Shadow Matter and Immortality?

Most recent answer: 10/27/2011

Q:
My name is Alexander,45,living in Toronto,Canada.I am Software Quality Assurance Analyst,but like to read about physics and astronomy. I ‘d like to ask You that may sound strange, but I hope for Your even brief response. In 1985 in Nature magazine group of cosmologist published the work about shadow matter. And few years later,materialist biologist Gerhard D.Wassermann ,based on this work, developed the theory ,that humans have 2 bodies/brains: one is made of ordinary matter and another of shadow matter.He used this concept to explain some paranormal phenomena and possible life after death. So this is my “strange� question.Do You agree that existence of shadow matter may mean that humans have 2 bodies/brains,or it all was just G.D.Wassermann’s speculation?Sorry if my question seems strange,but hope for Your brief response. Thank You very much, Alexander
- Alexander (age 45)
Canada
A:
Alexander- I see that you've been shopping this question around on the Web.

Let's concede that, regardless of the details, physics is going to expand to include phenomena currently outside our standard model. Given the prevalence of dark matter (or at least something that acts like that gravitationally), the unexplained cosmological constant, and so forth, that's pretty much a given.

The real question is whether there's any hint in that uncertain frontier of physics to support the very old ideas of immortality, etc. I am unaware of any reason to think that physical effects that have eluded our best current experimental probes were nonetheless so accessible as to have evolved deep detailed and important connections with living creatures. Whenever we're reminded of how much we don't know about the universe, it's always an enormous temptation to think that the fulfillment of all of our childhood wishes is somehow hidden just beyond the veil.

On the other hand, the Cards are in the World Series this year, so who knows?

Mike W.

postscript- Especially after that Game 6!

(published on 10/27/2011)

Follow-Up #1: origins of extra gravity

Q:
I like to think that maybe dark matter is in fact the gravitational influence of ordinary matter in a parallel universe leaking into ours like Michio Kaku said. If those parallel universes indeed exist, they, I believe, ought to be physically right next to ours in a hyperdimensional space ; very much like 2 sheets of paper, representing 2D universes, one ontop of the other one. That is why gravity of universe A leaks into the universe B and vice-versa because gravity is a spacetime distortion into a higher hyperdimensonal space (I think). If we prove that parallel universes do exist, I think we will be able to answer THE question : where did they Big Bang come from? There's no way that dark matter comes from subatomic particles that we still haven't discovered yet. We would need a too great amount of them for such effects across the universe. Man, that field of study must be incredible!!! What do you guys think?
- Anonymous
A:
I think we don't yet know. I disagree with you about one thing. The dark matter idea isn't far-fetched at all. Why should the universe be arranged so that all the particles in it happen to interact strongly with the particular ones we're made of?

On the other  hand, maybe there are gravitational effects of higher-dimensional physics. The cosmologists and particle physicists say that these things can be checked experimentally, so stay tuned.

Mike W.

(published on 10/28/2011)