h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Did anyone see that program about parallel universes on BBC2 last night. It may have been Horizon

No

Yes

Whilst in several other universes I did watch the programme, and thus was able to have a highly enjoyable and interesting conversation that will change the course of my life, in this one I watched 'Buffy' and 'ER'.

I missed the "Parallel Universes", sadly.

BS, Was that "Buffy: The Musical"? Awesome!

Yup, wibbly doughnut brains and wobbly membranes and all.

Why?

I didn't see it, which I'm really annoyed by, since it looked really interesting. As a rule, I watch Horizon whenever it's on, but I was out on this occasion. Is there a repeat on BBC Knowledge or something?

OK call me a ludite, but I saw it and never heard such a load of unscientific (by this I mean unprovable) balony ever - I sense a whisp of emperor's new clothes - I don't believe a single one of them actually believed or understood this nonsense but just say they do to avoid looking foolish amoung their peers.

I bet if you got them all drunk at the same time and just one of them admitsto not understanding the first bit of it all the others will eventually also admite the same and they will all go out and get proper, relevant jobs and contribute to society rather than being the parasites they currently are.



CH

The BBC? Repeat something *interesting*? But that would get in the way of scheduling 25 year old sitcoms!

C Hawke, you're a Luddite.

Yes, can I call you a luddite, too?

Go ahead Still don't believe a word of this tosh - I think they all did way too much acid in the 60s and read far to many Moorcock books.

CH

C Hawke, I don't know if that is a problem with the theory or the program. The logistics of getting something that complex into an hour-long show are not promising. For example the bit about the eleven dimensions made me lose interest because, as far as I was concerned from watching the program, they may as well have picked the number at random. I would have liked some better explanation about how they found all these dimensions but some things are just not possible in such a short space of time.

Agree about the acid though; a very hippy like theory it is. The universe constructed using strings that play like the harmonies in music? Detox them up, I say.

I get the feeling that there's some _really_ complex maths in there somewhere so that all the 11-dimension stuff really does make sense. WP does have a point when it's put like that, though.

An 11-dimensional universe would certainly go some way to explaining why there are no right angles anywhere in my house... I'm pretty sure that Aberdeen Council employ a crack team of non-Euclydean architects...

I suppose they started from the round-house tradition.

I've seen Horizon and Equinox do programmes about complex cosmology before now and manage to convey the impression that they weren't just rehashing a script from Star Trek.

This time they failed - they simply made assertions about the number of dimensions, and the existence of membranes, and gravity leaking between universes and expected us to just take it on trust. I realise they couldn't show the maths - I certainly wouldn't follow it - but just a little supporting evidence would have been nice.

I've sat and watched subjects like relativity explained on TV, and imaginery particles, and it has sounded like science.

This sounded like science fiction. I thought the skating scientist really added gravitas. It came across like a Chris Morris spoof. I was really disappointed, because it sounded like a fascinating subject.

Hmmmmm
I watched it, and I enjoyed it.
stuff is way over my head but I find it fascinating anyway.
In another universe I'm an astronaut.
Though I'd rather travel through the Stargate.

I missed it sadly It looked very interesting. However, the area of science it covered seems to be contentious, so the theory may be disproved/made unfashionable in a few years. Of course, that's all before it's reproved/made fashionable again