Alternate Universes
I’ve been watching
all the old episodes of Fringe lately and it has me thinking about alternate
universes. For one thing, I think I want to go live in the Fringe alternate
universe because gas there is only $0.99 per gallon. Wouldn’t that be awesome?
And instead of jet planes, they fly around in great big dirigibles like the Hindenburg.
A leisurely flight in one of those may take longer to get from point A to point
B, but it sure would be more relaxing. And you could get a better look at the
scenery below you as you floated majestically overhead. I know Fringe is just some very interesting
science fiction. And for the most part, speculation about alternate universes
is not much more than that. Scientists admit the possibility of alternate
universes, but they don’t go much further than that. It’s only a mathematical possibility,
a curiosity, but hardly more than a blip on the radar. After all, they are
still trying to figure out what makes this universe tick. That’s plenty enough
to keep them busy without having to throw other universes into the mix.
But if there are an
infinite number of universes out there and there are an infinite number of
Earth’s just like ours but only slightly different – kind of like in the old
sci-fi series called “Sliders”, then I wonder how many of Me’s there are out there
sitting at a computer right this very moment pecking away at a keyboard
wondering about the other Me’s out there. How many of them actually ran away
from home when they were kids like I always wanted to do. And how many of them
didn’t because they felt responsible for the safety of their brothers and
sister. How many chose to go to college and because of it watched in horror as their
first marriage came apart? How many didn’t and stayed happily married to the
same person all those years?
If you could bounce
from one universe to the other, would you? Wouldn’t it be a lifetime of
interest just to go from world to world and check in on Yourself over there and
see what You were up to? To see how “You” turned out. Would you be jealous of
the You that somehow took a different path and turned out to be rich and
famous? Or of the You that did save his first marriage and lived happily ever
after with his wife and kids? Would you feel sorry for the You who ended up
homeless and alone with a bottle of booze his only friend? Or would you just be
disappointed in him that he didn’t make better choices in his life?
After years of studying all the various You’s
on all the various Earths do you think it would give you a better perspective
on the consequences of free will and every single little choice you make all
throughout your life? How could it not? Do you need to make such a voyage
before you start to see the magnitude of your dilemma? Or can you already begin
to see that from the moment you wake up each day every little seeming
insignificant choice you make has specific consequences not only for your life
but for every other life that you ever come into contact with? And people are
always asking what the meaning of life is. Shouldn’t it be apparent that life
is all about making choices? And can you not see that if alternate universes do
exist and there are an infinite number of each of us, then the whole thing is
one gigantic experiment to not only see what the consequences would be of each
and every one of your choices that you did make but also each and every choice
it was possible for you to make at every moment in your life. In each of those
worlds you could see the results of every choice you could have made
differently from the ones you made here. Then multiply that by each one of us
making choices as we interact with one another and it becomes completely mind
boggling.
Now imagine that you
were above it all outside of space and time sitting in your recliner observing
all of it – all the different choices in all the infinite number of cases. Do
you imagine that there would be any need for you to stick your hand down there
and interfere with someone’s choice – just to change the outcome? Why would
you? After all, somewhere among the infinite number of You’s one of You at least
is making the desired choice already. If
the goal was to tweak the system and get a single desired result, then what
would be the point of multiple universes in the first place? Wouldn’t it be
easier just to micromanage one? And if you had to micromanage it, what would be
the point of creating the one in the first place allowing us to have free will
and to make choices? Wouldn’t you just create the end result you so desired and
be done with it?
I know what some of
you are thinking. There is no outside observer and all of this is a result of
random chance. And that our choices have no ultimate consequences. That may be
true, but somehow I doubt it. That would make everything – you, me, the
universe, and perhaps the multiverse a very wasteful and futile proposition. And
I know for a fact that every single little choice I’ve made throughout my
entire life has had consequences. Some of which have echoed not only through my
life but through everyone I’ve had dealings with. And those consequences will
continue to reverberate down through the generations of my children,
grandchildren and on and on from now until the end of time. Now am I saying
that an outside observer will sit and judge the choices I made in this life? No
I’m not. After all, out of all the possible choices I could have made if there
was only one correct choice, then 99 percent of all the infinite number of Me’s
would be condemned for making the “wrong” choice. Again a very wasteful system
indeed if your goal all along was to achieve perfection. So perhaps the goal is
not to achieve perfection. Perhaps the goal is simply to experience making
choices. And not in some cold, logical, scientific manner. Giving us emotions so
that we might feel the results of our choices may have more to do with what
this grand experiment is all about. So when you get up tomorrow morning, just maybe you should be a little bit more mindful of each and every choice you make. And not only that, but set aside a little time once in a while to just contemplate and examine what you were feeling at the time when you made them and how you feel now knowing what the consequences have been of your past choices. After all, like Walter Bishop always says on Fringe,
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