Parallel Universe Ideas

[The Sum of Awe]

I'm looking forward to writing a book, or at least attempt to... again. It probably will be another unfinished project, but nonetheless I'm exploring this idea for constructing an almanac.


It's usually frowned upon to ask other people for ideas for your own story, but this is something I really need help with. Basically the plot involves traveling into other universes which the laws of logic and physics are different in each one.

Some ideas I came up with include: A universe where heat is the lack of cold (the exact opposite of how it is), a universe where gravity becomes unstable at a certain point (there is a mass limit and once it is filled the force of gravity reverses for any other mass that nears it), a universe that is almost completely static (things do not ever age although they can change), and many others.

But I wanted to go deeper and create universes that have a totally different logic and math. Universes where 1+1=5, where space is linear and time is open, etc. How would I go about representing things like that? Is it even possible (aside from something cheesey like if you bring one thing and later add another three more randomly appear)

 

[methylatedghosts]

So the main character is travelling between these realities?

I'd suggest imagining for the character the things they might experience and how that would translate to this reality. I can only imagine that so many of those experiences would simply be so abstract, so different, that in our realities we'd have no way of describing them. At the same time, some experiences would be only slightly different...

I don't know. I feel like it's a difficult project, though not impossible. Imagine the character writing back home about what he sees, hears, feels etc to make it understandable to us.

Your experiences in dreams might give you some clues about how to do so

 

[methylatedghosts]

Read some China Miéville. He's pretty good at describing indescribable things. Perdido Street Station would be a good one to start with

 

[Cephus]

Sounds like a very short-lived character to me, you'd have to find some way to keep him in universes where his own biology was still viable, otherwise he arrives and dies on the spot. As far as 1+1=5, why not? Math is just a human invention anyhow, we made up "1" and "5" and we could make those words mean whatever we wanted them to mean.

 

[Jainarayan]

But I wanted to go deeper and create universes that have a totally different logic and math.

I'll introduce you to my in-laws. Their logic is non-existent, they can't tell time (revealing a problem with numbers), and their presence causes temporal distortions, i.e. you wish it was the future and they left already. You'd win a Pulitzer Prize.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

But I wanted to go deeper and create universes that have a totally different logic and math. Universes where 1+1=5, where space is linear and time is open, etc. How would I go about representing things like that? Is it even possible (aside from something cheesey like if you bring one thing and later add another three more randomly appear)

It might be interesting to explore how your characters change as they pass into a different universe. But usually with science fiction you still need the basics of character and plot, and I'd be inclined to start with those. For example you might have your characters on some kind of search or quest. Also read up on the science, you'll probably get some ideas from the current theories.

 

[Parsimony]

I don't frown upon it, ask away!

The idea of a universe where mathematical logic is different from our own is a bit hard to wrap my mind around. Would that imply that if the character was to count the fingers on his/her hand he'd/she'd get a different answer in that universe than what is expected? I do have to agree with Cephus that such a character would die if the laws were too different from our own. Perhaps your character could somehow cloak him/herself in a bubble of our own space-time in order to survive.

Here are a few ideas I might be able to chuck out there:
*A universe where Newton's laws are perfectly valid and relativity does not exist.
*A universe where the Platonic model of atoms is valid (that is, the atoms are shaped like the 5 regular polyhedra).
*A universe where energy and mass are negative.
*A universe which is like our own except that it has extra forces and particles.
*A universe of finite volume which is just barely large enough for a human to fit inside of. You can make it a closed universe for extra visual weirdness.
*An infinite-regress, fractal universe in which each of the atoms inside of that universe actually are the universe themselves. That is, if you had an extremely powerful microscope, you'd be able to see galaxies and stars inside of the atoms that correspond perfectly to the ones that can be observed in that universe. If it was even stronger, you'd even be able to see yourself inside of that atom.
*A universe with a fractional or irrational number of dimensions (like having "pi" dimensions of space). I don't know how that would be perceived, though.