Another Place, Another Time – Maybe We’re Already There

By Robin Weaver

I like my smart phone. I’m also fond of Google, and GPS—in the past I tended to get lost. A lot. I like microwaves, ordering online, and movie theaters with recliners. Imaging a time without drive-thru vanilla lattes, internet banking, and cute little SUVs makes me feel a tad queasy.

So why would I want to live in another time? As my friend Lorraine says, “I don’t want to live in another time unless it’s a book and I can stop reading it.”

As for place… I love sunshine. This area gets 218 days of brightness a year. I hate shoveling snow—we get one, maybe two storms per year. And everything shuts down so we can play.

So basically, I’m content. Well, almost...  I have made a few choices I’d like to revisit.

So what do bad decisions have to do with another place and time? It’s possible (if highly theoretical) that I can make different choices in another place and time—or in a parallel universe.

Say what?

I’m not kidding—or even making up a story. Multiple universes are also predicted in string theory, which suggests many universes exist parallel to each other. In some theories, your clone is also reading this blog in other world. In other theories, copies of you are being more productive—eh, wait… I mean the-other you is commenting on this blog in that universe.

Other theories deviate and suggest the other worlds are entirely different and don’t even have the same laws of physics. As with any theory, opinions differ. Not all physicists believe other universes exist at all. And of those that do believe, most don’t think contact between these universes is.

Is it possible? Who knows. Humankind once believed the world was flat and the sun revolved around us. (Note: There is a theory that actually suggests the universe is flat, but that’s a blog for another day.) We have since learned our universe is much larger and more fascinating that we can comprehend.  Is the leap from a single universe to multiverses that much of a stretch (or maybe I should say expansion)?

What do I believe? This stuff is way beyond the ten-percent of my brain I can actually use. As a writer, multiverses spur my imagination. The possibilities are endless.