Expert: James Gort - 10/6/2006

Question
Are we the only universe in space, it seems this would be the same as assuming we are the only planet with life.  

Answer
Hi Rick,

Well, there's nothing in any known physical law which would prohibit multiple universes.  And there's even some respected theorists who not only say that multiple universes are permitted, but there must be many - even an infinite number.  However, it's one of those questions which is very difficult to experimentally verify.  Some have proposed wormholes as being the gateway to other universes (yes, StarTrek got most of their ideas from legitimate science!).

So I don't know of any scientist who assumes this is the only universe.  As you say, that would be a pretty arrogant thing to assume.  But I also don't think any hypothesis of multiple universes will be proven any time soon.  But I could be wrong!

Hope that helps.

Prof. James Gort