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Concept
Parallel universes in fiction
Summary
A parallel universe, also known as a alternate universe, parallel world, or alternate reality, is a hypothetical self-contained plane of existence, co-existing with one's own. The sum of all potential parallel universes that constitute reality is often called a "multiverse". While the five terms are generally synonymous and can be used interchangeably in most cases, there is sometimes an additional connotation implied with the term "alternate universe/reality" that implies that the reality is a variant of our own, with some overlap with the similarly named alternate history.
Fiction has long borrowed an idea of "another world" from myth, legend and religion. Heaven, Hell, Olympus, and Valhalla are all "alternative universes" different from the familiar material realm. Plato reflected deeply on the parallel realities, resulting in Platonism, in which the upper reality is perfect while the lower earthly reality is an imperfect shadow of the heavenly.
The concept is also found in ancient Hindu mythology, in texts such as the Puranas, which expressed an infinite number of universes, each with its own gods. Similarly in Persian literature, "The Adventures of Bulukiya," a tale in the One Thousand and One Nights, describes the protagonist Bulukiya learning of alternative worlds/universes that are similar to but still distinct from his own.
One of the first science fiction examples is Murray Leinster's short story Sidewise in Time, published in 1934, in which portions of alternative universes replace corresponding geographical regions in this universe. Sidewise in Time analogizes time to the geographic coordinate system, with travel along latitude corresponding to time travel moving through past, present and future, and travel along longitude corresponding to travel perpendicular to time and to other realities, hence the name of the story. Thus, another common term for a parallel universe is "another dimension," stemming from the idea that if the 4th dimension is time, the 5th dimension—a direction at a right angle to the fourth—is an alternate reality.
Official source
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