Still On Choices...

So, this week I finally started seeing the series Dark Matter and I have to say it has blown my mind so far. My favorite kind of sci-fi. It has been on my to-watch list for quite a while now, but I got carried away by re-watching old series that are long completed. Series like Legend Of The Seeker, Pretty Little Liars and even Power. Watching all these gave me a new perspective on these storylines and it was like I was discovering them all for the first time again.

Anyway, I started Dark Matter this week and I’ve been having a blast. I’m yet to finish it due to time constraints but the general idea of the story impressed me a great deal. It talks about how we’re all a product of our choices and the decisions we make. This is something I’ve made a post on once or twice in this space.

However, this movie takes it a bit further to bring in Schrodinger’s cat and the theory of superimposition. We’re then introduced to a world where for every decision you make, a new world is created where you didn’t make that decision. At the same time, you live in a world where you see the effects of the choices you make. Your copy will live in the new world also facing the effects of the choice they didn’t take. It’s crazy, but thankfully, quite easy to be carried along.

I think I made a post some time ago where I mentioned that we don’t really know any other way our life would have turned out. We don’t know what would have happened if we chose to live our lives in a different way or if we had made different decisions. We only assume because there is no way to know for sure.

We assume that not going to a higher institution might impact negatively the rest of our life, we don’t know exactly how we’ll live an impoverished life if we stay away from school. So, according to the idea of the story, for the choice you made to go to the university, a world is created where you didn’t go to the university. While in the university, you have the opportunity to engage in examination malpractice and get involved in other vices. You choose not to engage in them, but a new world is created where you choose to engage with them.

Now, think of every decision you’ve ever made in all your life, both major and minor. Now think of the number of worlds you would have created. Now, keep in mind that all your copies are also making their choices and as a result creating more worlds for the choices they didn’t create. So, in the end, for every human being on earth, there is an infinite number of worlds with infinite possibilities. And we are smack in the center of it all. We’re The One.

But then, so far the series is talking about how the main character is trying to make his way through these myriads of worlds created by his choices, both conscious and subconscious. And it’s hard because it’s literally like combing through all the decisions you’ve made in your life trying to find the one decision that got you to the point where you are today.

I’m saying this again, we’re the product of our choices. The world around us, the people we choose to keep around us… everything is like that because we choose them to be so. Nothing happens without you allowing it. No one can be your friend without your say-so. No one can force you to live in a toxic environment without you knowingly or unknowingly allowing them to have that power. And because our lives are powered by these choices we make, we’re also taught by the consequences and effects they have on us. That’s how we get to grow and try to become better at making decisions.

Now, imagine it wasn’t all fiction and the Dark Matter story was all real, then you know that there are worlds out there where you’re not on Hive. In some worlds, you never met the person who introduced you to Hive, and in others, you simply refused to join even after you were introduced. What do you think those worlds would be like for you?