As If Life In One Universe Wasn't Complicated Enough

It really is true that every single thing you do can potentially change the course of your life forever. It isn't just the big things like choosing between one school or another, or taking on job over another, but the little seemingly mundane things, too.

Sometimes it is nice to let the mind wander and think about those what-ifs. What if every time I make even the most trivial of decisions, I continue along a distinctly unique path, one among countless other paths ... alternate universes if you will. The Star Trek franchise is full of examples of these alternate universes where sometimes minute changes in the course of events can have dramatic consequences for the future.

The episode that seems to stand out most in my mind is "Parallels" from "Star Trek: The Next Generation." In this episode, Worf finds himself trapped in a cycle of alternate universes where he goes from his routine life to different but largely similar realities, to being married to Counselor Troi. It makes me wonder, is that possible? No, not being sucked into a cycle of alternate universes via a blind chief engineer's VISOR, but alternate universes in general.

Are there other versions of me out there, some with almost identical lives, but others with ones drastically different from my own?

What would my life look like if I hadn't moved to Minnesota when I was 8, or if I decided to go somewhere else for school? How many versions of me have already died?

It simply boggles the mind to think of the possibilities. Not that I dwell on those what-ifs and am concerned about choosing the right path to take, but you have to wonder. In a life with so many different possibilities -- so many different roads to take -- it is fun knowing that maybe, just maybe, there are countless versions of a person like me leading completely different lives.

The Trek Within is a feature of SyFy Portal and also available on Roddenberry.com, the official Web site for the Roddenberry family maintained by Eugene W. Roddenberry Jr. Visit Roddenberry.com to read The Trek Within as well as an exclusive bonus feature from SyFy Portal site coordinator Michael Hinman every other week.

Talk about this story