Like Clockwork

In gearing up for the release of the new Star trek movie, I've once again immersed myself in the escapist fantasy that is inherently the normal state of being for a Trekkie. Instead of caring about what clothes to wear or what new fad to buy, we ponder the universe and the future and everything in between.

This has led me to consider the one topic that has always fascinated me: alternate universes. The idea of an alternate universe is that for every major decision we make, there is an equal and opposite decision, and by making a choice we split our fate one way or another. This would imply that there are points in life that are distinctly more important than others, and the question is: If such moments do exist, how do we go about recognizing them? Or, are they recognizable at all?

The Star Trek episode City On The Edge Of Forever put forth a situation where a woman that was well liked, well respected, and totally innocent had to die in order for the universe to continue the way it was intended to. If the life of one person can so radically affect the future, then how are we to justify anything we do? A harsh word could accidently turn the tide of a kind person into a hateful bigot, a piece of trash casually tossed aside could prove to be the extinction of an entire species. 

Causation: this is the dilemma of all questions involving alternate universes. If each alternate universe is born of an important decision made by a single person, then the number of possible universes out there is, well...astronomical.

So, for example, this Fall I will be attending UC Davis, but (going back to last November), I may have decided not to join Mock Trial which caused problems with me getting CAS hours and I didn't get the leadership experience, so I didn't get into UC Davis. In another universe, I went to AVC for two years. Maybe I transferred out, maybe I met someone and decided to stay, maybe I died in a car accident on my way home. One decision, whether or not to join Mock Trial could have affected the future of my life to that extent. Of course we'll never know if Mock Trial was the ultimate reason why I got into UC Davis, but the possibility is still there, and for an alternate universe, possibility is all it needs.

I recognize joining Mock Trial as an important point in my life, possibly one that affected my future. McCoy in the Star Trek episode attempted to save Edith Keeler, but was stopped by Kirk and Spock. Because of her pacifist tendencies, Keeler would have delayed the US's entrance into WWII, to the point where Hitler nearly took over the world. Starfleet never existed in that timeline. For McCoy, trying to save Keeler wasn't a conscious choice. He never considered the repercussions of her living when it was clear she was meant to die. It was an action, not a decision. 

So that leaves the bigger question: Are we in charge of our own fate?

I would say no, based solely on the fact that even if we were able to accurately recognize every important moment of our lives, there is no way that is humanly possible to extrapolate all of the possible outcomes of a particular decision. Our lives are like clocks, with a infinite number of cogs and wheels and little machines that drive everything that we do, but if one falls out of place our lives are derailed instantly. However, by carefully weighing decisions instead of hasty choices, we can make them run like clockwork.

All right. Enough philosophical ranting.