Ep.2: Worlds Within Worlds

The Decisions Which Echo

As the Cuban Missile Crisis intensifies, President John F. Kennedy assembles his closest advisors in the Oval Office to discuss their next steps. Among them is a new and unconventional figure, Dr. Hugh Everett III, a quantum physicist from Princeton University. While military and political leaders debate strategies for dealing with the Soviet missile threat, Kennedy introduces Everett, who presents a revolutionary perspective: the many-worlds theory.

Everett explains that every decision made splits reality into multiple, parallel worlds, each representing a different possible outcome. The crisis unfolding is not just about a potential nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union, but about the ripple effects these decisions might have on countless other realities. Every possible action taken during the crisis has consequences beyond their world.

The advisors, skeptical at first, begin to realize the magnitude of Everett’s theory. The potential destruction from a nuclear conflict could reverberate across all worlds, not just theirs. Kennedy, seeking to understand the deeper implications of their choices, agrees to meet with Everett in a more private setting, away from the pressure of Washington.

At Princeton University, Kennedy, his brother Bobby, and Everett walk the campus, engaging in a more personal conversation about the true stakes of the crisis. While tossing a football to ease the tension, they discuss how decisions made in this crisis could affect not only their world but an infinite number of parallel realities. Kennedy reflects on the gravity of leading during such a precarious moment, understanding now that the implications go beyond their immediate geopolitical concerns.

The chapter closes with Kennedy absorbing the enormity of the situation, realizing that the choices he makes could echo across the entire universe, and not just the fate of Earth is in his hands.