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Decisions,Decisions, Decisions
How Quantum Mechanics Can Create Many Worlds of Possibility
By Dan Lucas
Many of us have grown up in a world entrenched in Science Fiction. We surround ourselves
with tales of aliens, artificial intelligence, and parallel universes.
From a young age – and without even realising it – these ideas of alternate realities become
part of our understanding of the world. Engrained into children’s tales like ‘The Chronicles of
Narnia’, where an alternate reality exists beyond a wardrobe; or exposure to cartoons such as
‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ which depicts its villains as having travelled from a ‘Dimension X’,
complex scientific ideas are suggested and become integral to our knowledge of the Universe.
Then we become adults, and these concepts begin to encapsulate our imagination. Tales like Stephen Kings’ ‘The Dark
Tower’ has its characters visiting different Earths by travelling through different doorways and shows like ‘Sliders’ saw
its protagonists encounter many different incarnations of themselves that have
Sliders
been exposed to different experiences
as they slid from Universe to Universe on
their journey.
ICY SCIENCE | WINTER 2013- 2014