Final+Proposal

**Name**: Andrew Seredinski Theoretical physics is not covered in high school. This seems fair, given that understanding the proofs and hypotheses behind many aspects of the field are far beyond the curriculum limitations of secondary schools. However, acknowledging the existence of, and importance of various discoveries and understanding does not necessary preclude participation at the high school / early undergraduate level. After all, political issues of vast complexity are regularly debated by youth with little or no formal training. Initial research into the field suggests that while the issue is complex, its implications can be quite accessible when translated into analogies and examples. The driving question of my topic can be most simply states as “What are the philosophical implications of the existence of parallel universes?” Research suggests that the most relevant topics in philosophy are ethics and metaphysics, the latter being subdivided into cosmology and ontology. The idea behind the project is the “so what?” factor of physics. Students are regularly confronted with information and summary, but seldom asked to analyze its meaning, or assign value. Explaining the significance of my project will be among the most difficult tasks to complete. Essentially, how humanity views existence has important ramifications for how we act each day. For instance, if people feel that the Earth is the center of the universe, they will act accordingly. Scientific inquiry was profoundly advanced by the knowledge that the Earth is not truly the center of any known cosmic structure. As such, inquiry and ethical actions are impacted by the layperson’s understanding of what the multiverse looks like. By fusing scientific advances with the philosophical concerns that matter to each individual in their daily lives, whether consciously or subconsciously, I will meet the challenge of my driving question. The final product in terms of the project will be a sort of presentation that describes the structure of the multiverse. This demonstration will be more cosmologically focused than the final presentation, which will be broader in scope, but equally as in-depth. While it will include details on structure, it will rely more heavily on images for explanation rather than demonstration. - Present parallel universes in an accessible fashion for high school students - Explore the ethical implications of the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics - Explain how cosmology and ontology are fundamentally altered by the idea of a multiverse - Apply traditional, philosophical ideas to modern scientific advances in physics - Gain a personal understanding on a non-technical level of both M-Theory and Quantum Mechanics The project will meet and/or require the completion of several of my goals. Before implementing my project, I will need to have already completed the fifth goal, because without a personal understanding of the material, I will be unable to explain it to others. This will allow me to complete my first goal of presenting the notion in an accessible fashion to high school students, which is essentially the idea behind my project. The project presentation will deal with the structure of the multiverse, and as such will touch on the third goal, as cosmology is indeed the study of the structure of existence, and ontology is based on the question “what exists?” My final presentation will delve more specifically into my topic, and will reiterate the findings of goal three. However, the presentation will more heavily deal with goal two, as the ethical concerns of the Many Worlds Interpretation are a main focus of my thesis. In completing goals two and three, I will have needed to complete goal four, which is fusing philosophy with physics. The research that I have thus far conducted has been helpful in providing links between ethics, metaphysics and theoretical physics, but has not dealt with classical philosophy enough for the final completion of goal four. This will be a largely independent combination, and will involve the synthesis of my own research rather than simply repeating information found in my sources. To complete my project in a professional fashion, the first step it to narrow the focus down to a specific “lesson” to be shared in some sort of demonstration and/or interactive form. By the end of October, I will have determined precisely the nature of my project in terms of presented material. This will require research online into how the key concepts of my project are generally taught/explained, and will likely utilize some of the diagrams used to explain the concepts in books by Stephen Hawking and Michio Kaku. Next, I will secure the permission of a teacher to implement my project in their class on a specific date in either November or early December. The class will likely be AP Physics (Mr. Arnor), Quest 8 (Mrs. Thornton), or Quest 9 (Mrs. Pirmann). Upon finalizing my project topic and methods, I will approach each of these instructors during the first week of November to determine if I will be able to secure class time of theirs to make a presentation to their class on my topic. This will involved explaining the relevance of my topic to their class objectives. Should I fail in this respect wholly, I will need to organize some sort of after school presentation of my project, which will involve significant advertising and promotion. This is unlikely to be necessary. Upon determining the amount of time I will have for the administering of the project, I will craft the exact language and events, and practice them in front of my project mentor to ensure that the material is accessible and interesting. **Mentor** **and Topic Expert Analysis** My mentor, Elaine Seredinski, is someone who I am very comfortable speaking to and who has been a tremendous help to me in the past when it comes to quality control of my work (via editing and listening to my presentations and providing feedback). At this point, I have not consulted my mentor, primarily because I have had no stumbling blocks in the research process up to this point. She will play a more important role in the future and will serve as a sort of “control” audience. Elaine knows almost nothing about physics and philosophy, and as such I will be able to determine if my presentation is truly accessible by listening to her feedback. I have opted not to pursue a topic expert, primarily because true experts in the field of theoretical physics are few and far between. Additionally, my topic does not deal with the technical aspects of M-Theory and Quantum Theory, and as such does not require any sort of expert instruction, but rather access to well-written, accessible texts. The personal importance of this project goes beyond the investigation of one of my primary intellectual interests. In the same vein, it is an exploration into a fusion of both of my potential college majors. Specifically, theoretical physics is something I intend to investigate in my undergraduate studies, and this topic allows me to explore the notion on my own time and with my own initiative. Some universities have combined my two majors, being physics and philosophy, into one discipline, and this is in many ways a way of surveying how viable this combination is with regards to the subject material of both fields. In terms of the research topic, I am playing to some of my academic strengths. Additionally, paper writing and PowerPoint creation are two skills in which I find myself to be more than proficient. By building on these skills in a student-chosen and student-driven format, I am becoming a more independent worker and thinker. One of my main weaknesses which is addressed by this project is my preference for avoiding social interaction. I prefer being behind the scenes and working rather than having discussions and teaching. My project idea forces me out of this box and allows me to work on both my social skills, and my comfort in front of an audience. This latter aspect will also be strengthened by the final presentation.
 * Title**: The Philosophical Implications of Parallel Universes
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 * Task Analysis **
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