This is really about science in general. Popular culture loves theories about multiverses and what not, but they are not science. There is some math that shows the possibility in a nutshell, but even that is a stretch.

What the above video shows is what I have been trying to explain for a while, but they do it a million times better since they are the real deal. I have a lot of respect for Dr. Kaku, but the argument he and some other scientists can fall into is the ‘beautiful things’ trap, where we try to mold our data to an ideal in our head. Another universe(s) sound awesome, but sounding awesome does not mean it is true.

What this debate is really about is why people draw specific conclusions from data that do not really merit them. What I feel Dr. Penrose and Dr. Hossenfelder are saying is basically this: why was the first conclusion from the string theory math that there must be more universes? It is an Occam’s Razor argument like they mention in the debate. String theory and other theories might have some merit in the future to explain something, but saying the math means ‘it must mean more dimensions’ is, to me, the same thing as saying something that is unidentified in the sky must be a UFO. We can see a blurry thing up in the sky, ok, but why is the first reaction ‘aliens’? There are trillions of other possible explanations, but we like to go with the one for some reason that has never had real proof (as in alien just coming down and proving itself by saying hello).

Just because something seems ‘beautiful’ in our minds does not mean it is true. We all fall into the trap all the time, myself included, but the way to avoid it is by following that gut reaction or anxious feeling in your head when you start to hear those kinds of arguments, even from yourself. When you start to hear the ‘well, back in the day, scientists were questioned too, but thousands of years later, they were proven right!’ argument, that is when you know you are in trouble. If you are confident in your data or theory, then the evidence should speak for itself and not require a history lesson to justify it. Whenever I heard that argument I know someone is bullshitting me.