retrospec | (no subject)

John R. Lunise
2/8 near Recolle
On the subject of horses, allow me to ask you a question: When you were a child, what was the name of the bear family who taught valuable life lessons in easily digestible books?
Chances are, you answered 'the Berenstein Bears'. And, as it happens, that is incorrect; it is the Berenstain Bears.
How can everyone misremember this? How can something so patently true turn out to be terribly false? Some people will tell you it is the 'Mandela effect', named after a shockingly large number of people believed Nelson Mandela died in prison... but simple mass misremembering is a fairly boring answer, isn't it?
Consider instead a possibility physics allows us: that infinite universes exist, that every possibility spawns a diverging universe. Consider then that these different universes must be ruled by mathematics and science, that were were able to observe them, some concrete, tangible difference must exist to distinguish them.
Consider also that the laws of physics as we know them are, in some cases, simply and utterly inoperable. The quantum scale, for example. Or a naked singularity. It is, therefore, conceivable that through some quirk of physics, some awesome miracle... we have merged or shifted into a world in which horses never existed, and chocobos always did.
Impossible, you say, and perhaps rightly so... but I have no better explanation.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Rachel Hishimura But does that mean it's really something that happens normally? And if it's so trivial why are people noticing it this time? Why wasn't it detected before?

Edited 2017-02-11 03:55 (UTC)

John R. Lunise If something changed directly behind you at this point in time, would you notice?

Rachel Hishimura Well, no. I guess you're saying it's kind of like Schrodinger's Cat?

But... why would so many other people act like this were completely normal then? It almost seems like the only people who know this change happened are the people who were selected to be part of the Retrospec test.

John R. Lunise It does seem to be an unusual bias, but it may simply be coincidence or confirmation bias at play -- certainly I have no better explanation than that.

Rachel Hishimura Can we really say for sure that something hasn't happened to the other people, though? What are the odds of an entire species changing and some - but not all - people's memories changing at the same time?

John R. Lunise This is precisely why I suggest that the only change involved is in a select group of people shifting into a different universe.

Rachel Hishimura But that would mean we're not from here and the other people are.

Are... are you saying the woman I'm living with now might not actually be my mother?

Edited 2017-02-13 17:33 (UTC)

John R. Lunise Consider: the woman you are living with now, in my theory, differs in no significant way from your mother except for a different memory of chocobos rather than horses (I presume).
John R. Lunise Consider: the woman who gave birth to you years ago differs from your mother of the present day in countless more ways, yet you would not consider her to be any less your mother for all those differences.

Rachel Hishimura Look. The fact that I may have physically changed to be the daughter of a different person is just really scary. I understand that there are ways of looking at it objectively but it's still very hard to set that sort of feeling aside!

John R. Lunise You change every moment.
John R. Lunise Every measurable quanta of time that passes, you leave one 'you' behind and become a new one.
John R. Lunise This isn't any different from that. You are still you. She is still her. One thing has changed, nothing more.

Rachel Hishimura I don't know how I feel about looking at it that way.
Rachel Hishimura But wait wouldn't that mean there was another Rachel? What about her? Did I replace someone else?

John R. Lunise In this hypothesis, your counterpart is in our 'original' world wondering what these strange equine creatures are that are not chocobos.

Rachel Hishimura I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about that possibility.

John R. Lunise Compassion and empathy. Those serve well.

Rachel Hishimura Please believe me. I'm trying.
Rachel Hishimura I. I need to think about this some more. I'm sorry.

John R. Lunise There's nothing to apologize for. You must handle this in your own way, and in your own time.
John R. Lunise When I had problems in the past, I knew I could turn to my friends. Maybe you might find the same is true.

Rachel Hishimura ... I don't know if my new friends would be ready for a burden like this. I didn't have many before recently.

John R. Lunise I know the feeling. Friends may surprise you in what they're willing to accept.

Rachel Hishimura I suppose you're right.

[She just needs to make sure they ARE her friends now...]

[He understands more than you could know, Rachel.]

John R. Lunise Good friends are worth finding and keeping. And it is wise to know where you stand either way, rather than assuming.

[That would actually be pretty comforting.]

Rachel Hishimura You're right.
Rachel Hishimura I'll definitely try my best at least. Mama didn't raise a quitter.

John R. Lunise A commendable attitude, and I wish you the very best of luck.

Rachel Hishimura Thank you. For that and telling us all this, even if it did blow my mind more than a little.

John R. Lunise Just remember -- I have offered only a theory, not a statement.

Rachel Hishimura You're right. It'd be very silly to treat it like it were anything more than a possibility.

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