The Quilted Multiverse Theory

Imagine for a moment you have a deck of 52 cards, all of which are in order. Every time you shuffle the cards, you will likely end up with a different order of cards. However, if you were to shuffle the cards enough times, you would eventually end up with the same order of cards you started with. That’s because you only have a finite number of cards, and thus a finite number of possible orders. If you could shuffle the cards an infinite number of times, you would end up with an infinite amount of every possible combination of cards. Interestingly, this logic also applies to the entire universe. All forms of matter and the way they interact with each other is like a deck of cards, in that there is only a finite number of ways that matter can rearrange itself. Eventually, identical patterns will arise if you travel far enough. You can think of our observable universe as a particular combination of matter, and if the universe is infinite, that combination will eventually repeat itself. 

Multiverse Within The Universe

If you could hop in a spaceship and travel far enough, and assuming that space is infinite, you would eventually reach a point in space that appears identical to our region of the universe. You could find another solar system that contains a parallel version of the Earth, one that would appear indistinguishable from your original home. You could even potentially meet yourself. Although it is all still part of the same universe, this concept can be thought of as a kind of multiverse, wherein the universe contains an infinite number of smaller, bubble universes. Thus, this concept is referred to as the quilted multiverse, where the universe is thought of as a quilt and each square is its own bubble universe. 

The universe does not necessarily need to be infinite in size for there to be other bubbles, either. Rather, the universe just has to be big enough for there to be at least some other bubbles. Interestingly, if the universe is infinite, there would be an infinite number of every possible variation of universe. That means there would be an infinite number of universes just like this, and there would be an infinite number where the dinosaurs never perished. Any possible variation of reality you can think of, so long as it obeys the laws of physics, would exist somewhere in the quilted multiverse, and there would be infinite versions of itself across space. 

Is It Possible To Visit Other Bubbles?

Unfortunately, it would probably be impossible to actually visit another bubble universe. The distance to even the nearest bubble would be so vast that no technology, regardless of how advanced it is, could possibly traverse. Furthermore, the rate at which the universe is expanding is accelerating, with that acceleration increasing with distance. Eventually, you would reach a point where space is expanding faster than the speed of light, and so you would have no way of travelling beyond a certain point. Rather, everybody is confined to their own bubble.