Friday, April 27, 2018

Fact, fiction and physics

Hello world,

Okay, so I sort of did this post ages ago. (All the way back in 2011. But trust me, do yourself a favor and don't look it up. For....) It was badly written and since then some things have changed. So here comes version 2.0.

Several decades ago, Gardner Fox created the DC comics multiverse. Back in those days, he suggested that while he slept, he dreamed of several fictional characters, because he ended up 'in tune' with an alternate universe where his characters were real.

While this may have been meant to be tongue-in-cheek, the times have changed. And with it, so has our understanding of physics. And also the scientific multiverse. Which is where the line between the two multiverses begins to start blurring.

Quantum theory proposes a particle will not take one path, but every path possible. Or....Anything that can happen, will happen. And even the tiniest slither of a chance is enough. (You don't need a fifty percent chance, or even one percent.) Thus leading to an infinite amount of universes. And infinite versions of people and events. And this applies to all matter in existence...

Including actors, sets and props. So, what does this mean for the border between fact and fiction ? Does that mean that the actor and the character as basically two versions on the same piece of matter ? For does that mean that - somewhere out there, in the vast multiverse - these characters are real ? And - since nothing truly exists in a vacuum - so are their fictional universes ? Making (the fantastic) Mr. Fox's claim considerably less tongue-in-cheek ? And what are the moral implications of that ? For example....

Since it is the laws of physics that control what can happen, and not the copyright law. Does that mean that both the BBC's Time Lords and Marvel's Asgard exist ? And does that mean that the Asgard chose not to help the Time Lords during the Last Great Time War ? (Remember, if this theory is true, we're talking real life here. Which makes the fact that these two races are from two different franchises a non-factor.)

And that's just one example. So...does this theory hold up ? And if it does....what does it mean ? Decide for yourself ?

Edmond Dantes

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