Are we living in an unstable, tangent universe?

***I’ve gotten this theory from a cult hit movie called Donnie Darko. The theory is not coming from my thoughts so if you think this is clever please credit the film’s creator.

Could it be possible that everything in our world line is becoming chaotic and the world is close to coming to an end because we have separated from a stable, primary universe and need to be destroyed to re-balance that universe?

There’s a “book” that explains this theory. "The Philosophy of Time Travel" written by the screenplay writer of Donnie Darko (written by the character Roberta Sparrow in the film).

"If a Tangent Universe occurs, it will be highly unstable, sustaining itself for no longer than several weeks."

"When a Tangent Universe occurs, those living nearest to the Vortex will find themselves at the epicenter of a dangerous new world. Artifacts provide the first sign that a Tangent Universe has occured."… "their appearance on Earth seems to defy logical explanation."

How this tangent universe can be saved:

The Living Receiver is chosen to guide the Artifact into position for its journey back to the Primary Universe.
No one knows how or why a Receiver will be chosen.
The Living Receiver is often blessed with Fourth Dimensional Powers. These include increased strength, telekinesis, mind control, and the ability to conjure fire and water."

"The Living Receiver is often tormented by terrifying dreams, visions and auditory hallucinations during his time within the Tangent Universe."

"The Manipulated Dead are more powerful than the Living Receiver. If a person dies within the Tangent Dimension, they are able to contact the Living Receiver…

The “manipulated” in the film are people whose actions revolve around encouraging or helping the Receiver follow their destiny. They do this without knowing their actions are being manipulated by “fate”.

"Ancient myth tells us the Mayan Warrior killed by an Arrowhead that had fallen from a cliff, where there was no Army, no enemy to be found.
We are told of the Medieval Knight mysteriously impaled by the sword he had not yet built.
We are told that these things occur for a reason."

The quotes sum up the general explanation for why the universe in the film begins to spiral out of control and requires a receiver (the main character) to re-connect it to the primary universe or else everyone within the tangent universe will perish.

Since this theory was created for a film I’m posting this thread in skunk works to discuss it, but this is an interesting theory all the same and I think it deserves attention.

Suppose we are living in a tangent universe, dislodged from the primary universe because of some event. Maybe we have a lot more time than the original “theory” estimates. Perhaps we don’t have weeks, but months, or years, or decades. Would you be willing to help save this universe if you knew you could? Would you be willing to fulfill your duty as a Receiver? If you knew time travel could cause results like this (hey, who knows, we won’t know until we’ve mastered it and try) would you oppose it?

Source of the quotes: www.vegsource.com...


[edit on 19-2-2009 by rapinbatsisaltherage]

Anything's possible. It's also a good possibility that nearly all universes exist as a tangent of the original. I picture the mulitverse as a neural network of universes connected by 'feelers' -- much like our neurons are connected via synapses and dendrites. The mulitverse is expanding to increase the knowledge of the original (if one actually exists).

It's been said many times, but...the possibilities are endless.

Some more interesting multiverse theories can be found here: cityofsecrets.pbwiki.com...

Impact of Time Travel in the Multiverse
What this means for the notion of time travel within the Multiverse is that there is not a single timeline which can be changed retroactively in order to irrevocably change the future.

Lets say a time traveler goes back in time to avert a catastrophe that has destroyed 99% of all human life on Earth (leaving only the time traveler and some of his friends). Let’s say the catastrophe could have been averted by preventing a man from pushing a big red button. Going back to the moment in the traveler’s universe in which the button was about to be pressed and stopping the man from pressing it will not change the future tangent universe from which the traveler came.

Instead, at the moment a divergent event occurs as a result of the intervention of the time traveler (e.g., preventing the button from being pressed and saving most of humanity), a new tangent universe will be created.

This tangent universe will follow its own path, splitting in turn into a multitude of tangent universes. We can imagine, however, that this could be perfectly satisfactory to the time-traveler with the capability of reaching these newly-created tangent universes. He could occupy a newly-spawned, equally real, tangent universe where his loved ones were not killed. He would have to confront the fact, however, that he had left friends and loved ones behind in another, far-less hospitable, universe in order to secure a more comfortable existence for himself (in a universe in which versions of these people also exist, perhaps living happier lives). He also faces the problem of having entered a tangent universe in which a version of himself never had a need to depart; he would have to decide how to deal with his own double. Any of these issues, in addition to being disorienting, would undoubtedly cause some ethical, existential, and psychological problems for the traveler.

[edit on 21-2-2009 by rapinbatsisaltherage]

This all sounds well and good, and really is pretty interesting. I've pondered such things many times before.

In regards to changes in history spawning multiverses though, wouldn't that logically have to apply to literally every moment in history, spawning a multiverse for every possible decision and branch at every possible nanosecond? If such is the case, then I would actually think that this would allow the manipulative time traveler to act in his own good without remorse, since every possible decision he could've ever made would've also spawned an infinite variety of universes. For instance, the day he met his wife, he technically COULD have killed her, so therefore, in some multiverse out there, he DID. Does he worry about that? Likely not.

