[ANNOUNCER:  LAST TIME, on "People Who Need People...."
        "It always comes back to that."
        "Yep."
        "Fucking World Trade Center."
        "It's tainting everything."
        "It's like there's no goddamn escape."
        "Nope."
        "It makes me sick," Bob said, "because just when I think we're clear of that garbage it sneaks in through the back door."
        Pause.
        "But," I said, "of course this whole 'Judgment Day' scenario is only valid in a one-universe model."
        "Come again...?"]

        "I said, this whole 'Judgment Day' scenario is only valid in a one-universe model."
        "Uhhhh."
        "Really," I said.  "It all falls apart if you consider the possibility that there may be different, if not infinite parallel universes.  Especially if there are infinite universes."
        "Oh--  Okay.  How?"
        "Well, if you consider the possibility that-- and this is something that science is slowly coming around to acknowledging-- every subatomic effect creates another universe--"
        "What does this have to do with--"
        "Well, it seems that quite possibly, for every interaction between certain types of very small subatomic particles there are two distinct reactions.  I don't really understand the physics at work, but I remember reading about an experiment where some scientists observed that every time a certain type of particle hits another, a type of 'anti-particle,' or some sort of weird 'shadow' going the opposite direction, is created-- this is at extremely small scale levels-- as I understand it-- levels smaller than the atom-- and then this 'shadow' just sort of vanishes into a singularity.  So if particle A hits particle B and sends particle B into a righthand spin, some sort of other particle B, some sort of shadow of particle B appears and goes into a lefthand spin.  Then this shadow particle vanishes."
        "Okay."
        "I can't remember what particle or particles do this.  But I think this is a repeatable experiment.  And it's been theorized that the 'shadow' either goes into another universe or literally creates another universe.  So, in theory, it is possible that every action we do creates a 'shadow' of ourselves that exists in another universe."
        "That's a hell of a leap."
        "Yeah, actually it is but I'm leaving out a bunch of steps.  There's also the idea that all the universe at its most basic level exists in a state of perpetual potentiality, meaning that on its most basic level it has not been formed, or locked into place, and it is our actions-- and our observation of that potentiality-- that locks it in place."
        "Oh... kay....  But again, I sort of fail to see what this has to do with the whole Judgment Day myth."
        "Well, see, on the quantum level if every basic interaction could possibly form another universe that means that there are other universes forming all the time.  And I mean all the time.  Every time you move your arm you could be forming billions and billions of other universes just by displacing particles.  Maybe."
        "But you said that only certain types of particles produce these shadows."
        "That we've observed.  There's nothing that says that all particles don't do this, but that we've just never been able to observe it.  Keep in mind that a lot of weirdness exists at the quantum level.  And I know that a lot of people, particularly New Age types use the whole 'weirdness' thing as an excuse to claim that absolutely anything can happen at the quantum level-- which probably isn't really the case.  But it doesn't change the fact that the quantum world is very weird.  I mean, some quantum particles can be in two places at once, for example, and particles that interact with each other will stay 'connected' somehow no mater how far apart they travel.  So if you force a spin-change on one the other will also change its spin.  Even if they're separated by huge distances."
        "Oh," Bob said.
        "And even if only certain types of particles can create these 'shadows,' and if these 'shadows' do signal the creation of other universes, there are probably still enough of these particles to still create zillions of universes each second."
        "Okay."
        "And, if this is true--"
        "Assuming this is true, and you're not just spouting off a bunch of shaky quasi-science."
        "Sure," I said, "assuming this is true.  And there is a lot of assumption in both religion and science-- but also keep in mind that this whole thread relies upon the assumption there is a God, and also the assumption there is a Judgment Day-- and the potential existence of both these things are already highly sketchy to begin with-- so why not assume there are alternate universes, too?  I mean, we're already making some pretty big assumptions already."
        "True enough," Bob said.  The phone was starting to hurt my ear.
        I switched ears.
        "And, so, anyway.  If there are oodles of universes being created all the time there are oodles of possibilities being created as well."
        "Okay."
        "And, if all these universes that are being created are infinite-- and why shouldn't they be infinite?  I mean size dimensions seem to be infinite-- you can get infinitely large and infinitely small.  And time seems like it's infinite.  So why shouldn't these universes be, on some level infinite."
        "What if they expand and contract, though?"
        "We'll get into that later."
