Chapter 36
Renee
Friese
The quantum theory of parallel universes is not
the problem—it is the solution. . . . It is the explanation—the only one that
is tenable—of a remarkable and counterintuitive reality…[quantum computing is] the
first technology that allows useful tasks to be performed in collaboration
between parallel universes…When we run…an algorithm, countless instances of us
are also running it in other universes. The computer then differentiates some
of those universes (by creating a superposition) and as a result they perform
part of the computation on a huge variety of different inputs. Later, those
values affect each other, and thereby all contribute to the final answer, in
just such a way that the same answer appears in all the universes – David
Duetsch
What is now proved was once only imagined. – William
Blake
Renee Friese had been vindicated. His whole life’s work: studying, designing, building, and operating
what was essentially an infinite gig quantum computer lay in the past now. All he had heard his entire career was that
not only was quantum computing theoretically untenable it was impossible to
construct such a device. Well, he knew
better than anyone now that the theory was sound, and though difficult,
construction was not only possible, but had been accomplished. And yet here he was, getting ready for the
next step, or really the step after that.
The next step was the MWQI or Mawacky as
the group had come to call it, he thought it was Ricky who had come up with the
nickname. And that was tough
enough. What? four years, spent on the
interface? Was it that long
already? It certainly had been harder
than he had thought it would be. It was
little more than a refinement on the very concept of quantum computing. If a quantum computer allowed equations to be
solved or alogrithms processed through countless parallel universes as a sort
of shared virtual processor, with only a few bits in any one universe, then a
system of communication between those universes should have been possible. It was, but damn, if it was even harder than
building the Freezer.
But, now … now he had to finish something
that was once again, only theoretical in his universe, though his “colleagues”,
aka other versions of himself in countless other universes were already doing
it. None of this would have been
possible without the Mawacky. It was
rather like getting the designs for a time machine faxed to you from your
future self. In fact, as Renee
understood the matter … some of the versions of himself he had talked with on
the terminal were, in fact, future versions of himself. Time was simply the procession of
consciousness through other universes … this was Jenkins’ insight. That each moment consisted of one Planck
length of time or a universal slice one Planck length, which worked well under
Einstein’s concept of a Space-Time Continuum, and that consciousness, whatever
that was moved through such slices, each a completely separate universe of its
own. Planck lengths of course being
defined as the smallest possible unit of measurement for reality: 1.61619926 x 10 to the negative 35th
power, as discovered by Max Planck, the father of quantum theory.
It was fifteen years ago when Rian Jenkins
had approached Renee. They had proved to
be the best, most rewarding years of his life.
It was Jenkins who convinced him of the possibility of building what had
only been theoretical speculation. Then
Stan, who was the best MWI mind in the world added his two cents, and before
long the three of them were setting up shop in Labastide Esparbairenque, out of
sight, out of mind of their doubting colleagues. How far they had come since those days. How far indeed.
When he was a youngster he loved science
fiction. A curly-headed Quebecoise lad
of irrepressible dreams. Star Trek, Doctor
Who on the television. Novels by
Bradbury, Dick, and Asimov. These were
the parameters of his life in Montreal.
His parents didn’t understand him.
He had few friends. No, Renee
lived in a fantasy world, filled with robots, space ships, and time machines. And now, he was building a device to allow a
person, a very specific person to travel between universes and return.
He double checked his work on the Egg. Future Renee had better be right, he thought
with both whimsy and great seriousness.
The most important event in world history and one brave woman’s life
depended on it.copyright 2017 Diana Hignutt
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