That said, is there anything out there besides blind speculation and mental stretching that indicates that such a theory is actually likely? I fully agree that anything is possible, but the possibility of something doesn't imply actuality.

We do live in a tangent universe. The Philadelphia Experiment and many other experiments have created this unbalance in our universe. When the government carried out these experiments they didnt really know what they were doing. There is more information on this and if you care to hear it I will try to retrieve it.

Im not sure about whatever I just said, but we are probably living in a tangent universe. Thats why we are all confused and killing ourselvs this very moment. Soon the primary universe will wipe us out enless we consciously reconnect with it.

But that is if you believe in a SINGLE and ULTIMATE reality as I do.

[edit on 22-2-2009 by Wisen Heimer]

Funny you mention DD.
My cousins and I just recently watched it again a couple days ago.

Suppose we Would you be willing to help save this universe if you knew you could? Would you be willing to fulfill your duty as a Receiver? If you knew time travel could cause results like this (hey, who knows, we won’t know until we’ve mastered it and try) would you oppose it?

Who wouldn't want to be a Receiver and embark on the Hero's Journey (aka the Monomyth)??
It's all about the Universal Truths. The road of self discovery along with one's roll in society, and the relationship between the two.
I mean the late great Joseph Campbell brought all of this to our attention.
Every movie/story/myth has a hero, and we want to be that hero.

Now as for the time travel bit.... you're asking a tough question.
I assume you wouldn't know about the good/bad results until you knocked out a couple test runs.
As for opposing time travel, if you knew there was major side effects, it'd probably have to be put on the shelf/hold for a bit until the kinks were ALL worked out...
Asking hypothetical time travel question is as hard as asking.. if you could know exactly when and how you would die, would you want to know or not??
Both have there Pros and Cons... and both equally have mind blowing implications.

As for me, I see a huge Bunny Rabbit that is trying to tell me something, I'm off!

reply to post by rapinbatsisaltherage


I think the Universe is a living entity, even the galaxies themselves, they behave like some life form. Of course we can't observe that because time limitation..

Humanity might be some sort of bacteria, a beneficial one I might say. But have been corrupted and have become 'cancerous' in sense. The living energies of the galaxy or even the universe could be being siphoned off by malevolent entities for their own selfish gains.

They might be operating like a cancer, a harmful bacteria, or even a virus(biological or like the computer virus). Now the creator, may have no other choice but do drastic means to rid of these harmful elements. Similar to chemotherapy maybe that might also destroy 'living cells/tissues' because of the collateral damage.

Originally posted by ahnggk
reply to post by rapinbatsisaltherage

 

Humanity might be some sort of bacteria, a beneficial one I might say. But have been corrupted and have become 'cancerous' in sense. The living energies of the galaxy or even the universe could be being siphoned off by malevolent entities for their own selfish gains.

They might be operating like a cancer, a harmful bacteria, or even a virus(biological or like the computer virus). Now the creator, may have no other choice but do drastic means to rid of these harmful elements. Similar to chemotherapy maybe that might also destroy 'living cells/tissues' because of the collateral damage.

This is what I was trying to understand about the pathology of a failing human mind. You could sense being cut off from something that would lead to more mental ability. Perhaps alot more people see the truth that the human race is behind in the growth of its intelligence. I'm still trying to get over the deep "object love" of most human beings. No object is worth anything except for the value humans put on it. This could be an affect of understanding they are cut off from the receiver. Actually I beleive that there is still visual contact, but with the murder of a son, then there's no audio anymore. Serial killings could erupt from deep space transmissions that say "I'm going to kill, or destroy, you". The people we think are mentally disturbed probably are actual receptors of the deep space messages. Factually, if there is any life form to veiw the life of the earth, perhaps they will wonder why instead of being gobbled up by the sun, we chose to implode and become some pieces of gastric, fiery, mass orbiting around the sun.

Yes we are.

I am Donnie Darko.

No I don't think we are actually. But I do think the end of the world is at hand, and only we can stop it.

The 21st century is our last chance. It's our choice - heaven on Earth, or Hell on Earth.

If you, I and we are all living in it; then how can it be a tangent universe? This IS our reality! Just my 2-cents!

Originally posted by Aggie Man
If you, I and we are all living in it; then how can it be a tangent universe? This IS our reality! Just my 2-cents!

what they're trying to say is it's not all about you. You are a piece or a former piece. Tangent, an angle, an arm, a viaduct, or conduit of another hopefully useful aspect. In other words why does it seem that there are no other life forms in the general vicinity? Has ya been loss? On purpose or by design? Was the loss an inter-causation? Why does it seem like everything dis-ed us man!!!!?

reply to post by rapinbatsisaltherage


Good post,I think it is possible that something like that could happen.Of course much more research is needed to confirm that.2012 anything or nothing could happen.......I agree with some members that it is possible government experiments may have caused a very bad effect in the timeline,who knows.I liked the multi-verse part about the different time lines.I do wonder though if two yous could exist in the same reality or would one be blinked out of existence?

Also about the strange artifacts appearing.......could those be what UFOs are?

