The multiverse may be real.

There may be an infinite, or near-infinite, number of parallel universes out there, some of which contain multiple versions of ourselves, living in different cities, crippled or well, happy or miserable, depending on what fate decrees.

There is a theory in modern physics which states that the logical end result of quantum mechanics is a multiverse-reality. The problem is Schrodinger’s Cat. This being is both not-alive and not-dead until someone opens the box and takes a peek to see if the gas got it.

But in the physics theory just mentioned, two universes were created when the cat was set up like this. In one universe, he’s a dead kitty. In another he lives — triumphantly! But there are 2 universes, branching out from 1, a doubling of the realm of possibilities.

Thinking about it in this mathematical sense saves the need to resort to ornate equations to balance the unbalanceable. It simplifies everything, and Occam’s Razor rules in science as surely as any principle does.

Ideas about the multiverse are as old as time, as old as Alexander weeping there were no more worlds to conquer than this. We like to imagine ourselves in a better, brighter toga. But it’s more than that: there’s a fascination with imagining a world based on our own that is somehow DIFFERENT in fundamental ways. It’s like waking up next to your wife to find out she has a different face.

There are two main sources of fascination about parallel universes. One, what would *I* be doing differently in another universe? And two, did the Nazis win, did the Confederate Southerners win, is the world literally shaped differently on a mass scale that is intriguing, appealing or appalling to contemplate?

As for (One), I suspect there is an ideal universe out there for all of us — we’re just not living in it. To remedy this, to rectify it, one would have to seize control of one’s own destiny and grab the snake of fate by the tail, wrenching it aside. That is beyond the abilities of 99.9999999999999999% of men and 100% of women.

As for (Two), yes, a different political or culture setup is interesting to contemplate. But I fear any cross-travel between universes would only result in open warfare as different ideologies and ways of looking at the world clash. A world that oppressed women and made them sexual and literal slaves would not look kindly on a kind of “Super California” writ large on a global scale, with all that entails. And Cali would react at least with disdain, if not with outright hostility.

Our world is not a bad one, as it goes. But it has many limits and limitations. It is a jury-rigged, many-men-created hodgepodge of notions and quaint customs; its primary defect is a concentration on the material and on money and a lack of interest in more ephemeral sources of pleasure. It thinks with the cock rather than the heart. I may be a sexist pig seducer at the core, but I am all about the heart, no matter what anyone says about me.

maxim

Fate’s servants challenge us to make something of our lives, while fate’s Grand Outline conspires to block us every step of the way…