Two Realities
The recent film De Ja Vu wouldn't appear firsthand as a science fiction. Yes it focuses mostly on the action however the concepts it brings to mind are quite intriguing. It asks the age old question, "Can one change the future by changing the past?" The film appears to answer yes to this question but is that really the case? The movie opens after a catastrophic bombing in which ATF agent Doug Carlin begins to investigate. Things get interesting when he's called to help with a highly secret part of the investigation. He is told that he is looking at satelite recordings of four days before the explosion. However he soon discovers that he is actually looking at the past. An interesting fact to note is that when Doug investigates the home of the main victim he discovers a message on the fridge which says, "You can save her." The investigators also discover blood all over the place and Doug's fingerprints. It is impossible for his fingerprints to be there because he used gloves. After discovering that he is actually looking at the past he puts to the team the idea of going back and changing the past. The team suggest a theory that if the past is changed it creates an alternate reality which eventually phases out the other reality. When Doug does go back however both realities complement each other. You can strain your brain trying to figure this out. He manages to go back in time, save the girl and stop the bombing. However, if the original bombing hadn't happened, he wouldn't have been able to. You discover the blood was his and the fingerprints his when he goes to the girl's house in the past. You see that the things Doug saw happened in the first reality because of the second. Now how does that work? My theory is that as suggested in the film, both realities worked together until the first was cancled out by the second. How was it canceled out? By the original Doug's death, giving way to a new Doug to emerge. Is this possible? Perhaps not. But it sure is fun.
Passionate Apathy
Of course it isn;t always necessary to alter the past to change the future; many aspects of the future are still very susceptible to changes we make in the right-now present.
Take care,
Nick