(no subject)
Feynman's (a nobel prize winner in 1965, among many other things) theory of multiple histories, if i understand it correctly, says that as a particle travels through spacetime, there are infinite possible paths for it to follow. A particle traveling between point A and point B will not choose only one path, but in fact will travel through all possible paths that involve starting at A and ending at B. When we observe an object making its merry way through spacetime along what we perceive to be a single, definitive course, we are actually just witnessing the average of all its pathways. This means, of course, that with appropriate calculations, we can predict the path that we are most likely to observe by considering all possible paths and averaging them. This model was developed to accurately describe observations of actual stuff in the actual world (experimental results due to the "casimir effect", and "lamb shift"). I, and my fellow humans, are also actual things in the actual world. Of course, we are all quite interested in the path that our own particles will take. This causes us to attempt to predict what our "point B" will be and use our priveleged perspective at "point A" to adjust the possible paths toward the point B of our own design. Although this is a very common pastime of ours, it should be considered just that: something for our amusement but not something to put much stock in (like tabloids). You see, the calculations mentioned above accurately describe observations made in a vacuum. I ain't in a vacuum. I am therefore chock full of confounding variables. I've noticed on occasion that my fellow peeps also keep a confounding variable or two of their own on hand most of the time. So why kid ourselves? Sure we can run our data through some equations and come up with a result, but the result will always be innacurate because no equations exist that account for the variables. Besides, i'm comforted by the idea that i can look forward to traveling through all of my possible lives. Steven Hawking says that the path that has been taken by the history of our universe is one of very low probability (far from the average path in Feynman's model). I look forward to a life full of low probability paths. Its scary at first to let go of the artificial sense of control that comes with making predictions about that "point B", but it allows life to be the fucked up adventure that it is-whether or not i give it my permission. Scary adventures are way cooler than stress-filled agendas.