In scientific and fictional narrative, a parallel universe, also sometimes called an alternate universe, or by an abuse of language an alternate dimension, is a hypothetical universe which exists separately from our own. The aggregate of parallel universes is a multiverse. Some cosmological theories postulate the existence of multiple, possibly infinitely many, parallel universes, which depending on the theory, may or may not mutually interact. Narrative is a term which has several and changing meanings. ... Dimension (from Latin measured out) is, in essence, the number of degrees of freedom available for movement in a space. ... The deepest visible-light image of the cosmos. ... A multiverse (or meta-universe) is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes, including the observable universe, which comprise the whole of physical reality. ...

The concept of possible worlds dates back to a least Leibniz who in his Théodicée tries to justify the apparent imperfections of the world by claiming that it is optimal among all possible worlds. Voltaire satirized this view in his picaresque novel Candide. In it, Baron Thunder-Ten-Tronckh's tutor, Pangloss claims that "All is for the best in this best of all possible worlds". In philosophy and logic, the concept of possible worlds is used to express modal claims, claims that involve notions of possibility or necessity. ... Gottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (July 1, 1646 in Leipzig - November 14, 1716 in Hannover) was a German philosopher, scientist, mathematician, diplomat, librarian, and lawyer of Sorb descent. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The tone of this article is inappropriate for an encyclopedia. ... Note: For the operetta based on the book, please see Candide (operetta). ... Pangloss is a character in Voltaires novel Candide. ...

Borges' seminal short story El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan ("The Garden of Forking Paths"), is an early example of many worlds in fiction. In the story, a Sinologist discovers a manuscript by a Chinese writer where the same tale is recounted in several ways, often contradictory, and then explains to his visitor (the writer's grandson) that his relative conceived time as a "garden of forking paths", where things happen in parallel in infinitely branching ways. Jorge Luis Borges (, bôr′hÄ•s) (August 24, 1899 – June 14, 1986) was an Argentine writer who is considered to be one of the foremost writers of the 20th century. ... The Garden of Forking Paths (Spanish: El Jardín de senderos que se bifurcan) is a short story by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. ...

Robert Anton Wilson built his hilarious, complex Schrödinger's Cat trilogy around interpretations of quantum physics. The first book, The Universe Next Door, follows various characters through many worlds, while the second volume The Trick Top Hat connects them through nonlocality and the third, The Homing Pigeons, places them in an observer-created universe. Robert Anton Wilson Robert Anton Wilson or RAW (born January 18, 1932) is a futurologist, libertarian, and novelist. ... The Schrödingers Cat trilogy is a trilogy of novels by Robert Anton Wilson, chronicling events and characters in several parallel universes. ... An interpretation of quantum mechanics is an attempt to answer the question: what exactly is quantum mechanics talking about? Quantum mechanics, as a scientific theory, has been very successful in predicting experimental results. ...

Another example of the use of parallel universes is the trilogy His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman, in which characters move through multiple worlds with the aid of a 'subtle knife.' The trilogy, in order of succession from left to right. ... Philip Pullman Philip Pullman, (born October 19, 1946) is an English writer, educated at Exeter College, Oxford, who is the best-selling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy of fantasy novels and a number of other books, purportedly for children, but attracting increasing attention by adult readers. ...

Fanciful illustrations of many worlds and possible worlds are given by science fiction stories in which individuals are capable of viewing events on alternate paths of the universe or even traveling between alternate worlds or parallel universes; see, for instance, "Sliders". Mixing the concept of branching histories with that of time travel is also a common theme, such as in the motion picture series Back to the Future, which uses alternate realities. The many-worlds interpretation (or MWI) is an interpretation of quantum mechanics that proposes the existence of multiple parallel universes, all of which are identical, but exist in possibly different states. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with parallel world. ... Sliders is a science fiction television series that ran from 1995–2000, across five seasons. ... Time travel is a concept that has long fascinated humanity—whether it is Merlin experiencing time backwards, or religious traditions like Mohammeds trip to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven, returning before a glass knocked over had spilt its contents. ... Back to the Future is a 1985 film by Robert Zemeckis, written by Robert Zemeckis and Robert Gale, and starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. ...

