voice.

[fremde]

[ Jonas is getting better at English. At least, he sounds more confident now than he did before, speaking without the auto-translator, which means he has the accent of someone who studied British English while growing up in Germany. Though it will be a great relief if someone responds in German, he is trying to practice his English. ]

I wanted to ask about alternate universes. Or... alternate timelines. I have seen this mentioned a few times now, the "other" version of so-and-so. This one has the same face as that one, or this one is from a world where that thing never happened, and all that.

What I want to know is... How do you tell if this is really the case?

I guess I should explain. I have not met myself here, but in my own world, I met myself many times. From many times. And the presumption was that each one I met was from my own timeline, only from a different point. From my future.

But if there is such a thing as alternate worlds and alternate futures, how can it be discerned? I'm not saying that anyone who has met their other self or heard about them is telling a lie. But I do want to know - how are you so sure it's the truth? That this other you is truly another you, and not your future self, deceiving you or others?

[ Fuck, maybe he should have picked a simpler topic. Words are hard. ]

Comments

[hatestrashcans]

[ It's an interesting question, so Marco thinks about it for a while. ]

I don't think there's a way to tell if it's a future you, or rather a you from a time that comes after your own. Because you wouldn't have one future you, you'd have an infinite (or at least an inconceivably large number) of future yous. So even if someone is a future you, they aren't the only future you.

If that makes sense.

[fremde]

You mean the Everett interpretation. When Schrödinger's cat is dead in one outcome and alive in the other.

But you're speaking as if that's absolute fact, which it isn't. The Copenhagen interpretation is more supported, by quantum mechanics and my own experience. It is when Schrödinger's cat is observed to be dead so it is impossible for it to be anything other than dead. There is also the Bohm interpretation, when Schrödinger's cat was always going to be dead, whether it was observed or not.

Only recently have I experienced events in contradiction with Copenhagen and Bohm, which is hopeful but not certain. What I'm looking for is a way to determine that certainty.

[hatestrashcans]

[ Well this guy's way smarter than Marco is. Or at least knows more. ]

I don't know how you'd confirm that then. You'd almost need a way to see timelines in order to verify. Plus this is assuming that quantum mechanics even works the same way in all timelines.

What events are you talking about?

voice + private

[solarcharged]

[ Private for, uh, reasons. Yeah, reasons. ]

As an Apollo who has met more Apollos than I can ever hope to count I can honestly say... You just know.

[fremde]

How?

I know that what I've seen is something I want to deny. But my denial doesn't make it an unreality.

[solarcharged]

Sometimes it's an obvious point of difference: a wild haircut, a different uniform, something like that. Other times it's more subtle and it's just a feeling in your gut, like knowing right from wrong or when you're sure you've forgotten something but you're not sure what...

[ He pauses thoughtfully. ]

It's mostly the haircut thing, though.

video

[merging]

Like the other guy said, any future you is just another alternate you. Any path you see before you is only one path of many.

I guess I've never met myself, so maybe my opinion doesn't matter. But I have- I mean, I can see the different paths me or other might take. And I know not to put too much trust into it.

[fremde]

There are many paths, but isn't there only one path I will end on? Just like every choice I've made has brought me to where I am today, there is only one place all my choices will bring me.

I have seen that place. And everything I try to do to get farther from it only brings me closer to it.

[merging]

I once had a vision where I shot one of my closest friends. I didn't understand it at all, until I found myself face to face with a Clawdite who had disguised themselves as my friend.

No matter what we've seen, there are things we can't possibly know about our future. And our paths aren't only decided by our own choices, but by the choices of others as well. In one path, you could make every same choice you do in the other, but what if someone else changes their mind? That's why even the you right now has several paths, not one.

voice;

[crassidy]

Depends whether you trust yerself, I 'spose. But christ, if you're lying to yourself, then you got more problems to worry bout than when or where they're from.

[fremde]

That’s the problem exactly. I can’t trust myself.

[crassidy]

Oh. [A pause for thought, not entirely expecting the answer he's given. If you can't trust yourself, then who can you trust?]

Jaysus, then I dunno. Come to think of it, not sure I'd trust another version of me neither, slimy bastard that he'd be. But wh... what's the point of lying to yerself?

[callmesuperboy]

I understand how confusing it can be. [ Conner nods, speaking softly, but surely. ]

For myself, I have traveled to other universes, a few people in my world have, actually, and we have figured out ways to tell. Like... it's hard to explain, but people from the same universe, they have the same... energy. What's called a quantum frequency or vibration. And so people from another universe have a different one.

[ Conner scrubs his hands down his face. ] Like how different kinds of engines hum at different levels, or different cups or tuning forks hum at different sounds? It's like that.

[fremde]

I understand.

[ The concept, anyway. He can‘t imagine how it works in practice. ]

Do you know how the frequency is determined?

[callmesuperboy]

No. I have seen the equipment, and even have some idea how it works, but the actual science under it, at the time, I--- [ and he looks embarrassed here, ] I wasn't exactly paying attention to the science and more freaking out.

video

[mofi]

Your guess is as good as mine. I haven't met my other-selves but other people have. It's hard to tell when all I have are stories. Maybe I'd know if I met myself.

[fremde]

Do the stories sound... accurate to your personality?

[mofi]

Nope. Not the least bit. [ And, truthfully, Murphy hasn't asked Ronan a lot about his other-selves. Murphy just knows that they are better than this current version of himself. ]

voice;

[redcosmedic]

I can confirm the alternate timeline issue, at least. Myself and another from my universe share the same history, but at some point our timelines have diverged and we're now from very different points that couldn't exist simultaneously in the same timeline.

[fremde]

How did you determine that?

[redcosmedic]

Talking to one another, obviously. It wasn't hard, they were some rather key points. Didn't take long to come up-- as in, the first conversation we had with each other.

voice

[girlybruiser]

[ This girl's accent is very clearly Japanese, like a good chunk of the other imPorts.

She gives his question some thought, as what he asks is something she's wondered before, but half this multiverse stuff flies past her head. ]

I'm not sure if anyone has actually met a version of themselves here. It always seems to be meeting someone they know, rather.

[fremde]

Never once? I wonder why...

video;

[bifroster]

I think the best way would be to look for inconsistencies. Some of the changes from one version of a person to another might be due to where on a single timeline they are from, but other changes can only be explained by different experiences and histories. For example, if I were to be asked what kind of doctor I was, if I said something other than an astrophysicist, that would certainly not be "me".

[But words are hard.]

I guess in other instances, you would have to trust yourself a little. People, at their cores, are theorized to be the same. They just express those core qualities differently depending upon circumstances.

[fremde]

Unfortunately, I can't trust anything my other selves might say about our experiences.

But I guess it's those core qualities I'm worried about.