        "Okay."
        "Anyway, if these universes are infinite, and each choice or even motion we make-- or even each particle interaction-- creates another universe..."
        "Right...."
        "...because an infinite universe could possibly have infinite matter-- all this infinite matter is creating infinite other universes."
        "Okay.  But if a universe had infinite matter it would turn into a black hole...."
        "But an infinite universe would also have infinite space in which the infinite matter could move."
        "But," Bob said, "if the universe had infinite space it would cease to exist, wouldn't it?  And if there was infinite matter and space-- well, for each particle there would be a corresponding space, which isn't the case-- is it?"  Bob paused.  "Unless maybe it is...."
        "It's a paradox, I know."
        "My head's starting to hurt."
        "Okay," I said.  "Let's scrap the infinity, then.  That just turns into a black hole or nothingness or whatever, okay.  Let's just say then each time a particle interacts it creates an effect in this universe, and a 'shadow' effect in another universe.  And because the shadow effect goes in the opposite direction, it does the 'opposite' in that other universe."
        "But," Bob said.  "But going in the opposite direction, that's just a mirror.  That's not doing the opposite because everybody and everything in that universe would be doing the same thing, just in the opposite direction."
        "Hmm."
        "I think I see what you're trying to say," Bob said.  "If in this universe you shot me with a gun, in the shadow universe you wouldn't shoot me with the gun-- thus doing the opposite.  And that way it cancels out good and evil because everyone who did a good act in this universe would do an evil one in the shadow universe.  And vice versa.  Everyone who does something evil here would do something good there."
        "Yeah."
        "But, in reality, if you shot me in this universe you'd still shoot me in the next because-- look at it this way-- if I was standing to your right and you shot me, I'd just be standing to your left in the other universe.  And you'd still shoot me.  If you shoot me in front of a mirror, you still shoot me in the mirror."
        "Yeah.  I guess it works best with just lots and lots of universes-- but not an infinite number."
        "But there is superstring theory that suggests that there are lots of universes," Bob said.  "I don't know if they're infinite, but there are lots.  And they exist in either 10, or 11, or 26-dimensional space."
        "Yeah.  Superstring theory.  I'd forgotten about that."
        "Universes exist in bubbles, in that one.  I'd forgotten about that.  And sometimes they collide and create 'big bangs,' or something."
        "Yeah," I said.  "That sorta works.  But let's go back to the mirrors for a second, though."
        "Okay."
        "When two mirrors point at each other, what do you get?"
        "An infinite regression?"
        "Exactly, and an infinite regression begins to curve away from a center point, kind of in a spiral-fractal pattern.  And by that I mean it curls like the arm of a fractal, but because you're inside the regression looking at the mirror you just see it spiral for a little while and then stop.  It's like what a fractal arm would look like from inside the arm."
        "Right."
        "And what happens in an infinite regression?"
        "I don't know," Bob said.  "Some sort of trippy 'cosmic' effect that's going to rest on shaky science?"
        "The images slowly distort while remaining very similar.  Much in the same way that fractal arms resemble one another but are each slightly different."
        "Do they?"
        "I think they do.  Because of the way light works, I think they sort of 'bend,' or something."
        "I mean the fractals.  Not all fractals are like that."
        "What do you mean?"
        "Not all fractal arms are slightly different.  There are some fractals that just repeats, aren't there?"
        "Hmm...."
        "Yeah, hmm," Bob said.  "I still like the bubbles better."
        "Okay, so we'll go with the bubbles.  But I still like my fractals.  And fractals do seem reasonable with universe bubbles because the fractal shape is everywhere in nature from trees to snowflakes, from water drops to the way galaxies spin and form-- why wouldn't the creation of other universes follow a fractal pattern?  Or, if all these universes exist simultaneously, created at the same point, which is possible, again, why shouldn't they be like fractals?"
        "Okay."
        "And if in a fractal pattern things begin to distort-- or at least some things do-- or change into other shapes that are similar but different-- and eventually-- if you follow that logic to its ultimate conclusion-- turn into another form-- each universe created by each quantum interaction would split off other universes that would be very similar, but slightly different-- and then these universes would split off other universes-- and so on and so on.  Or, if there are many universes that all exist simultaneously, universes that aren't split off from others, the same sort of theory of variation applies.  So, if I were to shoot you in this universe--"
        "Okay."