"Death and What Comes Next", a Discworld short story by Terry Pratchett, also makes use of this concept. Death and What Comes Next is a Discworld short story by Terry Pratchett. ... The Discworld is a series of over 30 novels by Terry Pratchett set on the Discworld. ... Terence David John Pratchett OBE (known to some fans as Pterry, following the convention he used in his book Pyramids where characters were given names such as Ptraci and Pteppic) is an English fantasy author (born April 28, 1948, in Beaconsfield, Bucks), best known for his Discworld series. ...

Another kind of popular illustration of many worlds splittings, which does not involve information flow between paths, or information flow backwards in time considers alternate outcomes of historical events. For instance, on July 6, 2004 the New York Post incorrectly stated that U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry had chosen U.S. Rep. Richard A. "Dick" Gephardt as his running mate in the 2004 election. One could imagine that Kerry's choice split the "universe" in half and that the newspaper shows what a universe in which Kerry picked Gephardt would have been like. July 6 is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 178 days remaining. ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The New York Post masthead The New York Post is one of the oldest (and according to some definitions, the oldest) newspapers still published in the United States. ... John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is the junior United States Senator from Massachusetts. ... Richard Andrew Gephardt (born January 31, 1941) served as a U.S. Representative from Missouri from January 3, 1977, until January 3, 2005. ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

For some authors it serves primarily as a plot device, a means to put characters into an unfamiliar situation, or a framework that usually lies in the background for continuity purposes. For others it is a major theme and focus of the work. It is sometimes used as the basis for exploring "what if" scenarios, such as in Alternative history (fiction) stories. Alternative history or alternate history can be: A history told from an alternative viewpoint, rather than from the view of imperialist, conqueror, or explorer. ...

Among the more famous fictional "multiverses" is that of Michael Moorcock. On developing his concept of the multiverse, Moorcock was developing his "Eternal Champion" stories at around the time Everett was developing his theory. Moorcock first used the term in print in the 1962 novel The Blood-Red Game. In the same year, the original Eternal Champion novella was published in Science Fantasy Magazine. On the influence of Everett's work, he says: Michael John Moorcock (born December 18, 1939) is a prolific British writer of both science fiction and science fantasy. ... The Eternal Champion is a fictional creation of the author Michael Moorcock and is a recurrent feature in many of his novels. ... 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...

It was an idea in the air, as most of these are, and I would have come across a reference to it in New Scientist (one of my best friends was then editor) ... [or] physicist friends would have been talking about it. ... Sometimes what happens is that you are imagining these things in the context of fiction while the physicists and mathematicians are imagining them in terms of science. I suspect it is the romantic imagination working, as it often does, perfectly efficiently in both the arts and the sciences.

Robert Heinlein, in The Number of the Beast, invented a concept he called "pantheistic solipsism", meaning the mere act of writing about a fictional universe actually created it. In his novel Job: A Comedy of Justice, he also used multiple alternate-history universes as a plot device. Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was one of the most influential authors in the science fiction genre. ... Book cover The Number of the Beast is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1980 (ISBN 0-44-913070-3). ... Solipsism (from the Latin ipse = self and solus = alone) is the epistemological belief that ones self is the only thing that can be known with certainty and verified (sometimes called egoism). ... Job: A Comedy of Justice is a novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1984. ...

Very similarly to Heinlein's Job, the science fiction TV series Sliders was founded upon the idea of an infinite number of "alternate" Earths, with each Earth existing in a different and separate universe. At the beginning of each episode the protagonists would "slide" to a new universe, each different from their own in some way, trying to get back to their own. Sliders is a science fiction television series that ran from 1995–2000, across five seasons. ...

Roger Zelazny, in his Chronicles of Amber series, offers a fictional multiverse traversable only by certain beings. Zelazny's multiverse has two basic elements, Order and Chaos, the interplay between which is called Shadow. Those "of the blood" can walk through Shadow, or imagine any possible reality and then walk to it, making their environment more similar to their desire as they go. In Zelazny's multiverse, there is one prototypical universe, and all others are increasingly distorted corruptions of it, ending finally at the other extreme, which is the complete negation of the prototype. Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 - June 14, 1995) was a United States writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels. ... The Chronicles of Amber is a popular fantasy series by Roger Zelazny. ...

