Eye In The Sky
2004-10-22,

H discovered something a bit disquieting yesterday, something that I've learned from experience to be the potential death knell for formerly married journal writers everywhere:

Starting from the beginning if this week, the Ex is reading her journal. And mine.

I've chosen not to worry about it. Or have I? The mind boggles at the potential futures this occurrence brings to bear. Of course, my mind often boggles at potential realities, so this is nothing new. I have trouble keeping up with possible futures (not that it stops me from trying). It brought me to wonder:

What is the practical purpose of infinite realities? And just how specific do these versions of reality get? Do they differentiate according to major events; those things that you know, in the back of your mind, somehow are historic, future-changing events, like 9/11, fateful meetings, assassinations and moments of 'eureka'? Are they specific to the point of whether or not you buy that cup of coffee in the morning? Whether or not a fly gets squashed? Whether the wind blows NE or NW at the corner of Main and Broadway in Topeka, KS on 10/22/2004 at 12:01:15 p.m.? Whether or not a particular molecule gets formed at a particular moment? Whether, at a specific nanosecond, a subatomic particle spins left or right? And is there a specific reality for each of these instances, and combinations of instances? All those decisions, all those options, constantly maneuvering our reality along a relatively tiny track that slips past an infinite number of unchosen possibilities. It's impossible to even come even remotely close to fathoming the number of realities that might exist, assuming the worst. Or even assuming the least.

Just give it a try. Go to your local beach, even a sandbox, whatever. Pick up a handful of sand and watch each grain tumble in a given direction. Each one of those grains went in a particular direction-- and each one of them could have potentially gone in another direction, all dependent on winds, moisture in the air, movement by your hand and body, vibration in the ground, gravitational fluctuation, sound waves, etc., not to mention the precepts of chaos theory.

Ah, there's a scientific/philosophical monkey wrench for you-- is it possible to have a reality that exists without the concept of chaos? Or without any other fundamental law of nature? Without gravity? And if not, would this then disclude the possibility of some number of realities, thus limiting infinity?

And here's another big question: assuming all these potential realities exist� where are they? Is there an overriding, '�ber-reality' that 'contains' all of these potentials? And if so, is there more than one, or even an infinite number, of those?

Ah, this is where I make one of my three wishes for a panel of collaborating experts in the fields of particle physics, cosmology, philosophy, string theory, biology, organic chemistry, theoretical math, etc., all with the patience to dumb things down enough to be understood by an enchanted layman like myself, for an exchange of ideas that could potentially lead to new understandings of the nature of our universe. If only I had a bigger brain.

Thus ends my moment of clarity. I need a cigarette.

-- End Transmission --