It is a presumption, I realize. Had we met in real life I would have said, “It is an honor to meet you Dr. Hawking.” Only in my imagination does he reply, “Aw, shucks. Just call me Steve.” However, since he passed away in March of 2018, decades after his doctors had predicted, he will not contradict my undeserved familiarity. Unless he slips through a wormhole out there in space-time. And if anyone could do it, it would be he. . . . Hmmm.
Anyhow, before leaving this present consciousness, Hawking created a TV series titled, fittingly, Genius. However, it was not a paean to his own genius, but rather an attempt to demonstrate his contention that anyone could think like a genius, if you simply asked the right questions. To do this he recruited a team of three “ordinary volunteers” and, by asking them to solve a number of challenges, he would lead them to genius like answers to these persistent questions humans are wont to ask:
- Can we time travel?
- Are we alone?
- Why are we here?
- Where did the universe come from?
- What are we?
- Where are we?
It is a delightful series, not always just for the answers to which Hawking’s questions lead his volunteers, but rather for the exquisite construction of the challenges he posits for the volunteers. From an incredible Rube Goldberg device to lasers across lakes and mountain tops he creates a wonderful tour de force of education in action, taking his volunteers step-by-step to a shared genius insight. It is a must see for teachers of any grade level - K through grad school.
But it did leave me with a question I wish Steve was still around to address. In the third episode, Why Are We Here? Hawking leads his volunteers into the quantum realm of many worlds, one of my favorite “what if that is true?” spaces. If you have the time and the inclination, hunt up the episode and watch it. Hawking’s reveal is just brilliant. To condense the notion, admittedly incompletely, many worlds asserts that all the options we consider in our lives generate all “paths not taken” out in the very real “many worlds” that exist in the multiverse. Didn’t take that job? Yes, you did in a parallel world out in the multiverse. Didn’t marry that person? Yup. Out in the multiverse. Didn’t move to Alaska? In the multiverse you did.
I am delighted Steve came down on the side of many worlds because, as I implied, I buy it. But watching his genius path to those many worlds made me wonder what was my relationship, if any, to those other versions of me living out their lives on those roads I did not take. Making the very unlikely assumption that there is - or will be - the option to communicate with those other versions of me, do I have ethical or moral obligations? Do I need to explain to myself why I made the choice I did that sent this version of me down this path? Are congratulations or apologies in order?
You see my problem Steve? Are you out there somewhere, somewhen? You reading this? Come on, Steve, help a guy out.
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