Michael Crichton also delved into the possibility of travel between other realities in the multiverse in his novel Timeline. Michael Crichton Dr. John Michael Crichton (born October 23, 1942, pronounced )) is an author, film producer and television producer. ... Alternative meanings: Timeline is a 1999 science fiction novel by Michael Crichton Timeline is a 2003 film based on the novel. ...

The device is fundamental to the Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials. Philip Pullman Philip Pullman, (born October 19, 1946) is an English writer, educated at Exeter College, Oxford, who is the best-selling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy of fantasy novels and a number of other books, purportedly for children, but attracting increasing attention by adult readers. ... A trilogy is a set of three works of art, usually literature or film, that develop a single theme even though they are generally created at different times. ... The trilogy, in order of succession from left to right. ...

H. Beam Piper, the author of the Paratime series, wrote several stories dealing with alternate realities based on points of divergence far in the past. The stories are usually written from the perspective of a law-enforcement outfit from a parallel reality which is charged to protect the secret of temporal transposition. Henry Beam Piper (March 23, 1904 - November 11, 1964) was an American writer of science fiction. ...

The popular comic book publishers Marvel Comics and DC Comics each have their own fictional multiverses that exist within the framework of their separate continuities. See Multiverse (DC Comics) and Multiverse (Marvel Comics) for more about these multiverses. A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Marvel Comics NYSE: MVL, (AKA Marvel Entertainment Group, Marvel Characters, Inc. ... The current DC Comics logo, adopted in May 2005. ... In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer. ... In DC Comics, the Multiverse was a continuity construct in which multiple fictional versions of the universe existed in the same space, separated from each other by their vibrational resonances. ...

Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, delves into the concept in the last book, Mostly Harmless, where it is stated that everything in the universe exists in multiple places along a fictional extra axis in the four dimensions as we know them, one of probability. The book includes a plot to sell a version of The Hitchhikers Guide to one person but in an infinite number of universes, maximizing profit. Douglas Noël Adams in an undated publicity photograph by Jill Furmanovsky Douglas Noël Adams (March 11, 1952 – May 11, 2001), also known (to fans) as Bop Ad or Bob (after his illegible signature) or by his initials DNA (Watson and Cricks famous discovery was announced in Cambridge... The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy originated as a 1978 radio comedy series written by Douglas Adams. ... The front cover of the US first hardcover edition of Mostly Harmless. ... A coordinate axis is one of a set of vectors that defines a coordinate system. ... The word probability derives from the Latin probare (to prove, or to test). ...

The Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game has a thoroughly developed system of planes of existence. A popular campaign setting for the game, Planescape, centres around travelling between these planes. Ravenloft, a gothic horror setting for Dungeons & Dragons, is based entirely in a single demiplane. The original Dungeons & Dragons set Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) published by Wizards of the Coast. ... A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game in which players assume the roles of fictional characters via role-playing. ... See plane (cosmology) for the common meaning of plane as used in cosmology. ... A campaign setting is a fictional fantasy world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame, such as Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer and various d20 System games. ... ... Ravenloft is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. ... The gothic novel is an English literary genre, which can be said to have been born with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. ... See plane (cosmology) for the common meaning of plane as used in cosmology. ...

In the Magic: the Gathering trading card game, every plane is part of a multiverse. What effects one plane, may ultimately affect others, such as what happened when a great devastation occurred on the main plane, Dominaria. All the planes around were locked in a bubble, called the Shard, where no one could get in or out. Magic: The Gathering (colloq. ... Collectible card games (CCGs), also called customizable card games or trading card games, are played using specially designed sets of cards. ... In the fantasy trading card game Magic:The Gathering, Dominaria is a world where the many planes intersect. ...

