Reading Comprehension

PT149 · S2 · P2 · Q7 The Multiverse

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In a typical Hollywood action movie, the hero skirts death to complete a mission.

Topic

The "fine-tuning" of the laws of physics in our universe, the idea of the multiverse, and recent challenges to how exceptional our universe may really be.

Framework

Challenge Position

Main Point

Although many scientists argue that our universe appears "finely tuned" to allow life and see this as evidence for the existence of a multiverse, new research (like that done by the author) suggests that alternative sets of physical laws could also allow complex structures and possibly life, so the fine-tuning argument might be overstated. (The Most Valuable Sentence: This is found at the end of the fifth paragraph.)

P1: Action Movie Analogy

The author starts by comparing the survival of a movie hero against all odds to how finely balanced the conditions in our universe seem to be—lots of things could have gone wrong, but they didn't.

P2: Fine-Tuning Problem in Physics

Just like in the movie, our universe seems unlikely; a tiny change in physical laws could have prevented life from existing. This mysterious "fine-tuning" makes the existence of our universe seem improbable.

P3: The Multiverse Hypothesis

Some cosmologists try to solve this improbability by proposing there are lots of universes (a "multiverse"), each with different laws, making it less surprising that at least one (ours) turned out just right.

7.

It can be inferred from the passage that when the author says that scientists "play the movie" (second sentence of the fifth paragraph), the author means that they

  1. acknowledge the fictional nature of

    Dictionary Trap: fiction

    The idea of "playing the movie" was to see how the story of the universe would go / whether it would allow for life as we know it to emerge. The author wasn't using the word "movie" to stress that these computer simulations of alternate universes are fictional. We all realize that they're not actual alternate universes. This trap answer is just playing off our knowledge that movies are usually fictional.

    2% picked this

  2. Correct

    follow a theoretical chain of

    Why this is right

    The idea of "playing the movie" was to see how the story of the universe would go / whether it would allow for life as we know it to emerge ... "to see what disasters occur". To return to our baking metaphor, it was like "Theoretically, if we replaced the sugar in this recipe with molasses, how would these scones turn out?" The scientists tweak a constant of physics, and then they [follow a theoretical chain of events to its conclusion] to see what type of universe would result.

    Skill tested: Meaning in Context · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    86% picked this

  3. highlight how dramatic the situation

    Dictionary Trap: drama

    This answer is baiting us because of our real world association between "movies" and "drama". But scientists aren't tweaking a constant of physics and then [highlighting how dramatic the situation is that follows]. Scientists are just trying to figure out which universes would be compatible with life. They don't have any agenda where they'd be motivated to highlight how dramatic an alternate universe is.

    1% picked this

  4. model their work on certain

    Out of Scope: common archetypes

    There's nothing in the passage that makes it sound like scientists are using certain common archetypes. They're just doing trial and error. They tweak a variable and then plot out what sort of universe would evolve given that set of physical parameters.

    4% picked this

  5. play an active role in

    Dictionary Trap

    Dictionary Trap: the story Out of Scope: active role The scientists aren't trying to micro-manage how these alternate universes would evolve. They aren't actively shaping the story. They're just calculating the implications of a different set of starting conditions. A computer simulation is just running; the scientists aren't actively shaping its story.

    7% picked this

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