Talk:Parallel universe

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I didn't get a word of what this article said, and I have quite a history in theoretical physics. Could someone make it a bit more readable? -- Redge 10:41, 15 Jun 2004 (CEST)

I also have a physics background and that was painful to read. It could be a great article but completely lacks any real information. That's why I added a PNA. --Sloan47 07:17, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

Ok, I'm going to take a crack at it. I'm more an astronomer than a physicist... but still. PrognosisNegative 17:10, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Didn't Defiant Crossover?

Not to be too persnickity, but Defiant did crossover (along with her departed crew), thus affecting the course of history in the mirror universe. Of course, it may not have been "reported" in the primary universe, but it certainly recorded in the mirror universe history. At least those are my thoughts. --GNDN 15:34, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Ah, well, yes, the first reported crossover from the mirror universe view is the Defiant, but from "our" universe pov, the first reported encounter was in "Mirror, Mirror". So it made sense to state that "our" first reported encounter was in 2267. --From Andoria with Love 16:52, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, when I was writing this I was going to refer to "Mirror, Mirror" as the first crossover, but than as I read about In a Mirror, Darkly, i saw that they had taken a ship from our universe. How did they get the "Defiant" to the mirror universe anyway? PrognosisNegative 20:07, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

It's all explained at USS Defiant; basically, the mirror universe Tholians detonated a tricobalt device, creating a tear in subspace, and set up a distress signal to lure in ships from the other universe, which they would then capture. The Defiant fell for the ruse and upon answering the distress call, the ship entered a period of spatial interphase during which most of the crew were driven insane and killed each other (as seen in TOS: "Mirror, Mirror"), and the ship was ultimately pulled into the mirror universe where it was captured by the Tholians. It should be noted, however, that there has been no evidence to suggest that anyone in the "prime universe" had learned of the Defiant's fate. --From Andoria with Love 20:13, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Ok, sounds good to me. 2267 it is. --PrognosisNegative 20:18, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Alternative Factor

Didn't the TOS episode "The Alternative Factor" have something like an anti-matter universe? tHe anti-Lazarus had to have come from somewhere.

[edit] Is there really a difference?

Let's go with a scenario. A person in say, the 29th century is presented with the opportunity to timetravel, altering the universe. They chose not to time travel. However:

Theoretically, there are an infinite number of parallel universes, one for every possible outcome of every possible event that occurs throughout time.

Therefore, 'theoretically', there is an alternate universe where they chose to. In doing so, they altered the coarse of history.

A parallel universe (or an alternate universe) is a separate and self-contained universe existing as consequence of different choices

Therefore, by the above definition, this new timeline is an 'alternate universe' because it is a 'universe existing as consequence of different choices'. Lets scrap that and continue to the definition of a

An alternate timeline is created by time travel

So, this scenario is also defined as an 'alternate timeline'.

However, this is contradicted by:

Alternate timelines differ from parallel universes.

Shouldn't this say that an alternate timeline is a subset of a alternate universe, as the time-travel is the outcome in a distinct alternate universe, making the alternate timeline contained to this one universe (or multiple universes) that led to the time travel?

I propose that an alternate timeline be defined in this article as an alternate timeline where the differing decision/outcome impacts time-travel.--10nitro 23:49, 7 February 2008 (UTC)