An episode of the original Star Trek series entitled "Mirror, Mirror" introduced an "alternate" version of the Star Trek universe where the main characters were barbaric and evil, which was revisited by later series and novels. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Parallels, multiple realities were seen, with minor and major differences including: Worf married to Troi; the Borg have overrun the Federation; Picard was killed by the Borg and Riker is Captain of the Enterprise, etc. On the other hand, numerous episodes have dealt with time travel and changes to history, but imply that only a single timeline exists. http://www. ... Mirror, Mirror was an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. ... The title as it appeared in most episodes opening credits. ... Parallels is an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation directed by Robert Weimer from a script by Brannon Braga. ...

Kirk with Spock's "mirror" counterpart

In the anime Dragon Ball Z, the characters Mirai Trunks and Cell each journeyed from their own universes into the "main" timeline where the rest of the characters of the series lived. Image from Star Trek: The Original Series episode, Mirror, Mirror © 1967 Paramount Pictures, produced by Gene Roddenberry. ... A scene from Cowboy Bebop (1998) Niggerism (アニメ) is Japanese animation, sometimes referred to by the portmanteau Japanimation. ... Dragon Ball Z logo (English manga). ... Future Trunks, or Mirai no Trunks (Trunks of the Future, but really just Trunks) is a fictional character in the manga Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z, and the anime Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT. He is the Human-Saiyan halfbreed son of Vegeta and Bulma from the future. ... Cell is a fictional character in the Anime Dragon Ball Z. He is a Bio Android. ...

A large number of fantasy stories involve a character being suddenly transported from one world or universe (often from our own Earth) into another universe. Notable stories of this sort include the Thomas Covenant stories of Stephen R. Donaldson, the Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg, and the Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. In Lewis' The Magician's Nephew, the Wood between Worlds was a vast "linking room" with only three worlds explored by Lewis himself. Earth, also known as the Earth, Terra, and (mostly in the 19th century) Tellus, is the third-closest planet to the Sun. ... The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever is a fantasy epic by Stephen R. Donaldson. ... Stephen Reeder Donaldson (born May 13, 1947) is an American fantasy and science fiction novelist. ... Joel Rosenberg (born 1954) is a science fiction and fantasy author with dual American and Canadian citizenship who is best known for his long-running Guardians of the Flame series. ... Narnia is a fantasy world created by the Anglo-Irish author C. S. Lewis as a location for his Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy novels for children. ... Clive Staples Lewis (November 29, 1898 – November 22, 1963), commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis, was an Irish author and scholar, born into a Protestant family in Belfast, though mostly resident in England. ... The Magicians Nephew is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. ... The Wood between the Worlds is a location in The Magicians Nephew, part of the Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. ... A linking room is a concept in multiverse and metafiction stories. ...

The concept of the multiverse is also present in the film The One, the video games Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross by Squaresoft, the Digimon television series. Promotional poster for The One The One was an action movie released in 2001, starring Jet Li and Carla Gugino. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... Chrono Trigger (クロノ・トリガー) is a role-playing game that was released in Japan on March 11, 1995 for the Super Famicom and in North America on August 22, 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES); it was re-released in 1999 for the Sony PlayStation (PS) in Japan and in... Chrono Cross (クロノ・クロス） is a PlayStation RPG created by Square Co. ... Square Co. ... Jump to: navigation, search Digimon (short for Digital Monster) (Japanese: デジモン, Romaji dejimon) is a Japanese series of childrens merchandise, including toys, manga and anime, featuring monsters of various form living in a Digital World. Digimon contains many of the typical themes associated with mon (monster). ...

Other fictional instances of parallel universes include:

• Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy deals with a multiverse comprised of an almost infinite number of parallel worlds, which can only be entered using the Subtle Knife.
• Murray Leinster's story "Sidewise in Time" (1933), showing different parts of the Earth somehow occupied by different parallel universes, was influential in science fiction.
• Isaac Asimov's novel The Gods Themselves depicts scientists in our universe who find a way to "import" small amounts of matter from a universe having different physical laws, with unforeseen consequences.
• Robert Heinlein's novel The Number of the Beast is focused around a 'time machine' that also proves to be able to travel sideways and other directions in time, allowing for crossing into other realities, even ones previously considered fictional by the protagonists.
• The main character in François Schuiten and Benòit Peters' comic book L'enfant penchée lives on our Earth, but comes from a parallel universe. She is attached to this other universe's gravitational pull and therefore stands inclined.
• The television series Otherworld is premised around a family from our world transported to an alternate Earth.
• The motion picture adaptation of Super Mario Bros. features the two protagonists, Mario and Luigi, crossing over into a parallel dimension ruled by humanoids who evolved from dinosaurs, rather than primates. In the movie, the parallel world is referred to as Dinohattan, or The Mushroom Kingdom.
• The HBO television series, Six Feet Under, features main character Nate, who experiences alternate realities of what his life would have been like if he died, made different lifestyle choices or never even had existed.
• The television series Sliders is entirely premised around alternate universes in which the Sliders visit, typically, one new alternate universe each episode.
• The movie Donnie Darko, which has gained a cult following, deals with an alternate universe.
• The Doctor Who serial Inferno features the Doctor travelling to a parallel universe. There, the Doctor finds his friend the Brigadier is part of a despotic government that violently overthrew the monarchy.
• The computer game, Half-Life features an attack of aliens from a parallel universe and dimension.
• The video game The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask deals with the protagonist, Link, traveling to an alternate, dreamlike world to save the principal city from a moon destined to collide with it in 3 days. An earlier game from the same series, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, introduces the concepts of "light" and "dark" worlds when the "Sacred Realm," an idealized parallel to the "Light World," is corrupted by Link's nemesis, (see Ganon), and transformed into a twisted, perverse land called the "Dark World." Link must travel between the two worlds through the use of a magic mirror in order solve puzzles---most of which require Link to manipulate an object in one of the worlds to affect the corresponding object in the other. In the soon to be released Twilight Princess, there is a "twilight" world, which grows as the game progresses.
• The pc game Myst has its background based on this theory. A people known as D'ni colonised Earth from another universe, and kept traveling to other universes (known as Ages) through Books. According to their cosmology, each universe is a leaf of the Terokh Jeruth, the Tree of Possibilities.
• Stephen King's Dark Tower series deals heavily with alternate worlds and doors that allow travel between these worlds. In turn, many of King's novels are somehow related to the universe depicted in the Dark Tower books.
• Many anime films by Hayao Miyazaki, like Laputa Castle in the Sky , Kiki's Delivery Service and Howl's Moving Castle are apparently set on alternative Earths, but none of the characters make any references to this.
• Joss Whedon's cult television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, have featured a number of parallel universes, bridging the gap with magic.
• The video game Metroid Prime 2: Echoes features the planet Aether, which is struck by a meteor. The strange, energetic substance (called phazon) within the meteor, along with the force of the impact, split the planet's reality into light and dark dimensions. Samus, the heroine, must travel between the two dimensions, transferring energy back to the light dimension before the two competing worlds destroy one another.
• The television series Code Lyoko in which the main characters travel to an alternate universe called Lyoko to help a virtual friend. In another episode, it is revealed there is another alternate universe to the Lyoko universe created by the villain.
• The Caste of the Metabarons comics by Alejandro Jodorowsky features two wars between our universe and parallel ones.
• The anime Digimon features a parallel universe called the Digital World. The Digital World is created as a result of the Earth's electronic network, with everything being made up of data instead of matter.
• The television series Futurama features an episode in which the cast travel between "Universe A" and "Universe 1" via boxes containing each universe, and then travel to numerous other parallel universes for brief periods, such as "Hippie Universe", "Robot Universe", and "Eyeless Universe".
• In the videogame Chrono Cross (2001), the main character must travel between two dimensions, known as "Home World" (the world from which the main character originates) and "Another World".
• One of the main characters from The One transports between parallel universes and kills his counterparts.
• In the anime Dual! Parallel Touble Adventure the series focuses on two teenagers sucked into a world which is nearly identical, except with robots. In one episode, the female protagonist learns that she has an alter ego of herself while in the second to last, the male protagonist realizes that his mecha is actually him (strange).
• In the video game Star Ocean: Till the End of Time the characters live in a "video game" unknowingly created by people in another universe called 4D Space. The "video game" world later becomes its own universe parallel to 4D Space.
• "The Garden of Forking Paths", a short story by Jorge Luis Borges, is curious in that it presents a parallel universe theory of time that is consistent with the many-worlds interpretation (of which Borges knew nothing at the time), but it does so as an academic fashion, without actually contacting these other universes.
• Globus Cassus is a book describing a utopian project for a universe contrary to ours, it describes an antipode to the 'real' world.
• "The Wheel of Time" series features not only one cyclic universe, but many. All but one of these universes loses the Last Battle because the main protaganist, Rand al'Thor, dies.
• Margeret Weizs and Tracy Hickman 's fantasy novel series "The Death Gate Cycle" include a character named Zifnab whose words point at his actual identity; Fizban from the Dragonlance series which were written by the same authors. Zifnab also carries many refferences to many universes, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Middle Earth, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and even some to the present world; which include refferences to James Bond, soul music, and George Lucas
• In the episode "There But For the Grace of God" of Stargate SG-1, Daniel Jackson discovered an alternate universe where Earth was under Goa'uld attack and most of the world's major population centers had been decimated. In the alternate universe, Jackson discovered that he had turned down Catherine Langford's offer to work on the Stargate and that Teal'c hadn't changed sides.

