What Is A Universe?
What is a Universe?
Well, isn’t that the billion dollar question? Or a billion whatever kind of currency your universe happens to use.
There is a necessary degree of arbitrariness in calling things “universes.” Nature, after all, does not come with signs saying “this is a universe, this is a multiverse, and this is an omniverse.” But we must do the best we can to give names to the nameless. Adam was a namer. We’re just continuing that grand human tradition.
The ARGO Report Summary Alpha defines a universe as “a sufficiently distinct infinity.” Our universe, for instance, expands infinitely through an incalculable number of spatial and temporal dimensions. Some dimensions are readily observable, others are observable only through the hyperspace bulk upon which the membrane of our observable universe floats, but all these dimensions constitute our universe.
All universes are incalculably infinite. That is why the calculably infinite dimensions of our observable universe (three dimensions of space and 1 of time) do not count as a universe.
Astral emanations, such as the Courts of Faerie and the Houses of Xibalba, are strictly speaking, not part of our universe, though in casual conversation they often are considered to be. Each emanation, be it a dreamworld of the astral light or a pantheon realm of the astral dark, is considered a universe unto itself.
What separates one universe from another isn’t size, one incalculably infinite area is just as incalculably infinite as another incalculably infinite area, but qualitative distinctions. Sometimes these qualitative distinctions are stark. One can easily tell the difference between the physics of our universe and the physics of Alizam, the universe of talking cartoon animals, but sometimes the difference is subtle. There’s not much that’s physically different between our universe and universe 161. The fundamental root separation between universes was discovered by physicist Gardner Fox in 1961 as Fox harmonics, naturally occurring variations in extradimensional motion between universes. These harmonics are not readily observable from the perspective of the physical multiverse but are from the perspective of the far astral where all reality compresses to a timeless instant, be that instant the beat of the Heart of Darkness of the astral deep or the gaze of the Eye of Light of the astral summit.
Throughout the decades, several additional terms have been proposed to help diagram the multiverse. Physicists have long debated over the meaning and validity of terms like “pocket universe,” “megaverse,” “omniverse,” and “ultraverse.” ARGO likes to keep things simple. There’s only universe and multiverse in their classification system. Universe is singular, multiverse is plural. How many universes are in a multiverse? More than one. It’s like fish vs school or bird vs flock. The Warp and Weft Authorities, on the other hand, recognize the term omniverse and its distinction from the term multiverse. The term omniverse was first proposed by physicist Mark Gruenwald in 1977 as a word for all reality from the Eye of Light at the Summit of All Things to the Heart of Darkness at the Bottom of Eternity. Multiverse, under Gruenwald, referred to groups of universes with similar characteristics. All universes without intelligent life constitute a multiverse, as do all universes with an ARGO presence, all universes with analogs of Mary Marvel, all universes with quantum physics, and so on. There’s no set size for a multiverse, and universes can belong to more than one multiverse. ARGO, for their part, prefers the term “series” for groups of universes that share similar characteristics.
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