Scientists Explain the Case for (and Against) a Real Multiverse

Are you sick of movies about “the multiverse” yet? After Everything Everywhere All at Once swept the Oscars this year, and with no end to the conveyor belt of Marvel movies in sight (another hits theaters this weekend), the science-fiction trope is here to stay. But what if the multiverse wasn’t just a plot device for superhero flicks? What if the multiverse is real?

“[The multiverse is] the theory that explains the facts that otherwise can’t be explained,” says Andrei Linde, professor of physics at Stanford University. “Those that ignore it are just not ready to use the fact of their own existence as evidence.”

Some scientists agree with Linde. Others, like Avi Loeb of Harvard University, call the multiverse a “hypothetical fantasy.” It’s a debate that’s raged for decades, and will certainly outlive the MCU.