John Horgan, who took it on the ear some years ago for prophesying the end of science, now asks, provocatively I suppose, whether theorizing about alternative universes is immoral:
These multiverse theories all share the same fundamental defect: They can be neither confirmed nor falsified. Hence, they don’t deserve to be called scientific, according to the well-known criterion proposed by the philosopher Karl Popper. Some defenders of multiverses and strings mock skeptics who raise the issue of falsification as “Popperazi” – which is cute but not a counterargument. Multiverse theories aren’t theories – they’re science fictions, theologies, works of the imagination unconstrained by evidence.
And they’re fun too. They’re everything except science, and good on Horgan for pointing it out.
Besides, they only ever existed to provide a universe safe for atheism.