Aliens may have created our universe in a laboratory, scientists suggest

Harvard astronomers believe that a advanced class of civilization even more advanced than us may have created our universe in a laboratory.

Astronomer Loeb wrote in an op-ed published by Scientific American last year.

"Our universe has a flat geometry with zero net energy, an advanced civilization could develop a technology that, through quantum tunneling, An infant universe can be created." This theory, he suggests, unites two opposite notions. 

The idea that a higher force can drive our destiny, and the secular concept of quantum gravity (a field of physics that seeks to work gravity into the theory of quantum mechanics—something that, to the curse of physicists everywhere, we are now yet on earth).

Primarily, this theory relied on the ability of a distantly advanced civilization to combine both quantum mechanics and gravity, and to subsequently identify and reconstruct all the constituents of the universe.

He also introduced a new way of classifying what makes a civilization advanced – one that breaks away from Soviet astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev's system, which ranked civilizations based on the amount of energy they generated and consumed, organizes.

According to Kardashev, Type I civilizations—Hello, Earthers!—are advanced enough to use only the light of the star reaching their planet (4×1012 watts), while Type II civilizations use only the power of their host star. Ability to use from is mastered (4× 1026 watts). 

Dyson Sphere, anyone? Type III civilizations, the last classification in their structure, are capable of harnessing all the energy within their galaxy (a whopping 4×1037 watts).

In contrast, Loeb has created a framework that divides advanced civilizations into classes, which "led to their existence on the basis of their ability to reproduce astro-physical conditions."

Earthlings would fall into class C because, as a "low-level" technological civilization, we would not be able to recreate our current conditions if the Sun suddenly dies. 

He suggests that we may even fall into the Class D category because we are actively destroying our only home.

Class B civilizations, on the other hand, Loeb writes, are advanced enough to recreate those conditions. in which they live, their independent host star.

A class civilization, like our proposed creators, would be able to generate large amounts of dark energy and, as Loeb suggests, create a "baby universe" or smaller universe controlled by this higher civilization, which could potentially be life-threatening, can generate. 

He also suggests that, due to competition, only an advanced civilization at a time would be able to reach this level of sophistication.

It's a strange idea, indeed, but it's interesting to think about that. 

And it brings up a set of intriguing questions. What makes a civilization really technologically advanced? What could this "laboratory" look like anyway?