In Linde's quantum cosmology, after all he invented the field, the universes do not have a common beginning or end. However, that is incidental to the rest of the story of universe lifetimes.

There are now multiple quantum cosmologies (see for example http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/gr-qc/0312045 ). My speculation wasn't so much trying to deduce the correct cosmology as it is in applying a path integral to the whole collection of universes.

Yeah, it is not always appropriate to make a tie-in of physical theory with religious speculations. There are some themes which seem to run together (e.g., measurement or 'judgement' of the universe, entangled states or 'becoming one', etc), but there are difficulties bringing a physical model into one which requires that we think in non-physical terms (e.g., slits of criterias versus physical slits, unification of thought versus entangled particle states, etc).

Thanks for your comments.

• When are these clarifications going to be posted? - carefuluniverse - October 18, 2004 - 22:02 UTC
• Thank you for the link - yanniru - October 19, 2004 - 13:57 UTC
  • For Harv - yanniru - October 21, 2004 - 19:18 UTC