In general, most fantasy works feature an alternate Earth in a past prehistoric age that never existed. (e.g., Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age), alternative middle-ages, an alternative Victorian Era (Steampunk), an alternative 20th century, or wholly different realities and planets (cf. Moorcock's Multiverse, Pratchett's Discworld and many more). Distinguishing these sub-genres from alternate history stories is problematic, but one might confine parallel-universe stories to those in which at least two universes come into contact. An early example is H. G. Wells's Men Like Gods (1923) Philip Pullman Philip Pullman, (born October 19, 1946) is an English writer, educated at Exeter College, Oxford, who is the best-selling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy of fantasy novels and a number of other books, purportedly for children, but attracting increasing attention by adult readers. ... The trilogy, in order of succession from left to right. ... Murray Leinster (June 16, 1896 - June 8, 1975) was the nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an American science fiction and alternative history writer. ... 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Dr. Isaac Asimov enthroned with symbols of his lifes work (Rowena Morrill) Dr. Isaac Asimov (c. ... The Gods Themselves is a 1972 science fiction novel written by Isaac Asimov (ISBN 1061500534). ... Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was one of the most influential authors in the science fiction genre. ... Book cover The Number of the Beast is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1980 (ISBN 0-44-913070-3). ... François Schuiten (born 26 April 1956) is a Belgian comics artist. ... It has been suggested that Law of universal gravitation be merged into this article or section. ... For Irish Mythology, see Other World. ... Super Mario Bros. ... HBO logo HBO (Home Box Office) is a premium cable television network. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... Spoiler warning: Six Feet Under was a critically acclaimed and popular television drama produced by HBO. It first aired on June 3, 2001 and concluded its five season run on August 21, 2005. ... Sliders is a science fiction television series that ran from 1995–2000, across five seasons. ... Donnie Darko is a 2001 film, the first by writer and director Richard Kelly. ... A cult film is a movie that attracts a small but devoted group of obsessive fans or one that has remained popular over successive years amongst a small group of followers. ... Main article: History of Doctor Who Doctor Who first appeared on BBC television at 5:15 p. ... Inferno is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts from May 9 to June 20, 1970. ... Half-Life For a quantity subject to exponential decay, the half-life is the time required for the quantity to fall to half of its initial value. ... Main article: The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening After defeating Ganon, Link decides to travel the world, so he might be prepared if a threat like Ganon ever comes to Hyrule again. ... The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, released in Japan on November 21, 1991, as ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォース (Zeruda no Densetsu: Kamigami no Toraifōsu, literally The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods), and in North America and Europe in 1992, was the only game in the Zelda series... Spoiler warning: The Golden Land (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, BS Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban) or, by later translations, the Sacred Realm (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker) is one of the more fantastical locations in the Zelda... Ganon, King of Evil Ganon (also known as Ganondorf) is the final boss of several games in Nintendos Legend of Zelda series. ... The Dark World is a corrupt version of the Light World in the Legend of Zelda series for Nintendo systems. ... Character art, showing the new Link The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the name of the next game in Nintendos The Legend of Zelda series. ... Myst franchise Games Myst Riven Myst III: Exile Myst IV: Revelation Myst V: End of Ages Uru: Ages Beyond Myst Ages of: Myst Riven Myst III: Exile Myst IV: Revelation Myst V: End of Ages Uru Novels Myst: The Book of Atrus   Tiana   Dni Comic Books #0   #1... Myst franchise Games Myst Riven Myst III: Exile Myst IV: Revelation Myst V: End of Ages Uru: Ages Beyond Myst Ages of: Myst Riven Myst III: Exile Myst IV: Revelation Myst V: End of Ages Uru Novels Myst: The Book of Atrus   Tiana   Dni Comic Books #0   #1... Myst franchise Games Myst Riven Myst III: Exile Myst IV: Revelation Uru: Ages Beyond Myst Myst V: End of Ages Ages of: Myst Riven Myst III: Exile Myst IV: Revelation Uru Myst V: End of Ages Novels Myst: The Book of Atrus   Tiana   Dni Comic Books #0   #1... Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author best known for horror novels. ... The Dark Tower is a fantasy fiction, science fantasy, horror, and western themed series of novels by the American writer Stephen King. ... A scene from Cowboy Bebop (1998) Niggerism (アニメ) is Japanese animation, sometimes referred to by the portmanteau Japanimation. ... Animator Hayao Miyazaki Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎駿, Miyazaki Hayao, born January 5, 1941) is one of the most famous and respected creators of anime, or Japanese animated films. ... Castle in the Sky, known in Japan as Laputa: The Castle in the Sky (天空の城ラピュタ TenkÅ« no Shiro Laputa) is a 1986 animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. ... DVD case cover for Kikis Delivery Service Kikis Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便, Witchs Delivery Service ) is an anime feature film, produced by Miyazaki Hayao in 1989. ... A poster from the animated film adaptation. ... Joseph Joss Whedon (b. ... Buffy, the Vampire Slayer is a U.S. television series based on the original script for the 1992 movie of the same name. ... Angel was the highly successful spin-off from the American television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ... Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is the direct sequel to Metroid Prime, and is the latest game in Nintendos Metroid series to appear on the GameCube. ... Aether from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. ... Phazon Phazon is a mutagenic mineral in the Metroid Prime games with life-like qualities. ... Code Lyoko is a French cartoon series (featuring both anime-style and Computer-generated imagery) produced by Antefilms about a group of four boarding school students named Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi, who are trying to help a benevolent digital being named Aelita leave the virtual world of Lyoko and... The Metabarons or The Saga of The Meta-Barons is a science fantasy comic series relating the history of a dynasty of perfect warriors known as the Metabarons. ... Alexandro Jodorowsky (born February 7, 1929, in Tocopilla, Chile to Ashkenazi Jewish parents) is an actor, director, producer, composer, mime, comic book writer and psychotherapist. ... Jump to: navigation, search Digimon (short for Digital Monster) (Japanese: デジモン, Romaji dejimon) is a Japanese series of childrens merchandise, including toys, manga and anime, featuring monsters of various form living in a Digital World. Digimon contains many of the typical themes associated with mon (monster). ... Futurama is an animated American cartoon series created by Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) and David X. Cohen (also a writer for The Simpsons). ... Chrono Cross (クロノ・クロス） is a PlayStation RPG created by Square Co. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Promotional poster for The One The One was an action movie released in 2001, starring Jet Li and Carla Gugino. ... Introduction Star Ocean: Till the End of Time is the third game in the Star Ocean video game series. ... The Garden of Forking Paths (Spanish: El Jardín de senderos que se bifurcan) is a short story by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. ... Jorge Luis Borges (, bôr′hÄ•s) (August 24, 1899 – June 14, 1986) was an Argentine writer who is considered to be one of the foremost writers of the 20th century. ... The many-worlds interpretation (or MWI) is an interpretation of quantum mechanics that proposes the existence of multiple parallel universes, all of which are identical, but exist in possibly different states. ... Globus Cassus is a utopian project for the transformation of Planet Earth into a much bigger, hollow, artificial world with an ecosphere on its inner surface. ... See Utopia (disambiguation) for other meanings of this word Utopia, in its most common and general meaning, refers to a hypothetical perfect society. ... Antipodal points on the surface of a sphere are diametrically opposite; on the other side of a globe. ... The Wheel of Time (abbreviated tWoT or more commonly, WoT) is a bestselling fantasy book series written by Robert Jordan. ... Tracy Raye Hickman (born November 26, 1955) is a best-selling fantasy author, most commonly known for his work on Dragonlance as a game designer and co-author with Margaret Weis, while he worked for TSR. They also wrote the Dark Sword trilogy, the Death Gate Cycle, and the Sovereign... Cover of Dragon Wing The Death Gate Cycle is an ambitious fantasy septuplet