Does "string theory" connect to the idea of multiple universes? And if so, how many?
Okay, so you know how quantum physics shows us that all points in space, all bits of matter are at any moment both a particle and a wave. And Einstein's special theory of relativity shows us that all light is made of waves. And these two theories combine in interesting ways, but don't completely gel. For decades physicists have been struggling to reconcile the two theories, but they have been unable to do so effectively. Something was always holding them back, basically because the universe seems to be holding more energy than there is space in the points of known mass. This made scientists wonder where all the energy was. And then they discovered, that the space in between the atoms was itself teeming with life. And the life that lives at the bottom of all matter, inside the shell of the tiniest waves of photons, or quanta, is a strange world of simultaneously vibrating strings. And those strings of multi-demensional vibrating pulsating energy play in a kind of metaphysical choir, creating all the intricacies of mass and energy in the universe, as if these tiny little strings were conductors conducting a vast symphony, only they were conducting that symphony with the conductors of all the other symphonies of the atoms they were orchestrating with. And those collections of atoms and molecules and other interesting bits were actually being played by an army of conductors conducting simultaneously with an entire legion of instruments singing and strumming away.
String theory is mind-bogglingly wild, because it's so advanced. It took PBS three hours to explain it completely, and I was still lost. Only when I completed the book about the show's research did I have a deeper grasp of it. Basically you just need to know that these little strings that vibrate in 6, up to 10 dimensions (depending on whose theory applies to that particular "particle" - I told you, it's mind-blowing) and how they vibrate impacts what manifests on the level of perceptible reality.
What's so incredible about this is that science is finally catching up to philosophy. The Middle Way, or what Huxley called the Perennial Philosophy, has always told us that the perception of life is merely the perception of imperceptible changes on a fundamental and/or spiritual nature, and the manifestation of those changes in the world that we see around us. In many traditional cultures, those changes are manipulated by otherworldy figures, gods, angels and the like, which is outside the scope of scientists to discern, but in today's physics, the wall between the reality we see and the reality that is real is paper-thin. Scientists are beginning to discover that everything truly is everything, and once they can prove it, life can get a whole lot more sane, because folks will have realized that what we are today is what we were twenty thousand years ago, we are one indescribable circle trailing itslef through time, perhaps even creating subtle vibrations that resonate with other vibrating universes that themselves are creating a reality in a world far, far different than this one, beyond all perceptible consciousness. Perhaps, there may even be a heaven, in which all this is taking place and yet life is going on and on and on, without fear or violence or pain.
Enjoy your continuing discovery of the details behind string theory. It truly is a fascinating subject.