[b]Blake Crouch
I thought I appreciated every moment, but sitting here in the cold, I know I took it all for granted. And how could I not? Until everything topples, we have no idea what we actually have, how precariously and perfectly it all hangs together.[/b]
Let’s trade topples.
If you want to understand the world, you have to start by understanding—truly understanding—how we experience it.”
Oh Christ, he thought, not that again.
If he did this to you, he would have rationalized it somehow. That’s how decent people justify bad behavior.
Define decent?
What if our worldline is just one of an infinite number of worldlines, some only slightly altered from the life we know, others drastically different? The Many-Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics posits that all possible realities exist. That everything which has a probability of happening is happening. Everything that might have occurred in our past did occur, only in another universe. What if that’s true? What if we live in a fifth-dimensional probability space? What if we actually inhabit the multiverse, but our brains have evolved in such a way as to equip us with a firewall that limits what we perceive to a single universe? One worldline. The one we choose, moment to moment. It makes sense if you think about it. We couldn’t possibly contend with simultaneously observing all possible realities at once. So how do we access this 5-D probability space? And if we could, where would it take us?
Uh, you tell me?
If I wanted to bring you down, David, I could’ve done that months ago.
If I wanted you dead, Agent Hassler—you and everyone you love—there is nothing in the world stopping me from making that happen. Not from prison. Not from the grave.
So we’ve established trust, Hassler said.
Perhaps. Or at the very least, assured mutual destruction.
No difference in my book.
This modern world…
I’ve seen so many versions of you. With me. Without me. Artist. Teacher. Graphic designer. But it’s all, in the end, just life. We see it macro, like one big story, but when you’re in it, it’s all just day-to-day, right? And isn’t that what you have to make your peace with?
You know, if that can actually be done.