Dangus,
Thanks for the link and discussion.
For some reason the mainstream is reluctant to allow a question to stand with more than one possible/plausible explanation (a tacit admission that we are not sure we know the answer).
And no one ever seems to wonder how there can be more than one universe. The most reasonable definition I've ever see for the word universe is "everything". Whenever something new is discovered, it automatically is (uh, should be) added to the pile.
So what gets reported as multiple universes ought to be reported as multiple sub-universes. Or something along that line. Yeah I know, its kind of the same thing. But different too, in some subtle but importat ways. One of the more important of these differences is the attitude of youngsters about science. If "the man" pretends that there are no questions left unanswered, fewer kids are going to be curious about a career in science. This was kind of stereotyped in a Big Bang Theory episode where Penny asks Lenard "So, what's new in the world of physics?" and he replies "Nothing. Not since about the 1950s."
We know better. But a lot of high school kids won't. Physics? Yawn.
I've seen some discussions on USENET and Google Groups about the view from inside an arbitrary explosion. And of course the experts disagree. So this sort of thing will just keep on going. Whoever is in control of the party line wll pick their favored answer and the rest will be treated as disproven. There are exceptions from time to time, to be sure. But they are ... exceptions.
LB
