Abstract
This paper discusses recent accounts of physicists’ leading theories of parallel and multiple universes, in light of the creative workings of fiction writers and storytellers. Acknowledging the great influence on literature and philosophy of scientific theories such as relativity and quantum mechanics, the paper examines string theorist Brian Greene’s challenge to Plato’s parable of the cave. It also draws from James Gleick’s The Information, especially the distinction Gleick makes between data and meaning. Arguing for the need to appreciate literature’s contribution to our understanding of the universe of human experience, two short stories are summarized and interpreted. “The Years of My Birth,” Louise Erdrich’s tale of twins separated at birth but strangely in communication with one another, might be perceived as a literary extension of the quantum theory of membrane universes, in which human universes are in close proximity but unable to communicate except through an ether of compassion and sacrifice. Alice Munro’s short story “Axis” evokes relationships abruptly ended in young adulthood, but recollected in a mature, laconic hindsight that alludes to alternate universes caused by societal restrictions, the sedimentation of personal experience, and the pain of paths not taken. These stories reveal that information about human experience—unlike information theory and the physics of black holes—is not found on the surface. To respond fully to such stories, information must be interpreted and allowed to deepen in our imagination. Their readers are drawn beyond the level of written signification into a universe of moral implication whose dark energy and dark (invisible) matter is composed of various qualities of attention. Stories such as these forge their own cutting edge of discovery. They compel readers to distill information into insights, ideas, and deeper appreciation of the complexity of existence.
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- 1.
Merwin, W.S., From “Youth,” in The shadow of Sirius (Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press, 2009), 39.
- 2.
Greene, Brian, The hidden reality: Parallel universes and the deep laws of the cosmos (New York: Knopf/Random House, 2011), 161.
- 3.
Ibid.
- 4.
Ibid., p. 215.
- 5.
Ibid., p. 8.
- 6.
Gleich, James, The information: A history, a theory, a flood (New York: Pantheon Books/Random House, 2011), 34–35.
- 7.
Ibid., p. 35.
- 8.
Ibid., p. 90.
- 9.
Ibid., p. 91.
- 10.
Ibid., p. 114.
- 11.
Greene, op. cit., p. 42.
- 12.
Ibid.
- 13.
Ibid., pp. 43–44.
- 14.
Ibid., p. 119.
- 15.
Gordon, Mary, Pearl (New York: Anchor Books, 2006), 132.
- 16.
Kaku, Michio, Physics of the impossible (New York: Anchor Books/Random House, 2009), 270.
- 17.
Ibid.
- 18.
Greene, op.cit., p. 62.
- 19.
Ibid., p. 63.
- 20.
Ibid.
- 21.
Ibid., p. 67.
- 22.
Ibid., p. 74.
- 23.
Ibid., pp. 142–143.
- 24.
Erdrich, Louise, “The years of my birth” (The New Yorker, Jan. 10, 2011), pp. 65–68.
- 25.
Greene, op. cit., p. 152. He cites the powerful example of random quantum tunneling in the fact that our sun shines: “for hydrogen nuclei to get close enough to fuse, they must tunnel through the barrier created by the electromagnetic repulsion of their protons.”
- 26.
Ibid., pp. 115–116.
- 27.
Most notably beginning with the publication of Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene (Oxford UP), 1976.
- 28.
Erdrich, op. cit. 215.
- 29.
Ibid., pp. 215–216.
- 30.
Ibid., p. 216.
- 31.
Ibid., p. 226.
- 32.
Ibid., p. 234.
- 33.
Ibid., pp. 235–236.
- 34.
Ibid., pp. 236–237.
- 35.
Ibid., p. 244.
- 36.
Munro, Alice, “Axis” (The New Yorker, Jan. 31, 2011), pp. 63–69.
- 37.
Greene states that in physics quantum tunneling is random, but by means of it “a universe can do what classical physics forbids: it can jitter its way—it can quantum tunnel—through the barrier [of a different universe with a different energy field], and reach a lower energy configuration.” Op.cit., p. 153. In Royce’s case, quantum tunneling would not be entirely random, but it would probably be unconscious or even instinctive.
- 38.
As physicist Robert P. Kirshner points out, the fact that dark energy and dark matter comprise 70% and 25% of the universe, respectively, was only discovered a decade ago. So-called ordinary matter, such as people, stars, galaxies, planets, and atoms, make up a mere 5%. Some people, he writes, are upset by the idea that “we are made up of material—atoms—that is a minor part of the cosmic scheme. Personally, it makes me feel special.” New York Times, Oct. 7, 2011, p. A27.
- 39.
Greene, Op. cit., p. 215.
- 40.
Ibid., p. 246.
- 41.
Gabler, Neal, “The Elusive Big Idea,” New York Times, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2011, The Review, pp. 1,6–7.
- 42.
Gleich, Op. cit., p. 337.
- 43.
Greene, Op. cit., p. 253.
- 44.
Ibid., p. 254.
- 45.
I have contributed several previous essays on the theme of attention to Analecta Husserliana, including “Literature and the Play of Attention: A New/Ancient Look at the Roots of Evil,” Vol. 85; and “Fiction and the Growth of Moral Consciousness: Attention and Evil,” Vol. 92 (2005).
- 46.
Greene, op. cit., p. 272.
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Painter, R.M. (2012). On the Cosmology of Literature: Parallel Universes and Meaning Beyond Information. In: Tymieniecka, A. (eds) Art, Literature, and Passions of the Skies. Analecta Husserliana, vol 112. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4261-1_1
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