The Hidden reality: Behind the science

In The Hidden Reality, celebrated theoretical physicist Brian Greene explains the mind-boggling idea of a ‘Multiverse’ (plural of universe). A professor of physics at Columbia University, Greene is well-known for his two earlier works on popular science, The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos which sought to explain, among other things, the very nature of space-time. But The Hidden Reality, in explicating the idea of multiple realities, shows the layperson something that has never before been presented by a popular physicist.

The Big Bang Theory, which suggests the origin of the universe some 14 billion years ago gives rise to several other theories which require our universe not to be the only one. Most readers of popular science are familiar with the many worlds interpretation of quantum physics and M-theory’s “braneworld”. Multiverses, Greene writes in this book, are “harder to avoid than they are to find” and he discusses nine theories in their support.

From the plain old “Quilted Multiverse theory” that postulates that in this infinite universe, there is bound to be repetition of the order of things to the “Inflation theory” that suggests that our universe began as a rapidly expanding bubble of empty space, Greene discusses the all. “String theory” gained popularity because it successfully unifies General Relativity and Quantum Theory and verification is expected from the experiments currently being run at the Large Hadron Collider. Greene also ponders over the possibility of a “Simulated Multiverse”, theorising that we may all be part of a simulation, like that in The Matrix. Extending this supposition further, the creators of our simulation might themselves be part of another simulation and the final wonderland is the “Ultimate Multiverse” in which everything that can exist and is mathematically consistent actually exists ‘somewhere’.

As a teenager I read scientists like Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking on the queer nature of black holes, the philosophical dilemmas of time travel, and the creationist implications of the big bang theory. But compared to this, these problems seem mundanely simple. Some people call these theories scientific blasphemy, but in the words of George Bernard Shaw, “all great truths begin as blasphemies”. The Hidden Reality both popularizes scientific ideas and shines a light on the path that will be explored by future physicists.

These theories are challenging simplistic notions about science by ‘enhancement’ of mathematical and scientific standards. In order to resolve the deepest mysteries and the greatest dilemmas of modern science, modern scientists are willing to accept these bizarre-looking properties of the natural world. We have reached the point where we need to re-examine what is and is not science and how theories can be verified and accepted as scientific.

Greene has selected an apt title for this book because nothing can be more hidden than a reality which is neither accessible physically nor conceivable mentally. The insightful and engaging narrative makes this complex tour of state-of-the art theoretical physics much more exhilarating and informative. Greene’s
greatest achievement is that even as you grapple with these allusive concepts, you start falling in love with these mysteries.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 1^st, 2011