A Brief Puzzle of Possible Worlds
There's an idea in philosophy that some of us use when we are talking about possibility: Possible worlds.
A possible world is a world that's like this one, but maybe a bit different. So we might talk about a possible world where I didn't buy a shirt from @steemitshopaus (and am sad because of it), or a possible world where the US has a different president. Some possible worlds might seem less likely - like the one where my backyard is full of circus clowns killing each other with crossbows. And some worlds might be impossible - a world with four-sided triangles or macro-level propositions can both be true and not true at the same time.
David K Lewis, in writing about possible worlds, held the rather controversial view these worlds are just as real as ours, a position known as modal realism. He argued that our 'actual' world is just the one we happen to be in, and that it's like saying 'here' to denote a certain place in space, and 'now' to denote a certain place in time.
Under his account, there can be no interaction between possible worlds because a possible world is defined by "spatiotemporal interrelations of their parts" (1986, p. 70)- that is the broadest relation that things can have in time and space and he held that causal relations had to occur in time and space. Thus if there is any chance things can interact, they must, by Lewis's definition be worldmates.
The puzzle that occurred to me is this: If I think about another possible world, and this consideration causes me to make a decision one way or another, has that possible world not somehow caused a change in this world? Let's say, hypothetically, that I was sick of being an underpaid casual academic, and was considering to cash in on Australia's bloated property market by becoming a real-estate agent. I think about a possible world where I decide to give up on philosophy and go into real-estate, and decide that it looks like a world I probably wouldn't enjoy. On the basis of this analysis, I decide against this particular change in career in the actual world. That possible world has not played any direct causal role, and yet, that I can think about it as a possible world has changed this world.
Of course, rather than postulating some sort of non-physical , cross-world,'spooky action at a distance' type of thing, I could just put it down to me using my imagination, and admit that thinking about possible worlds involved no interaction whatsoever between me and those worlds. Still, I can't help but wonder if there's a mystery here to be solved.
Thanks for reading. Please upvote me in this actual world, rather than my counterpart in some other possible world.
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The future doesnt actually exist, it exists potentially and there is an infinite number of events that can happen at any given moment. I suppose imaging the future is pretty similar to imaging other possible worlds. In both cases we use our imagination and yes they do affect us in the present, and our choices. Even the act of daydreaming about a possible world is taking up actual time in this world that could be spent on something else. There must be a connection between the actual world and possible worlds because everything is all one at the end of the day, all things that exist are part of the whole. The shamons who claim to experience other possible worlds do so mentally / spiritually since their bodies are still here in this world while they are tripping! I guess the extent to which possible worlds change the actual world is dependent on their influences over the choices we make, it is our choices afterall that inform our actions which result in changes in this actual world.
I wish I could upvote this more than once. I have never thought about this exact issue but I have written quite a bit about a very similar topic when I was in college. I studied literature and I was quite fond of writing about the pseudo-divine power of authorship. When one creates a fictional character, that character and his or her world are born into existence first in the mind of the author, again on paper, and again in the mind of a reader. That character or story can and does have an effect on the real world because they can influence a reader. In this sense, these things born out of thought become real. I particularly like to read Paradise Lost through that interpretive lens because when you do it becomes far more subversive than it already is. Milton, himself, becomes God (within his own little paradise) and Satan's lies become deceptive truths (in book five, anyway) which would have probably pissed off those 17th century puritans if they had picked up on it.
Anyway, I will stop rambling at you. Good post.
Sometimes the same thing viewed from different points or and different time can provide a different picture, looking at the sky with a rising Sun. and Looking at a sky with a setting sun, Both a beautiful to watch and both are different. The same can be said for looking at a painting in different levels of light. The same can also be said for two different people looking. There is always more than just one view. The same can be said for your post. each will interpret the words according to their own world.
In the thinking of a world, you create it. The life-span of that world can be determined by how long you think about it. This world has unique properties, in so far as when you stop thinking about it, it dies. That world can also be a miraculous place as if you once again think about that world at a later time, you resurrect a whole world.
We also see the possibilities of other worlds regular in our life's. We see someone with a board sign state "The end is nigh" or "The end of the world is upon us" You may hear a comment such as what world is that man living in, by the passerby. Tho these people live in the same world as us, Their perception of the world creates the world we live in. In some manner, The interaction of various worlds does exist within our own world.
I never studied philosophy, so am not to good at it, but the choice/thought thing sounds like a cusp action. A point along your timeline that you have a "major" decision to make. At the point of making that decision, your future shifts to one or the other possible outcomes. Throughout our lives we make lots of choices, most of them minor, with a few major "cusp" along the way.
I liked how "Chester" explained it in W.M. Gears book "The web of Spider" - I like sci-fi, what can I say.
I'm not sure, I suppose it depends on how you define a thought. If a thought is a real thing and there is another world or as some would say an alternate universe then maybe the spooky action at a distance doesn't seem so unreasonable.
On one level a thought is an electrical impulse so there is a flow of electrons which can be described as both particles and waves.Then when we observe particles they are sometimes seen to disappear, so where the fuck do they go ?
In physics quantum entanglement needs two particles to become entangled and then they remain entangled at large distances, some say forever.
So if a thought is a particle at some stage in its genesis and that thought/particle can be projected/disappear, then maybe it can become entangled with another reality and cause a permanent change at the point where it originated.
Then it starts to get really interesting as quantum entanglement theory states that a change in one of the entangled particles has an instant effect on it's entangled pair particle or group, so it seems to defy relativity and the theoretical speed of light.
So if we can defy physics in a real world experiment even though physicists insist we can't and back up with maths that basically proves that's it's improbable and don't really prove it's impossible then who knows.
Maybe we can be transported to other realities and project our thoughts. Many ancient cultures believed it was possible. Peruvian shaman, Australian aboriginals and Tibetan monks to name a few.
Anyone who's had a breakthrough dose of DMT has probably not returned from the experience without being changed forever. Maybe they've been quantumly entangled with another reality or realities.
Maybe I've just had way too much Vodka and less than 5 hours sleep over the last 3 days and I'm talking shit, who knows ?
Prepare for the clown car to stop by any moment! You just increased the likelihood of it and they are equipping their crossbows as we speak! 😀
That is quite a wave-function to collapse, but as long as they don't trample the veggie garden and aim away from the house I'm cool with it.
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