When they say the universe “may have” a complex geometry, is this speculation about what’s possible or based on some evidence that suggests this is the case instead of the simpler “it’s just 3d space plus time with all extending outwards in each direction that we are already aware of”?
Don’t get me wrong, I love me some speculation about what other realities would fit in with what we’ve observed, but actual evidence would be more cool, especially given that I don’t even know what such evidence would even look like, other than being able to see ourselves in some far off direction (though even then, I’d wonder how we could be sure it’s actually us and not some others that just look just like us and happen to do the same things at the same time).
I always wondered if Steven Hawking was ever actually a guest on The Simpsons or any other cartoon he appears in. Surely he had the easiest voice to fake back before modern robo voices and AI.
He was a Futurama fan and recorded his voice three times for the show. Gygax and Al Gore also did their own voices.
He also did voice work on The Simpsons. In both they sent him the lines and he recorded them at home.
He also did a few live action shows and appeared in Star Trek TNG, The Big Bang Theory, narrated Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking, and hosted Masters of Science Fiction (off screen). He also did some talk shows and some factual stuff, but that’s less interesting in this context.
The other places where you see him were people just using a voice synth.
I love both, but what I really love is people doing fun things out of the context in which I know them. That includes both people like Stephen Hawking doing cartoons and people like one of my bartenders on the same Singles Ghost Tour I went on a few years ago (I don’t believe but the “history” is fun).
For those curious, the donut shaped universe shown isn’t what the theoretical universe model actually looks like,
What it represents is an “asteroids like” geometry of a two dimensional universe where exiting one “side” brings you to a corresponding point on the other.
The proposed donut geometry of the universe is what’s called a 3-roid or 3-tauroid, which is basically the same idea as the asteroids like 2D universe but for a prism instead of a rectangle. Meaning that our ability to return to the starting point is based on the fact that we are moving along a 3-D “surface” of a 4th dimensional object, the way the Asteroids ship loops back to the start by moving across the 2-dimensional surface of a 3-D geometry.
Part of me wonders if this means that the actual boundaries of the universe are at 0+ and 0- along the W/A axis in 4-D space, and if that means that every character who has some power related to moving in 4-D space would actually just fall out of space and time if they ever tried using their abilities for real.
I asked ChatGPT to explain it to me and it came up with this:
This description is discussing a theoretical concept where the universe is shaped like a donut, known as a “3-roid” or “3-tauroid”. In this model, moving through the universe is akin to navigating a 3D surface of a 4D object, similar to how a spaceship in a 2D video game wraps around when reaching the edge of the screen. The suggestion of characters with 4D movement abilities falling out of space and time is a speculative idea based on this theoretical framework.
to me at least, the picture made it look like the galaxies and stuff were inside the “bread” of the donut, as opposed to being “frosting” on the surface.
Fun fact: 1782¹² + 1841¹² = 1922¹² is an incorrect equation, per Fermat’s last theorem.
They put that equation there because some of the writers of the episode have a mathematical background, and they knew it was wrong, but the error is so relatively small that if someone writes that in a normal calculator they’ll get the equality. So basically an easter egg for someone that knows about Fermat’s last theorem.
Since it’s useless to post links like this without an AI summary:
Physicists report the possibility of the universe having a complex, doughnut-like geometry, challenging the belief in its trivial topology.
Topology
The universe may have nontrivial topology, similar to a doughnut, allowing for travel across the cosmos and ending up back where you started.
Research
Scientists have searched for signs of complex topology in the cosmic microwave background, but have not found evidence yet.
New Study
A new study evaluated 17 possible nontrivial topologies for the cosmos, finding that most of these topologies have not been ruled out.
Future Analysis
Future analyses of the cosmic microwave background could reveal hints of complex topologies, and machine learning techniques may be required for computational challenges.
Motivation
There is motivation to look for nontrivial topology as some features of the cosmic microwave background hint at asymmetry, which could be explained by nontrivial topology.
Further Research
Scientists plan to hunt for signs of nontrivial topology in upcoming data from surveys of the distribution of galaxies in the cosmos.
this summary doesn’t have some information that is pretty critical if you want to compare it to the meme
Searches for that simple 3-torus have come up empty. But scientists haven’t yet searched for some 3-torus variations. For example, the sides of the cube might be twisted relative to one another. In such a universe, exiting the top of the cube would bring you back to the bottom, but rotated by, for example, 180 degrees.
So to ruin thine dreams, a summary:
Season 10 was in 1998
A “donut-shaped” universe (3-torus) was proposed in 1984 (the paper also points out it’s the simplest finite 3d topology, so it’s probably been considered even earlier)
This article talks about more complicated “donut shapes” that haven’t been ruled out before
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