Eye of the Beholder

Chapter 3.9 What is Real

Dutch had said, "We make each other real."

The room was silent. Then Sedna spoke.

 "That's right. Remember what Einstein taught us. Our reality of space and time is really a mix of both, what he called spacetime. He figured it had to be that way, because some beholders see it differently than others. He showed us that in extreme cases, what's space for some can be time for others. 

"And what time measures is a sequence of events, each event a distinct point in the spacetime weave. Our lives in this world each trace out a sequence of such events in spacetime."

Newt said, "And the paths between events are not predetermined. That's because we as entities are fundamentally spiritual in nature. We exist outside of spacetime, in the realm of thought."

Sedna nodded and smiled at him. "And spacetime holds no restraints on where thought can go. Spacetime is a dream, a shared dream," she said. "Every atom is a dream. Students of physics tell us that even atoms are complex entities. Possibly every atom is a shared dream of the dream particles that make it up. Possibly each separate atom is simply a different path through the spacetime dream, made manifest from a single primordial atom of its type."

Newt said, "These atoms are indistinguishable from each other, except for their unique paths through a sequence of spacetime events. What we call the big bang is probably best explained as the explosion of spacetime possibilities from the first particle dream. Maybe this is what Picard had in mind when he wrote his Existence and Uniqueness Theorem."

If you had been in the room to witness what followed, you might have felt like you had stumbled upon a convention of theoretical physicists. And in a sense you might be right.

 It was Cern who added, "Atoms, molecules, cells, bodies, continents, oceans, planets, suns, galaxies, the whole hierarchy of physical universe event paths, is something that each of us has a role in creating. Like a plate of spaghetti, or the Norse world tree Yggdrasil. Many paths are so tightly interwoven that they may form a single branch, a single twig." He looked at Dema. 

She said, "In the Q, all such branches are capable of intersecting one another at any time, at any level. But only by agreement."

Dema picked up a book from a handy table. Like any showman, she had already gauged her audience. In her hands, the book became a saucer. She held it up for all to see. 

"Who wants to turn it back?" she said. "Make sure it's the same book, or Sedna might shoot me. She's kind of partial to books."

Sedna scowled at her and grinned at the same time.