DUPLICATE UNIVERSES 

The podcast/radio show, This American Life, produced an episode called “Gardens of Branching Paths .” Each act of the episode considers what might or could happen (or is happening!)  in a  parallel universe. My favorite part of the episode is the prologue, in which David Kestenbaum (a Phd Physicist) and Ira Glass, one of the hosts, talk about an app called Universe Splitter and the not unlikely reality that alternate universes exist – and “if true,  the universe is duplicating itself all the time. It’s like a fundamental part of our existence.” The app costs 1.99 on the App Store and I took a peak at it.

The physic concept they are exploring (and is the basis of the app) is called “Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (see link below). Its a bit complicated to describe, but I paraphrased the main conversation below:

“You input two choices into the app and a signal is sent to “a fancy piece of equipment at the University of Geneva in Switzerland.” It takes a single particle of light, a photon, it sends it at a mirror that can make the photon go either left or right…[but] according to laws of quantum mechanics, it actually goes both. It goes left and right at the same time. That is actually true and demonstrated… this device looks to see, well were did it go? When it looks, it only finds it in one place, which doesn’t make sense, because we know from the math that it goes to both places. So why did we only see it in one? One answer, is the photon is in both places, left and right, but just in different universes.”  [Ira Glass:] “So you’re saying when you shoot the photon into the mirror it actually creates an entire duplicate of our universe and in one of those universes the photon is the left and in the other it is on the right. Yes – it both went left and right those are just in different universes. The math of it makes a lot of sense, it’s very streamlined and simple.

Podcast: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/691/gardens-of-branching-paths

APP – Universe Splitter : https://apps.apple.com/us/app/universe-splitter/id329233299

Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-manyworlds/

M a p p i n g   &    W o r l d  B u i l d i n g

Almost as a rule, science fiction authors build words and realities from their imagination that host their stories, lessons, and provocations. I am curious how authors conceive of and envision these worlds and locations – do they create a mental map of where action takes places? Is it necessary to build and imagine a separate world in its entirety in order to fully understand and be immersed in a story and its characters? Do authors imagine whole worlds with social dynamics, political systems, and natural laws even if a story takes place in a single room? What does a lack of defined space do for a story or reality an author creates – perhaps room for greater interpretation and imagination.

1. https://donjon.bin.sh/scifi/world/

• • • This is a sort-of cool world generator that takes an input of parameters and creates a planet for you.

2.  https://lithub.com/why-we-feel-so-compelled-to-make-maps-of-fictional-worlds/

• • • This is an interesting little article about what we are compelled to make maps of fictional worlds. Making a map makes a dream-world more tangible and real, it “is a plan to go somewhere.”

3. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/get-lost-with-20-stunning-maps-of-your-fave-fictional-sci-fi-land

• • • This is an interesting gallery of maps of fictional worlds. I am struck by the detail and complexity of some worlds and the stark, basic quality of others.

THE UNCANNY VALLEY

The uncanny valley describes the paradox that the more human a robot appears, we tend to find them more appealing – but only to a certain extent. If the robot looks too human, we perceive the robot negatively, seeing it as strange or disturbing. This point where affinity is inverted is called the “Uncanny valley.”

The word uncanny according to Miriam Webster means: “seeming to have a supernatural character or origin, being beyond what is normal or expected, suggesting superhuman or supernatural powers.” The uncanny is experienced psychologically – something that is strangely familiar but unfamiliar at this same time. This dissonance can be quite unsettling but powerful at the same time. In the case of robots, perhaps we see too much of ourselves in something that is often an adversary, threatening our notion of what it means to be human.

These are things to think about through the lens of Science Fiction:

F E B R U A R Y | 12

• Immortality & Mortality
• Poetry
• Time – perception, experience
• Heroism
• Indian Jones, Kingdom of the Crystal Skill
• Frankenstien
• SF in Norway
• Religion
• Vampires
• John Krakauer
• Threat
• Music – 1960’s & 1970’s
  • Post Vietnam
  • Conspiracy
  • Commune Life
• Control & Freewill
• Magazine history
• Darwin
• Alice in Wonderland
• Prejudice
• Art
• Skepticism
• Year 3000
• Language
• Places that don’t matter & alien invasion
• Lost Worlds
• Memory
• Netflix – Bandersnatch
• Natural Supernaturalism
• Gaudi
• Maps
• Numbers
• Ratatouille – Mind Control
• Pastoral & Utopia

F E B R U A R Y | 15

• The Cat’s Cradle
• Songs of Utopia
• “23 Ret-tellings of Classic Stories from Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors”
• “Strange”
• The Wall – Pink Floyd
• Made up words
• First sentences
• Masks
• Outfits / Costumes
• Utopia & Philosophy
  •  Plato’s Republic
  • “State of Nature”
    • Mill, Locke, Hobbes

Skriver Nordmenn “science fiction”? Nei, ikke mye!

http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/norway