Howling:What is a "universe"?

Howling: → Howling archive → The Howling archives → What is a "universe"?

This thread has been archived.

Please create a new thread on The Howling if you want to talk about this topic some more.
Please DO NOT add to this discussion.

I was looking at some things on the wikia and I wasn't sure about the correct definitions of things when it comes to parallel universes and alternate dimensions and timelines. What is a universe and what is a dimension, since it seems that they are used interchangibly. What are your thoughts on these definitions? Steed 20:30, May 18, 2010 (UTC)

The two articles Alternate timeline and Parallel universe are fairly instructive and interesting. Dimension also gives a breakdown of what it is. --Tangerineduel 05:21, May 19, 2010 (UTC)

It seems rather straight forward to me. A parrallel universe is exactly that, an entire universe that is different to the one in which we occupy. An alternate dimension may refer to the same thing (ie the parrallel universe is in an alternate dimension to our own) however it doesn't need to be an entire universe. For a recent example, look at Rory's comments when he enters the TARDIS in which he says the inside of the TARDIS is another dimension which the doctor is unhappy about as he prefers people to say "It's bigger on the inside". The outside of the TARDIS occupies our dimension whilst the inside is in a different dimension allowing it to contain more space that the physical limitations imposed by the outside. It also allows it to be picked up and moved around on a number of occasions!

A change in a timeline within one universe affects that universe and changes the current state of it. That universe is now on an alternate path to what it once was. There can still be a parrallel universe that was the same or similar to the universe that was alterered by changing the timeline. I haven't read the definitions but if they are confusing to you or contain errors maybe you should make some adjustments? R Breed 116.193.194.166 05:58, May 19, 2010 (UTC)

The show isn't entirely consistent, but it's pretty close to consistent, and for the most part it can even be fit into actual science.

The term "parallel universe" is used the same way it is in most pop sci-fi, and in popularizations of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics. When there's a historical choice, the universe splits into two parallel universes, with one path taken in each. Universes that are "close" (whether this means the choice was pretty recent, or their timelines have been pretty similar beyond that original choice, or something else) are apparently easier to travel between.

The term "alternate timeline" in most sci-fi pretty much just means the timeline of a parallel universe. But in Doctor Who, it's usually used to mean the timeline of a parallel universe that was created by meddlesome time travelers. There could conceivably be some physical difference between the two that would make sense if we had a proper 11-dimensional theory including hypertime or metatime (as the Time Lords do), but in story-telling terms, the difference is that a parallel universe is "natural" while an alternate timeline is generally something that needs to be "fixed".

As for "dimension", it's mostly used either accurately, or in the same loose way as other sci-fi. If you haven't read the classic Edwin Abbott's Flatland (which is public-domain and can be found at http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/~banchoff/Flatland/ among other places online), go read it; that will explain better than anything I (or Wikipedia or any other source) is likely to do, and it's an entertaining read. Then just take talk of "an alternate dimension" as another 3D region that's a few meters away on some 4th dimension, a "dimensional pocket" or "pocket dimension" as a 3D region that's rotated away from ours along some 4th dimension (possibly touching our region at some curve you can walk along, as with the TARDIS interior or the Arc of Infinity), etc. Keep in mind that the Whoniverse is 11-dimensional, with most dimensions rolled up very tiny (M-theory postulates the same about our own universe), but that sufficiently advanced science might be able to inflate regions of space into those other dimensions. --Falcotron 22:23, May 20, 2010 (UTC)