# Other universes have different physics?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-universes-have-different-physics/675177>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [December 1, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-universes-have-different-physics/675177 "2013-12-01T01:34:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-universes-have-different-physics/675177/21 "2013-12-02T04:19:47Z")

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> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> Kurt Vonnegut’s novel _Slapstick_ posits a (near) future in which it is discovered that constants such as G being stable for extended time periods is an anomaly. In the story, G changes as often as the weather, and a person who is practically glued to the floor by his own weight one day can be jumping over skyscrapers the next.

For another fictional treatment of this issue, see _The Gods Themselves_ by Asimov, which posits at least two other different universes with different sets of physical laws, which takes the form of elements with nuclear structures different than can exist in this universe.

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**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-universes-have-different-physics/675177/22 "2013-12-02T04:38:15Z")

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In fiction another example of life in a universe with different physical laws would be [Raft](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raft_%28novel%29), set in a universe with far stronger gravity.

There’s also _Redshift Rendezvous_ by John E. Stith, which deals with events on board a starship where as a result of how their version of hyperspace works the local speed of light is slow enough that a person can closely approach it just by running. One interesting consequence of that is that it’s possible to ambush someone by just running straight at them, since you’ll arrive just behind your own image.

> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> Kurt Vonnegut’s novel _Slapstick_ posits a (near) future in which it is discovered that constants such as G being stable for extended time periods is an anomaly. In the story, G changes as often as the weather, and a person who is practically glued to the floor by his own weight one day can be jumping over skyscrapers the next.

While that might work for a comedy it doesn’t work for the purposes of science or realistic fiction; the Sun or the Earth would explode at the very least if something like that happened.

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