Like in movies, origin stories in real life are very interesting. The satisfaction of knowing exactly how things started and unfolded over time form the basis of our understanding of any subject matter and thus we look for the origin story of anything we study. 

The same has been going on in the scientific community for centuries now and is one of the ultimate questions that mankind is trying to solve so vehemently. How did it all begin? How did the universe start?

After years of research and observing our universe, it seems like the Big Bang theory is THE prevailing theory right now as a significant number of scientist believe in it based on a plethora of observational evidence. In very simple words, the big bang theory suggests that all of the matter and energy in the universe today, started with a single point. The whole of the universe came into existence due to the rapid inflation of that point in a fraction of a second. 

Although the theory explains a lot of things, it doesn’t answer a lot of other really important questions, the answers to which are continuously being sought and therefore, many scientists have suggested some alternative theories for the origin of universe.

1. The Matrix Theory

This theory is gaining a lot of popularity right now and although it might sound like something totally out of science fiction, it is very plausible. This theory suggests that our universe and reality itself is a computer simulation. 

This means that we and everything else, probably exist on a hard drive on a computer of some highly intelligent being. Such a computer is out of our wildest of imaginations even. 

To understand it better, think of the video games you play on a computer, especially the open world games where you can roam around a world freely doing as you wished like in GTA games. According to this theory, we are like those game characters that may or may not be controlled by the higher intelligent beings. 

2. Origination From A Black Hole

We still do not understand what happens to anything that crosses the even horizon and falls towards the centre of a black hole. It is the point where laws of physics stop working. We have absolutely no idea as to what happens to the enormous amount of matter that a black hole ’sucks up’. 

This has led some scientists to believe that maybe, all that matter ends up in a different location or dimension, creating an entirely new universe somewhere. This might explain how our own universe came to be.

Maybe our universe was born out of particles being ejected out of a massive black hole. And since there are black holes in our universe, this theory would suggest that there are universes within universes within universes. This gets really mind boggling at this point. 

3. The Oscillating Universe Theory

Image Credits

This theory doesn’t necessarily deny the big bang theory but simply adds more to it. According to this theory, there is a continuous expansion and contraction of the universe in cycles and it has been happening forever. 

That means when the universe expands to a certain limit, it starts contracting until it reaches a single point and can’t contract any more. Then the big bang happens agains and the expansion starts again. The cycle repeats on and on. 

4. Many-Worlds Theory

Image Credits

This is actually an interpretation of the quantum mechanics. It suggest that there are an infinite number of universes out there. So, everything that can possibly exist, exists in a universe somewhere. 

It is quite similar to science fiction movies where different universes exist and a diversion in events create a whole new universe encompassing the new reality. 

So, if this is correct, there is a universe out there where you are the president, another universe where you are an actor and another one where you might be a bartender! Anything that could happen in your life has happened in one of these universes. 

Note: The first three images are taken from the public domain.