written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. ... Fizban The Fabulous is a fictional wizard from the Dragonlance fantasy novels written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, and distributed by Wizards of the Coast. ... Dragonlance Logo Dragonlance is a large series of fantasy books, and a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. ... Star Wars began with a 13-page treatment for a space adventure movie which George Lucas drafted in 1973. ... http://www. ... ... The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a childrens story written by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by W.W. Denslow, and first published in 1900. ... James Bond is best known from the EON Productions film series. ... For other uses, see Soul music (disambiguation). ... George Lucas George Walton Lucas, Jr. ... There But For the Grace of God is an episode from the first season of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. ... Season 8s opening title Spoiler warning: See Stargate for a general summary of this universe, or List of Stargate SG-1 episodes for a detailed plot analysis. ... Daniel Jackson is a fictional character in both the science fiction feature film Stargate and the subsequent television series Stargate SG-1 played by actors James Spader in the former and Michael Shanks in the latter. ... Earth, also known as the Earth, Terra, and (mostly in the 19th century) Tellus, is the third-closest planet to the Sun. ... The Goauld [ˈgoʊ˘uːld] are a fictional parasitic alien race in the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 universe. ... Catherine Langford, Ph. ... A typical stargate This article is about the device in the fictional Stargate universe. ... In the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, Tealc [ˈtiːəlk] is a Jaffa who is one of the leading authorities on Goauld on Earth. ... Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was a writer of fantasy and historical adventure pulp stories, published primarily in Weird Tales magazine in the 1930s. ... A map of Robert E. Howards Hyborian world. ... Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Accession to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian era of Great Britain is considered the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ... Steampunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction, usually set in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting. ... Michael John Moorcock (born December 18, 1939) is a prolific British writer of both science fiction and science fantasy. ... Terence David John Pratchett OBE (known to some fans as Pterry) is an English fantasy author (born April 28, 1948, in Beaconsfield, Bucks), best known for his Discworld series. ... The Discworld is a series of over 30 novels by Terry Pratchett set on the Discworld. ... Alternative history or alternate history is fiction that is set in a world in which history has diverged from history as it is generally known; more simply put, alternate history asks the question, What If history had developed differently? Most works that employ this rubric are set in factful historical... H. G. Wells at the door of his house at Sandgate Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946) was a British writer best known for his science fiction novels such as The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. ...

See also

• alternate future
• alternative history
• Alternative history (fiction)

In science fiction stories involving time travel, an alternate future or alternative future is a possible future which never comes to pass, typically because someone travels back into the past and alters it so that the events of the alternate future cannot occur. ... Alternative history or alternate history can be: A history told from an alternative viewpoint, rather than from the view of imperialist, conqueror, or explorer. ... Alternative history or alternate history is fiction that is set in a world in which history has diverged from history as it is generally known; more simply put, alternate history asks the question, What If history had developed differently? Most works that employ this rubric are set in factful historical...

External links

• Max Tegmark's Parallel Universes paper (pdf)
• Many Worlds & Parallel Universes

References

• Clifford A. Pickover (August, 2005) Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves: Sushi, Psychedelics, Parallel Universes, and the Quest for Transcendence (Discusses parallel universes in a variety of settings, from physics to psychedelic visions to Proust parallel worlds to Bonnet syndrome), Smart Publications. ISBN 1890572179

• Michio Kaku (2004) Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos, Doubleday. ISBN 0385509863