Philosophy of the Multiverse
In my favorite episode, Rick and Morty “cronenberg” their entire planet, dooming everyone on it to become hideously deformed monsters. Faced with such a dire outcome, the show’s protagonists have no choice but to become post-apocalyptic scavengers constantly on the run. Except for Rick and Morty that is. They, unlike the rest of the Smith clan, have access to multiverse technology. What do you do when you’re a scientific genius who’s corrupted the whole world beyond recognition? Easy! Break out that portal gun and find a new Earth to live on.
Ah but what new Earth do you choose? Again that’s easy. You pick one where the world-altering cronernberg virus is contained, but also one in which your alternate self dies shortly thereafter. As Rick says of his choice, “We’re not skipping a beat Morty”.
Still, knowing that there are practically infinite versions of himself did not help Morty to calm down after seeing his alternate body in a bloody heap crumpled in the corner of the garage. The existence of nearly uncountable alternate Earths didn’t sooth Morty’s conscience at having destroyed his last planet. Upon seeing his lifeless corpse staring at him, Morty exclaims “what about the reality we left behind?!” . Rick, the veteran of inter-dimensional travel provides the only sufficient response. “What about the reality where Hitler cured cancer Morty. The answer is don’t think about it.”
The genius of Rick and Morty is that it is able to distill this profound nihilism, the only reasonable consequence of of multiverse theory, in about 60 seconds of screen time. I mean, what other show or piece of culture forces us to confront the strange, absurd, meaninglessness of existence outside of R+M? Albert Camus’ the Stranger made manifest absurdism. Sartre’s plays showed us the basis of his existentialism. Rick and Morty does just as much. Week in and week out it helps us to laugh and cry at the fact that existence is so staggering, so large and strange that we are less than flies to the gods. For if we lived in a reality governed by the many worlds interpretation of quantium physics ( and most physics as well as this humble blogger believe that we do), then a whole host of philosophical problems arise.
Rick and Morty go back to this well often. In one episode, Rick mentions “my access to infinite timelines precludes the necessity of attachment”. Here, Rick states one of many implications of the multiverse. Why care about any specific world if so many exist, especially if you can choose between them.
Another philosophical dilemma posed by this sort of reality is that of death. Even if you die in one timeline, there are many, many, many others where you did not. This may be part of the reason why so many Reddit posters are hoping they bring krombopulos Michael back soon. Though the idea that some version of all of us and our loved ones live on in other worlds may be comforting, it also raises some mind blowing philosophical thought experiments. Google “quantum immortality” for an example.
Finally, the idea that there are as many worlds as there are possibilities challenges the concept of free will. What do our choices mean if everything that can happen does happen? If we live in a version of the world where we chose to be a devoted family man like Jerry Smith, how would we feel if we saw a different timeline where we instead became a famous actor snorting coke off Kristen Stewart? The better question might be, how would we feel if we saw other real worlds that were so vastly different from ours that they defied all of our imagination. In the reality where hitler cured cancer, does death, free will, or morality even mean a damn thing?
Note: Dan Harmon does love to use hitler to illustrate this last point. See this clip of him talking about “peak hitler” or a universe in which an exxon-mobile like corporation extracts energy from the many hitlers of the multiverse.
Note++: See this primer on why there really are man, many, many, many worlds https://www.hedweb.com/manworld.htm
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