Quantum Theory. Space time.
How did we get to here to a place that is so incredibly confusing?
"A variant of myself lived on earth in the 31st century."
This past season of Loki is just one stage in Marvel's long flirtation with the idea
of the multiverse, and it's gonna become a full-on love affair in the next few years.
So i have a question: "What are you so afraid of?"
No, my question is how did we get to this being mainstream? How did the largest,
most mainstream cultural touchstone, the company that gave us like Donald Duck,
end up putting all its weight behind such a bizarre theoretical concept as the multiverse?
But it is not just marvel. We're talking about the DC multiverse,
the spider verse, all the other verses. So with that said, I present to you a very brief
cultural history of the multiverse. This is not going to be any of the science
stuff, except where the science stuff affects the culture. This is the stuff in the cultural ether.
Let's define the multiverse. Oh are we doing a multiverse thing?
Yeah i i guess so. Oh, i love it!
So are you an alternate phil who knows how to experience the human emotion called happiness?
Oh you are so sweet. Yes. Back to the definition: the multiverse as
we're talking about it is a network of connected alternate realities that are often used to explore
character or historical arcs that differ from the ones that we know on earth or in primary stories.
Spider-verse, please provide some exposition. Are you from another dimension? Like a parallel
universe where things are like this universe but different and you're Spider-man in that universe
but somehow traveled to this universe but but you don't know how? Wow, that was really just a guess?
Well we learned about it in physics. That makes a lot of sense.
I like cars, cars go fast. Okay what are you?
The fire engine goes fast. It has a siren, it goes it puts out the fire.
Are you the variant of phil that has the interests of a three-year-old?
Yes, a three-year-old. I like trucks. I like this guy!
This multiverse has clear narrative possibilities ,and sketching out its broad history is kind
of important to understanding it. I think you can stand to go back to the Universal monsters
in fiction establishing this idea of a shared universe in which Dracula, Frankenstein,
the Invisible Man, and the Wolf Man sort of interact in bad films and get
inauspiciously rebooted in worse ones. That is not a multiverse.
Can i have a cookie? Oh snap!
Oh snap? Are you on his side? He needs encouragement.
Okay yes it is not a multiverse, but it shows the intellectual property opportunities
and limitations of a shared universe.
The multiverse that we have is kind of the best of both worlds, and for that
we've got to go to Hugh Everett. Hugh Everett III was born in 1930.
I don't trust my explanation, so here is Devs with a little more exposition.
This great show is probably the one that delved the most fully into the Everett
interpretation of quantum mechanics, though a lot of other shows have done it implicitly.
"Everett whose interpretation states that there is no change to the superposition of the humble
quantum particle, rather there is a change to the entire universe. It states that the macroscopic
superposition exists, and just so we're all clear, what that means it means the universe
is constantly splitting like the trunk and branches and twigs of an infinitely large tree,
and on that tree all possible worlds will exist. All possible events will happen all histories and
all futures a near infinite number of times." This is the many worlds theory and it is the
poppy underpinning for our multiverse. Can i have raisins now?I like raisins.
Do you see it this kind of fine book right here? It is actually pretty important not because of
its influence, but because it represents a turning point in the way that we think about
the multiverse. That's because it's in a 1970 review for this book that the word multiverse
first appeared in the New York Times. There were other older uses of the word,
but they were really different, more philosophical. I'm not trying to credit this
book — Counterparts by Tom Baum — tom bomb tom bow tom baum tom bomb tom bomb — but i am saying
that it represents a turning point in comics. We had already seen multiple worlds, but they
were kind of infested with a weird flavor, not the scientific weirdness of Hugh Everett.
It's about this guy William Keniston who meets different versions of himself.
Some are pretty normal but have different jobs or different haircuts and some are super weird.
Here's one Keniston yelling at another: "it isn't the future or the past it's the present i swear
to god why couldn't time divide? It did! I swear only it got stuck or something, with passages!"
So this is the idea of time dividing, a la Everett's many worlds, and there
being passages between these different universes, which is how multiverses pretty much work today.
There are parts in this book that connect directly to the multiverse plot points
that have happened in Loki and Spider-verse. "This could literally not get any weirder."
"It can get weirder. i just washed my hands that's why they're wet."
In this book, he meets different versions of himself that have freaky claw hands or lobster
legs, and in this season of Loki, Loki falls in love with a variant of himself. That happens right
here — William Keniston hooks up with Billie Keniston, who he says is super beautiful.
I would have said spoiler alert, but you're not going to read this book. Are
you saying that they all ripped off this book? This book isn't a landmark, but it is a signpost
— one that pointed to Everett's many worlds interpretation as one with narrative possibilities
that flowed from a hip scientific theory. From this point on, the multiverse continued
to ripple through the culture as a sci-fi curio, like in the quantum multiverse of 1995's Sliders.
"Quinn Mallory just unlocked the gateway to an alternate universe. Sliders is brought to
you by Mentos: the freshmaker." I love Mentos: the freshmaker!
Then, finally, Marvel got in the mix. They had already been kind of retconning
Jack Kirby's psychedelic cosmic weirdness with more scientifically infused plot points.
"That looks like a collapsing neutron star inside of an Einstein-Rosen bridge."
The many world's multiverse was perfect for Dr. Strange and Spider-man and Ant-man, who
already had the quantum realm, to come together. Now it all seems obvious, but let's not lose sight
of how incredibly weird it is that we live in a universe where the multiverse is the stuff
of underwear and Happy Meals. I have underwear.
I have underwear. Me too little Phil, me too.
All right, thank you so much for watching. If you haven't been to this channel before,
I do personal and history videos. This one is just — you really thought you could do, it didn't you?
You really thought you could make a video without me. Circle glasses Phil is the one true variant.
The variant that controls them all. Oh, i will return....