Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Last time, we talked about the theory of inflation and how that leads to Max Tegmark’s Level 2 Multiverse. Today, we will be looking at the next level of the multiverse, or the Level 3 Multiverse, as proposed by Tegmark and some of its defining characteristics.
Now, so far, we have looked at structures that we can point to in space, at least in theory. But the next level of the Multiverse, the Level 3 Multiverse, gets super weird. It is believed that the level 3 Multiverse is right here all around us arising from the famous, and controversial, many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the idea that random quantum processes cause the universe to branch into multiple copies, one for each possible outcome. In the early 20th century, the theory of quantum mechanics revolutionized physics by explaining the atomic realm, which does not abide by the classical rules of Newtonian mechanics. Despite the theory's clear triumphs, there is a strong controversy over what it really entails. The theory describes the state of the universe in terms of quantum mechanics, in particular, a mathematical object called a wave function, rather than classical concepts like the locations and velocities of all particles. According to the Schrödinger equation, this state evolves over time in a fashion that mathematicians refer to as “unitary,” meaning that the wave function rotates in an abstract infinite-dimensional space called Hilbert space. Although quantum mechanics is often described as inherently random and uncertain, the wave function evolves in a deterministic way. There is nothing random or uncertain about it.
Last time, we talked about the theory of inflation and how that leads to Max Tegmark’s Level 2 Multiverse. Today, we will be looking at the next level of the multiverse, or the Level 3 Multiverse, as proposed by Tegmark and some of its defining characteristics.
Now, so far, we have looked at structures that we can point to in space, at least in theory. But the next level of the Multiverse, the Level 3 Multiverse, gets super weird. It is believed that the level 3 Multiverse is right here all around us arising from the famous, and controversial, many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the idea that random quantum processes cause the universe to branch into multiple copies, one for each possible outcome. In the early 20th century, the theory of quantum mechanics revolutionized physics by explaining the atomic realm, which does not abide by the classical rules of Newtonian mechanics. Despite the theory's clear triumphs, there is a strong controversy over what it really entails. The theory describes the state of the universe in terms of quantum mechanics, in particular, a mathematical object called a wave function, rather than classical concepts like the locations and velocities of all particles. According to the Schrödinger equation, this state evolves over time in a fashion that mathematicians refer to as “unitary,” meaning that the wave function rotates in an abstract infinite-dimensional space called Hilbert space. Although quantum mechanics is often described as inherently random and uncertain, the wave function evolves in a deterministic way. There is nothing random or uncertain about it.
