brain to another with the help of an implanted chip in both. A kind of wireless, invisible, tacit communication. For this purpose, virtual reality installations were modernized and installed at selected points.

One was in the secret Mariner-1 laboratory, which was located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Few sane people could think of locating anything man-made at such a depth, much less a huge scientific center. Only occasionally in the yellow press were notes about allegedly unidentified vehicles surfacing in the area. The area was carefully guarded as a target area for missile firing. Consequently, if an outsider stealthily penetrated there bypassing the security perimeter, he would "accidentally" hit the very missile that the area was closed for testing.

The second was in Chukotka, the so-called most secret place. It was called so not only because it was not photographed by satellites. Officially, they were supposedly adjusting their trajectories over this place and could not work. And everyone took it for granted that this was true for all satellites, and those who doubted it were simply not allowed to fly along this trajectory. Accordingly, it was so because it was necessary. There was an emergency exit from the super-secret underground facility-city Polygon. In addition, this place was not listed anywhere as something important, so sometimes only aroused the interest of the curious, solely because of the impossibility to see on any satellite image. Of course, the original location as an emergency exit from the "Polygon" was not chosen spontaneously. There are no settlements in the vicinity. The place is harsh, wild, it is a part of the border zone, which can be visited only with a pass issued by the Federal Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service. Of course, Rutra chose this territory.

The third was no location at all. Rutra used a "doomsday" airplane for this purpose: an airborne command post designed to control army units during military conflicts using nuclear weapons. There were several of them in stock, so he could use one, either Russian or US, for his program without officially announcing it. They were chosen because they fit the cases that the "luminary of science" feared. The machines can be in flight for a whole week on condition of aerial refueling. All equipment on board is protected from the effects of a nuclear explosion.