universeels

Universeels are a hypothetical unit of measurement used in discussions of multiverse theory and speculative fiction to quantify properties of entire universes. The term is not part of established physics, but appears in thought experiments and world-building as a way to compare different cosmologies.

In its speculative uses, a universeel may denote a measure of a universe’s size, age, complexity, or informational content. Some definitions treat a universeel as the amount of information required to specify a universe’s initial conditions and laws, while others envision it as a standardized spatial or temporal scale at the level of a cosmos.

Origin and usage: The coinage blends "universe" with the diminutive suffix -el to imply a compact, reference unit for a whole cosmos. It is encountered mainly in fictional works and in hypothetical discussions about comparing vastly different universes or simulated realms.

Criticism and issues: Without a widely accepted definition, universeels risk ambiguity, making it difficult to compare universes or to assign empirical meaning. Proponents note that such units can aid conceptual thinking about scale and information, while critics caution against conflating different properties under a single measure.

Related concepts include Planck units, cosmological scale, information content, multiverse, and simulated reality.