All my life I’ve been fascinated by the concept of parallel universes. You know what I mean, universes that coexist with ours, having only minor differences. Then again, maybe you don’t know what I mean. The idea goes something like this. Every time you make a decision, a universe exists where you made a different decision. This isn’t limited to people but when you consider billions of people, with thousands of decisions a day, you start to see an infinite number of universes in existence.
To make it easier for both of us, let’s assume that you are now occupying the main probability line. Of course that has absolutely no meaning if you imagine an infinite number of universes on every side of you. Infinite is infinite but since the you occupying this probability line is reading this article, we’ll declare this as the main line.
As you move farther away from the main line, history as we know it changes. Somewhere among all those probabilities we lost the Revolutionary War, I was the most popular kid in my high school (very far off the main probability line) and even a few cases where the first test of the atomic bomb destroyed the world. If you can imagine it, somewhere among all those probability lines it’s happened.
The interesting part of this is the speculation that we can move across probability lines. In most cases we probably wouldn’t know we were moving across universes. If the only difference between this line and the next closest line was what someone in Russia was telling his wife, it’s unlikely I would know I had wandered off my main line.
Still, it’s a very popular theme in Science Fiction where people can consciously or, in some cases, unconsciously travel across those lines. Keith Laumer’s Worlds of the Imperium series and Roger Zelazny’s Amber series are great examples of this concept. Short on funds? Just look for the probability where someone buried a small fortune under the rock next to your foot and there it is. Of course it’s not that easy for the rest of us. Somewhere someone’s going to come up short on all that money.
Fun to muse about isn’t it? Even more interesting, some of the modern physicists are starting postulate that these universes actually exist. No, not the nutcases, these are some of the more respected physicists of our time. Too bad it’s merely theory to the rest of us or is it?
I was relaxing in my Thought Simulation Chamber when I realized that many of the mysteries of modern day life could be explained by parallel universes. Take socks for example. Why do I have so many singles? For that matter, why do I have three of these socks when I only remember buying two? Where has this sock been hiding for the last three years and how did it turn up today?
For that matter, why should this be limited to socks? On a daily basis we encounter small differences from the reality we remember. When I’m working on my computer and can’t find the screwdriver I put down just a few minutes ago, who’s to say someone in a different probability line didn’t pick it up for their own use and put it down twenty feet away from where I was working.
Have you even been going through your clothing and wondered where that t-shirt came from? Maybe you’ve crossed into a line where an alternate version of you bought that shirt and actually likes it. Once you accept the concept of parallel universes and the possibility of moving unconsciously between those universes, many of your everyday mysteries suddenly acquire explanations.
Now that my wife has a clear understanding of parallel universes, while I’m not admitting or denying anything, I’ll merely take this time to point out that those missing cupcakes could have eaten by someone else passing through this probability line. It’s a possibility.
© 2015 – 2019, Byron Seastrunk. All rights reserved.
