[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.00,0:00:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Music)
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.00,0:00:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sometimes when I'm on a long plane flight,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:20.00,0:00:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I gaze out at all those mountains and deserts
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.00,0:00:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and try to get my head around how vast our Earth is.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.58,0:00:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then I remember that there's an object we see every day
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.00,0:00:32.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that would literally fit one million Earths inside it.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.82,0:00:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The sun seems impossibly big,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.00,0:00:39.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but in the great scheme of things, it's a pinprick,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:39.08,0:00:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of about 400 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.00,0:00:45.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which you can see on a clear night
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.12,0:00:48.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a pale, white mist \Nstretched across the sky.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.12,0:00:49.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it gets worse.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.02,0:00:52.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are maybe 100 billion galaxies detectable by our telescopes,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.72,0:00:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so if each star was the size of a single grain of sand,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.00,0:01:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just the Milky Way has enough stars to fill
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.00,0:01:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a 30 foot by 30 foot stretch of beach three feet deep with sand.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.88,0:01:08.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the entire Earth doesn't have enough beaches
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.62,0:01:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to represent the stars in the overall universe.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.00,0:01:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Such a beach would continue for literally hundreds of millions of miles.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.60,0:01:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Holy Stephen Hawking, that is a lot of stars.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:19.86,0:01:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But he and other physicists now believe in
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.00,0:01:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a reality that is unimaginably bigger still.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.14,0:01:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, first of all, the 100 billion galaxies within range of our telescopes
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.00,0:01:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are probably a minuscule fraction of the total.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.00,0:01:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Space itself is expanding
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.00,0:01:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at an accelerating pace. The vast majority of the galaxies
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.00,0:01:41.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are separating from us so fast
Dialogue: 0,0:01:41.00,0:01:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that light from them may never reach us.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.00,0:01:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Still, our physical reality here on Earth
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.00,0:01:49.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is intimately connected to those distant, invisible galaxies.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.91,0:01:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We can think of them as part of our universe.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.85,0:01:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They make up a single, giant edifice,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.00,0:01:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,obeying the same physical laws and all made from the same types of atoms, electrons,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.00,0:02:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,protons, quarks, neutrinos that make up you and me.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.00,0:02:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,However, recent theories in physics,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.00,0:02:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,including one called string theory,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.00,0:02:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are now telling us there could be countless other universes,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:10.00,0:02:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,built on different types of particles,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.00,0:02:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with different properties, obeying different laws.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.83,0:02:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Most of these universes could never support life,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.00,0:02:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and might flash in and out of existence in a nanosecond,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.00,0:02:22.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but nonetheless, combined
Dialogue: 0,0:02:22.45,0:02:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they make up a vast multiverse of possible universes.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.00,0:02:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in up to 11 dimensions, featuring wonders beyond our wildest imagination.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.00,0:02:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the leading version of string theory
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.00,0:02:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,predicts a multiverse made of up to 10 to the 500 universes.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.03,0:02:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's a one followed by 500 zeroes,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.00,0:02:44.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a number so vast that if every atom in our observable universe
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.00,0:02:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had its own universe
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.98,0:02:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and all of the atoms in all of those universes
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.00,0:02:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,each had their own universe,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.00,0:02:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you repeated that for two more cycles,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.00,0:02:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you'd still be at a tiny fraction of the total --
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.00,0:03:05.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,namely, one trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillionth.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.58,0:03:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But even that number is minuscule compared to
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.00,0:03:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,another number: infinity.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.42,0:03:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some physicists think the space-time continuum
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.00,0:03:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is literally infinite, and that it contains an infinite number
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.43,0:03:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of so-called pocket universes with varying properties.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.23,0:03:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How's your brain doing?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.86,0:03:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But quantum theory adds a whole new wrinkle.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.00,0:03:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, the theory's been proven true beyond all doubt,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:29.00,0:03:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but interpreting it is baffling.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.00,0:03:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And some physicists think you can only un-baffle it
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.00,0:03:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if you imagine that huge numbers of parallel universes
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.00,0:03:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are being spawned every moment,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.00,0:03:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and many of these universes would actually be very like the world we're in,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.00,0:03:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would include multiple copies of you.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.00,0:03:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In one such universe, you'd graduate with honors and marry the person of your dreams.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.00,0:03:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In another, not so much.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.00,0:03:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are still some scientists who would say, hogwash.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.00,0:03:59.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The only meaningful answer to the question of how many universes there are is one,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.00,0:04:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,only one universe.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.54,0:04:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And a few philosophers and mystics
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.00,0:04:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,might argue that even our own universe is an illusion.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.00,0:04:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, as you can see,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.00,0:04:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,right now there is no agreement on this question,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.00,0:04:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not even close.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:14.00,0:04:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All we know is, the answer is somewhere between zero and infinity.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:18.77,0:04:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, I guess we know one other thing:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:21.00,0:04:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a pretty cool time to be studying physics.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.20,0:04:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We just might be undergoing
Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.00,0:04:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the biggest paradigm shift in knowledge that humanity has ever seen.