Universes! Get your DIY universes here!

I've always been fascinated by the concept of alternate universes. I imagine various universes in which an Eric Franklin does not work for CNET in San Francisco, but instead still lives in his hometown of Chicago and owns an import video game/comic book/action figure shop.

Or maybe, instead of refusing to join his high school football team at 16 as I did, Eric Franklin No. 3213 not only joined the team, but became an NFL superstar. Hey, athleticism runs in my family so that last fantasy ain't so far-fetched.

I'm honestly not sure what I'm looking at here, but that doesn't mean I don't want one.

(Credit: New Scientist)

Although my chances of becoming a god by absorbing the life forces of countless versions of myself across multiple universes are slim at this point, I still enjoy the possibility. Now, for just $20 I can increase the amount of different me's out there just in case I one day stumble upon a universal rift, thereby creating my ultimate path to divinity.

New Scientist is reporting that conceptual artist Jonathon Keats has created a make-your-own-universe kit, based on the multiuniverse theory that arises from quantum mechanics.

This theory basically assumes that if two events are possible, then both events occur simultaneously until an observer determines the outcome.

The most famous of these experiments, known as thought experiments, is Schrodinger's cat. As New Scientist points out, Schrodinger's cat is an experiment "in which his cat may have been killed with a 50 percent probability; the cat is both alive and dead until someone checks. When the observation is made, the universe splits into two, one for each possible outcome. For example, Schrodinger's cat would be alive in one universe and dead in the other universe."

The site goes on to say that the kit "uses a piece of uranium-doped glass to create a steam of alpha particles, which are then detected using a thin sliver of scintillating crystal. Each detection causes the creation of a new universe."

The device will go on sale at the Modernism Gallery in San Francisco on November 20. I estimate my dimensional rift will be appearing soon after that. I'll keep you posted.

[ikcizokm]

Wow. For $20, you too can be conned into dropping money on an unprovable theory!

[badsponge]

I think I'll get one for my pet rock.

[zgreenwell]

Based on the multiuniverse theory, I am simultaneously now buying this item and not buying it.