I remember watching television as a child. The first show I recall was broadcast around 1954. Televisions (for those who had them) were black and white, with huge, heavy cathode ray tubes (CRTs) for screens that would explode if they were dropped. The CRT was the heart of the television, and it would occasionally burn out, which was probably the worst thing that could happen. In the back of the television set were a series of various-sized vacuum tubes with bright orange filaments that were also subject to burnout and would need replacement. Appliance stores had tube testers. If your television was not working properly, you would remove the tubes and take them to the appliance store, where you could test them one by one. Most people in the U.S. could receive at least three channels: ABC, CBS, and NBC. Because I lived in the country, I only received two of the three channels. Stations would usually go off the air around 11:00 p.m. or midnight with the music from “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Then, there would be no television until the next day (typically beginning at 6:00 a.m. or 7:00 a.m.).
There was no cable or satellite. Families that could afford it had television antennas (called aerials) on their roofs connected to the television. For those who could not afford a rig like this, there were portable “rabbit ear” setups that would perch on the top of the television set. You could move the two antennae around until you received a clear picture and sound free from static. If that was not enough to resolve the problem, some people wrapped aluminum foil around the antenna. A few would kick or pound their television in frustration; sometimes that worked.
Occasionally, you would be watching a program when the programming of another station would appear on the screen, mixed in with the program you were watching. In fact, you might see one program on top of another, or the picture from one movie and the sound from another. Each station had its own frequency. But sometimes, a more powerful station on one frequency or with a higher wattage output would crowd its way into the programming of a weaker station on a different frequency. You might be watching a show about penguins in the Antarctic when you also noticed palm trees and people in bathing suits among the shivering birds.
Astrophysicist Michio Kaku has been using this analogy as an example of how parallel worlds might exist within the same physical three-dimensional space. In other words, just as different television or radio programs can occupy the same space but are confined to different frequencies or unique vibrational patterns, so can dimensions or parallel worlds. And just as weather
anomalies can allow a program on one television frequency to encroach upon a program on another frequency (channel), could some some hypothetical space anomaly produce a similar effect concerning dimensional theory or the subject of many parallel worlds. But this is speculative, so there is no proof outside of mathematical models.