        "If I were to shoot you in this universe that action would either create billions-- if not quadrillions-- of other universes where you were shot.  Or it would simply take place in billions if not quadrillions of other universes simultaneously."
        "Okay."
        "But, because they are fractals, they would all be very subtly changing with each nest of new universes splitting off from the original, until-- just very possibly, we reach a set of universes where I do not shoot you at all.  And that set would be just as numerous as the set where I did shoot you.  Or, if they are all simultaneous universes, they would all still be subtly different until we reached a universe were you weren't shot-- and then from that point there would, again, be uncountable other universes where you weren't shot."
        "Okay.  But, if we're in a structure where your actions create other universes, you'd still be pulling the trigger.  You can't unpull a trigger."
        "Sure, but there are all sorts of different things that happen before I pull a trigger," I said  "Lots of different mental effects and physical effects.  The bullet could move slightly differently in each universe, diverge just a little bit until it misses you.  Or the firing mechanism of the gun would be a little different in each other universe.  And then finally we'd hit universes where the gun didn't fire.  And I mean, a bullet or a gun is really, quantumly speaking, no different than the chemicals that make up our brains.  So for each universe where a neurochemical that bonds with a cell there an alternate universe where it doesn't bond.  So at the neurochemical level there could be variations, and sometimes I would just simply decide not to shoot you-- or to shoot myself."
        "But still, once you pull the trigger there's no going back."
        "Yeah, I guess.  Unless my hand moves-- which could happen in some universes, or you might move-- which could happen in others."
        Bob was silent.
        "But, there's something else," I said.
        "What?"
        "Maybe the universe where I pull the trigger is itself the result of a huge, minutely-changing set of universes where I don't pull the trigger.  Maybe the trigger wasn't pulled-- but in this universe I do pull the trigger.  This universe doesn't have to be the originating universe.  It could also be an effect of other universes.  But thinking that way for too long would probably drive physicists insane-- so they don't.  And, of course this doesn't matter if there are lots of universes that are a bunch of pre-existing bubbles that just contain variations of other bubbles.  I mean, if the events in those universes follow parallel, but slightly divergent paths, without having to be created out of other universes, then we don't really have to worry about any sort of 'trans-universal' cause-and-effect.  We just have a set of variations on a theme."
        "I feel funny."
        "And this works if the universe is both infinite or 'finite and un-bounded' and expands and contracts."
        "So this has what to do with good and evil again?"
        "Well, we're sort of back to the 'infinite possibilities' thing.  In a structure like this we are probably faced with an equal number of universes where someone is good, and an equal number where that exact same person is evil.  It's kind of a principle of symmetry.  Therefore good and evil sorta cancel themselves out."
        "I guess, yeah."
        "And, if God is infinite and all-knowing, he she or it should know all this stuff beforehand, and should already know the outcome of all these permutations.  Therefore he she or it should know that there is an equal amount of good and evil in everyone all the time-- because for every individual that does something good, he or she does the opposite in some other universe-- and what's the point of judging that?"
        "That sorta stomps on free-will, though, right?"
        "Well, yes and no.  In all these universes we have in effect done everything we could ever possibly do.  But we still have to decide what we do.  As the consciousness Bob you still have to decide.  But when you decide to act, or even to think, there are a huge number of other universes where you do both the thing you have chosen to do and also a huge number where you don't do that thing-- as well as all the permutations, the different degrees of action that exist between doing the thing and not doing the thing.  You've done it all, and you've done it all at the exact same time.  So you do choose to act.  No one forces you to do or not do anything-- but whatever you do the opposite is already done in another universe.  This also applies to every manner of physical effect that has nothing to do with humans or will at all."
        "Oy."
        "So," I said, "it both does matter and it doesn't.  Because there are consequences you have to deal with in the here and now-- but in another universe you have also done the opposite, and are dealing with those consequences.  And God-- if there is a God-- which I said before is pretty damn sketchy-- being all-knowing-- already knows all your thoughts and actions in every universe, and all the equal number of opposite thoughts and actions in every other universe.  And so, if you do both good and evil acts simultaneously they all cancel themselves out, and good and evil are reconciled into a nullity, and so why would there be any sort of 'Judgment Day?'"
        "You spend a lot of time alone, don't you...."

Next:  Well, yeah....
 

Epilogue 29.
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