[edit on 4/16/2009 by jkrog08]

The short answer is, "No." We live in a highly ordered and stable Universe. The Natural Laws are in perfect harmony, and the Universe is going to remain in that state for several million trillion trillion years.

There is no reason, at all, to doubt that. Our Universe is, unequivocally, perfect.

in Liberty, by Justice,
O-315

Also about the strange artifacts appearing.......could those be what UFOs are?

Yeah, a lot of people believe that UFOs are items that appear from other universes randomly. It's an interesting thought. I find it more likely that there are portals between each universe and some forms of life that know how to travel between them, which could explain UFOs. If things could just randomly appear from other universes I feel like we'd see a lot more instances of these things showing up, with concrete evidence of their abrupt existance.

There was a history channel documentary(and a subsequent thread of mine) about parallel universe and how some type 4 civilizations could transverse between them like you say.The UFO 'artifact' theory kind of reminds me of a line in the ''Matrix'' where Morpheus says something like 'ghosts,aliens,ufos are all 'glitches' in the code''.It is an interesting theory(your op) and could tie into a 2012 type scenario.

I take it this way:

I picture the universe as a river of probability, our galaxy a river within that river, and so on and so forth until we get to the smallest of particles, but in between the universe and a single particle is us. We'd like to believe that we are a very dynamic river, but are we really? I mean we "could" one day wake up and decide to kill the first person we meet, but in reality, that's not likely to happen. So, while it is true that there is an infinite amount of universes, in most of those universes you didn't kill anyone. The tangent universe isn't just a regular alternate universe, but rather a universe in which something so improbable happened that it cannot coexist with the other possible universes. it would be like a tiny stream competing against a gigantic river. it would either have to rejoin the river or be destroyed.

Now in DD was the universe the whole universe or the whole world or just the people around him?

If we think about it there is absolutely nothing we can do (with our current technology) that can even have an effect on the entirety of the universe, or our galaxy, or even our solar system for that matter, we could nuclear bomb the living hell out of the earth and we wouldn't change it's direction. It would still spin around the sun, with or without us. the same applies for Donnie, he can die or live all he wants he will still not destroy the earth, and even all humanity is kind of big, so his universe is most likely his town.

Now if we apply this to real life, in a manner that will affect the whole earth, we'd need an event that was very unlikely to happen, but would have had a effect on the whole earth.

luckily i have just the event. eerily, it happened on the same dates as Donnie's tangent universe. I am talking of course about the Cuban missile crisis, and specifically about one man: Rudolf Anderson, the only recorded casualty of the crisis.

As we all know, the Cuban missile crisis was the closest the world has ever been to nuclear holocaust, and the question is what prevented it? you might be a person that believes in the potential of humanity, i do too, but i also believe in the potential for humanity to do stupid things (especially politicians). so let's pretend, for the sake of fun, that the biggest probability lay within the nuclear holocaust and we are, in reality, the tangent universe (think about it, politicians). Unlike Donnie's universe, this one actually affects the whole world which follows it has more momentum behind it, and therefore is likely to last a lot longer than Donnie's. Maybe even to today.

now let's look at the only death in the crisis: Rudolf Anderson. he was one of the pilots from the unit that took the pictures that first showed the missiles in Cuba, and thus began the Cuban missile crisis.

the following is all from www.clemson.edu...

"By Saturday, Oct. 27, war was imminent. On that day, the 12th day of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Major Rudy Anderson took off for yet another U-2 overflight of Cuba. Witnesses say that his flight was almost canceled, but he argued to go ahead. Those who knew him say it was his sense of duty and the importance of this mission that drove him.

But his mission ended abruptly, as did his life, when he was shot down over the eastern end of Cuba.

As the president and the ExCom were considering Khrushchev's latest letter, they learned of Major Anderson's death. The loss of American life was a stunning new element. The Joint Chiefs wanted a massive air campaign against Cuba, beginning the following Monday, followed by an invasion a week later.

The ExCom made a last effort to avoid war, promising publicly not to invade Cuba if the Soviet Union withdrew its missiles and bartering privately to withdraw U.S. missiles from Turkey. But they had little hope of a peaceful resolution.

On Oct. 28, however, Khrushchev announced over Radio Moscow that he was removing the missiles from Cuba. The nation exhaled. War was averted.

But not without the casualty of Major Rudy Anderson. He left a wife, two sons, an unborn daughter, and a homeland free from nuclear attack."

okay

the following "Monday" would have been October 29, the day of Donnie's Halloween party. Does anyone else find it strange that even though the crisis now had a casualty, nuclear war was still adverted?

here is another eery fact. the engine of the plane that he was flying is now being shown at the museum of the revolution in Cuba. Does that remind anyone of the movie?

or you could take it the other way and say that he was the living receiver and he sacrificed himself to save the world?

what do you guys think?

a reply to: EGLESO

Hey EGLESO I read what you had to say and found what you wrote extremely interesting. I know it was quite a while ago but I was wondering if you had any other thoughts on the matter if you'd mind sharing them with me I'd love to hear them.

Max.