Piranesi and Alternate Reality

In a cave, some prisoners are chained in a way that they can only see shadows projected on a wall in front of them. They can't even look at each other. They can hear the voices of the people behind them. The shadows are mostly of the objects that people behind them carry. Prisoners think that those voices belong to the objects. This is their reality. This is the world they know. They do not know that what they see is not an accurate representation of the world but a distorted and blurred version.
—^{Plato's Allegory of the Cave}

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Is our perception of the world merely an escape from reality, like those shadows which keep us from confronting reality? Or, there's more to it?

What if perception is not a veil of shadows but a window to another realm? What if it is not an escape from reality but another version of it — an alternate reality?

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I was supposed to write about my trip but I got distracted by this book — Piranesi written by Susanna Clarke. It's a short fantasy book with elements of mystery and a touch of science fiction. I found it in the Science Fiction section of the library. It felt like a weird book at first but it kept me on the edge of my seat.

Piranesi is the name of the protagonist. The world in which he lives is called The House with numerous halls and countless statues built over a sea. There are only fifteen inhabitants in this world — thirteen The Deads, Piranesi himself and his friend, The Other. Piranesi knows all the ways of The House. He is very kind and regards his world with great respect. The Other is manipulative and is on a quest to seek Great Secret Knowledge. Both (the only alive inhabitants) meet for biweekly meetings in which The Other usually gifts Piranesi items like shoes, multivitamins, writing supplies, and fishing nets in exchange for information on The House — the area in which Piranesi's expertise lies. The Other doesn't like to wander far in the halls.

I was under the impression that The House is a fictional world like in any other fiction story. But the author hasn't been clear about what it is and has left it to the readers to interpret. I came up with two theories — number one, the world is like the shadows of the aforementioned cave, the way Piranesi perceives his reality could be the result of many factors like his past, his traumas, and his experiences. It was hinted somewhere in the book that those statues in The House were the representation of real-life events and people which are already a part of his subconscious mind. There were other things in the story which also suggest the same.

Some people also believed The House was a liminal world but is it possible to be in dream-like state for years? And presumably, some other characters have the same dream. It would've helped if there were some chapters from The Other's point of view.

Here's another more compelling explanation — The House was more than a figment of his imagination. It was a portal to another world, another reality. I'm not going into why because I will be giving away too many spoilers. This brings us back to the topic of my interest — alternate reality.

This concept still doesn't exist beyond mythology and Science Fiction movies. Scientists are working on it but haven't been able to prove anything.

So far, Quantum Theory is proven. General Relativity is proven. But the former doesn't explain gravity. Quantum Gravity (how gravity works at quantum level) tries to fix this, although no success at it as of yet. One of the leading theory that builds on it is String Theory which if proven will open the possibilites of alternate realities, at least mathematically. How?

You can skip next few paragraphs because you might already know about it or can easily google it. I'm putting it here just in case someone doesn't know or is feeling lazy to do their own research.

Quantum theory says that tiny particles like electrons and photons exist in multiple states at the same time. Like a coin is both heads and tails while in the air. A cat is both dead and alive while hidden in a box. This is the simplest possible explanation.

General Relativity says space and time are one thing — like a big trampoline. When you put a massive object like the Sun on it, it bends. When you put Earth on it, it will bend less. When you put a blackhole on it, it will bend insanely. That bend is not because of gravity, it's because of the mass. More mass more bend. That bending is called gravity. Note the difference. Earth is not revolving around the Sun because of the gravitational pull, but it's just moving along the curve, the bend in spacetime around the Sun due to its mass.

Maths go crazy when we consider cases like Black Hole and the Big Bang. In blackholes, volume is nearly zero which requires quantum consideration and gravity is huge which also requires general relativity. But the infinities come into play and everything stops making sense.

String Theory tries to solve this problem by saying that everything is made of tiny vibrating strings, not point particles. Just like guitar strings can make different notes depending on how they vibrate, these strings can vibrate in different ways to create different particles like photons and gravitons. Gravity is already there and Maths stays Finite because there are no infinitely small dot paricles but strings which create smooth spreading effect. To make enough particles, more dimensions are needed... more than our usual 3D + time — possibly up to 11 dimensions.

Now, there might be more dimensions at play, but for now, they are invisible to us. We don't have the technology (or the senses) to view those dimensions, yet.

These extra dimensions don't necessarily mean extra room for strings to vibrate, but they could mean more dimensions for the reality to exist in. This means there could be more laws of physics, particles or forces out there, put them together, and you get a new universe.

It's getting complicated now. I'm just a space enthusiast, not a physicist. The point is, it's possible to have alternate universes and realities. I believe it doesn't mean, that another version of me exists in another world. However, quantum theory possibly means that — multiple states, alternate realities. I believe it only means, there are other worlds, but I can exist in only one universe at a time. Like when Piranesi was in The House, he was missing in the real world.

Not sure about multiverse but definitely got multi-spun, right?

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All I meant was to write a simple book review but ended up exploring physics, philosophy and fiction — maybe that's what Piranesi meant to provoke.

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^{Book Title: Piranesi
Author: Susanna Clarke
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️}

^{Image 2-5 are created with AI.}