The Oppenheimer Effect: Multiple Universes and the Power to Destroy Ourselves

Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. - J. Robert Oppenheimer

There is a theory of alternate realities that posits that whenever a decision is made, two universes split off and start divergent timelines. In one universe you chose left, and in the other you chose right kind of deal. If you consider this from a singular point of view, accounting for all the decisions you make in just one day, the number of universes you are creating is astronomical. When you multiply that number by all the decisions everyone is making simultaneously, as well as their downstream consequences, the number of possible universes being created according to this theory is basically infinite.

So, what does this have to do with Oppenheimer?

If this theory is real, what percentage of created universes have ended in humanities destruction through atomic weapons? What are the chances that we some how managed to skirt the last 77 years (time since the first nuclear bomb) without tensions rising to such an extent that it was deemed preferable to roll the dice and let the nukes fly?

I am no expert in geopolitics, but even a casual look over the events and sentiment of the active players during the conflict seems to suggest that some kind of divine intervention was at play that was preventing us from breaking away from M.A.D (mutually assured destruction) and attempting to pre-emptively ‘win’ a nuclear exchange. The Cuban Missile Crisis is suggested to be the closest we came, but there are many more instances where tensions could have boiled over into Armageddon.

But was it divine intervention keeping us safe, or was it the decisions of rational actors leading countries talking down the war hawks and generals desperate to use the weapons they have invested so much time and money into creating, testing, positioning and planning?Or perhaps we are just living in one of the few universes in which by some turn of fate, the nukes weren’t fired?

This isn’t a realization I am comfortable with. I’d much prefer to believe that this universe is all that exists, and that some God like figure is preventing us from committing a species wide extinction event over resources and money. Baring that, I’d love to believe that the heads of our, and our enemies, governments are sane and rational actors who are privy to far more information and decision-making technology that I am aware of, and as such will stick to the tenants of M.A.D. and merely threaten the use as some kind of ploy to stir up home grown motivation and external fear.

Hell, it would be preferable to believe that there is some kind of lizard man illuminati-based cabal secretly running all things. Because while I am not happy with being exploited, hoodwinked or used, I and our entire species would at least still exist, under their not so benevolent gaze.

The reason I am worried is that being in one of the few universes in which we didn’t drop the bomb doesn’t protect us from dropping it now.

For the first time since the end of history there is a land war in Europe with at least one side openly threatening the use of atomic weapons, and another nuclear capable country tacitly supporting, or at least not outright condemning them.

I don’t know why I need to say this, but this is significant, major and any other equivalent synonym for fucking crazy, that you can think of.

Are all leaders rational? Are any? Even so, historical events have a way of gaining a momentum of their own. At the start of the World War 2, it would have been inconceivable to firebomb or nuke entire civilian cities, yet there are many instances of events conspiring, people dying, and the cost benefit analysis determining that doing so was justified, or even morally preferable to not doing so.

How many people must die over the next few years of conventional fighting when a hard blow now could end it all? Problem is, societies are surprisingly resilient to bombings from the air, and rater than causing mass capitulation it often caused increased resolve. Consider the impact of the Blitz upon the English. It hardened them. Motivated them. Made them more patriotic. It gave them purpose. Yet those same people believed that bombing Axis cities would work differently. Thus, we keep increasing the extremity of our destruction until there is literally nothing left – seriously, they had to work hard to find cities in Japan to ‘test’ the nukes. So many were already rubble that to bomb them more wouldn’t have sent the right message.

Speaking of the right message, there is an argument that it wasn’t even the nukes that caused the final surrender of Japan, but rather the imitate threat of a Soviet invasion and occupation. At that time, the yield of a nuke and the impact of a firebomb on a largely wooden city was almost the same -  but there was a belief that surrendering to the United States would be far more pleasant than doing so to the Soviets.

That was then.

Now, the yield of each individual warhead has significantly increased, as well as the number of warheads available.

Oppenheimer may have created a war ending weapon, one that heralded in an unprecedented era of tense peace, but he also may have created the tool that will bring about our downfall.

Perhaps my dynamite plants will put an end to war sooner than your [pacifist] congresses. On the day two army corps can annihilate each other in one second all civilized nations will recoil from war in horror. - Alfred Nobel

I am grateful for the success of the movie; it will hopefully go a long way towards educating a society that has seemingly forgotten what weapons we have at our disposal. That said, education of the general population will do little to impact the decision making of governments. For the first time in a long time, the United States is actively developing (and presumably planning on testing) nuclear weapons.

This makes sense, in a way, as M.A.D. only works if both sides can assure mutual destruction. If you are a military leader, it is logical to ensure that ensure that your weapons are just as good, if not better than, your rivals. The problem here is obvious, it leads to a never-ending arms race where the stakes are planetary and the hope of everyone is that those arsenals are never used.

But what if those leaders are not rational? What if they deem their personal position to be in danger? What if there are mistakes or human error is at play?

There are literally countless decisions being made from people on all sides of the political spectrum from all nations that could trigger a chain of events that could result in a nuclear exchange.

I am not sure if there is a larger or more important issue for the world to consider.

“How about because this is the most important f***ing thing to ever happen in the history of the world!” - from the Oppenheimer Movie

Seriously, gender and identity politics don’t matter if there is no one left alive. Racism is mute if our species no longer exists. And although climate change will inevitably have a significant effect upon life on earth, the climate change brought on by a nuclear winter will have many orders of magnitude more impact. When compared to Armageddon, does anything else compare?

Money. Access to oil. The structure of society. Religion. Views of morality. None of these matters if we as a species no longer exist, yet, for the most part, most of us simply do not care.

Myself included.

I know that there is nothing I can do to make an impact. My choices, whilst they may spring fourth new universes, certainly do not alter the decisions of those in charge. Simply put, all I can do is sit here and write these words, lamenting the fact that I am impotent to impact anything that actually matters. Besides, I have bills to pay. There are things happening in my personal life. I need to ensure that my kids are safe and healthy. And since I cannot impact anything, there isn’t much point in wasting any time worrying about it, right?

Part of me wants to slip into blissful apathy, yet some other part feels compelled to write these words.

I don’t know the solution to any of this. I fear that no one does. I just hope that we happen to be in the universe in which we manage to continue to avoid such an outcome – surely in one of those infinite universes we don’t end up destroying ourselves…

This post was inspired by the book, Augmented Realities: Human Poetry x A.I. Art