The alter egos of crestf (Steve) and TGCaptionBlogger (Harry) use the Magic Remote to jump into all sorts of situations. Follow their adventures right here on this blog!
Ah, so we're finally explicitly questioning the nature of the movie worlds and the people in them. But if they're real people with real lives, is it morally permissible to possess them with the remote?
Well, I guess they wouldn't have even existed if Harry and Steve hadn't used the remote to jump into their world, so as long as they don't do anything TOO bad while they're there, I personally don't see anything wrong with using their bodies to have a little fun ;)
A reasonable point. But if the movie worlds continue to exist after Steve and Harry leave, how do we know they didn't already exist before Steve and Harry entered? Does the remote create a world based on the movie, or does it find an already-existing part of the multiverse that resembles the movie?
I guess we can't know that for sure. But I personally see no reason to believe that these fictional universes would already exist before the magical element was introduced to create them.
The way I see it is that the remote creates a fully functioning 'copy' of whatever universe it is used on. For example, when Harry and Steve used the remote to jump into Emma Stone and Emilia Clarke at the Oscars, I believe that a copy of OUR universe would have been created in that instance. And if they had then decided to jump into it again then an entirely different copy would have been created, which would end up being slightly different based on their actions.
As to whether the remote retroactively makes it so that the entire history of these universes actually happened or if it just comes into existence from the point of entry, I guess that's an entirely different question.
Your view of the remote has indeed occurred to me, and it does make sense - but I guess I've been considering alternatives to it because I'm biased toward hypotheses in which the remote is less powerful, so to speak.
If the movie worlds come into existence when Steve and Harry enter, and disappear when they leave, that suggests that the remote is simulating or otherwise sustaining the existence of the movie worlds somehow. This makes the remote out to be like a hyper-advanced virtual reality device that can also do some crazy stuff with your mind, like making you experience an entire year in a second.
If, as an alternative, the movie worlds exist before Steve and Harry enter and continue to exist after they leave, then that suggests that all along they've existed independently of the world that Steve and Harry consider the real one. In this situation, the remote looks like a sort of psychic interdimensional travel device that transports/projects your mind into the already-existing movie universe, and then returns you to your own universe when you're done. (To account for the fact that you can jump into the same movie multiple times... well, if the multiverse contains all possible universes, then maybe on repeats the remote just sends you to a universe with only irrelevant or imperceptible differences from the first one. Or maybe the remote's interference naturally creates new timelines within the same universe, "superimposed" alongside the original timeline, like how more conventional time travel is depicted in some fiction.)
A third possibility - the one you're suggesting - is that the movie worlds continue to exist after Steve and Harry leave, even though they didn't exist prior to Steve and Harry's arrival. In other words, the remote creates new universes that are, in an important sense, just as real as our own. The power to create universes is far beyond perfect VR simulation, mind manipulation, and even interdimensional travel. It's a power normally reserved for gods. Is one little remote really capable of that?
Haha, I really love how much thought you put into this :)
I like the first possibility. Makes the remote seem more like a sci-fi device than magic one, which is interesting. And probably the most plausible explanation of the three.
The second possibility is also very interesting, but I just can't seem to wrap my mind around why these worlds would already exist, unless that's just something that happens in Steve and Harry's universe for some reason.
And I agree that the third option might make the remote seem a little too powerful. But then again, we STILL don't know for sure whether these universes continue after Steve and Harry come out of them. After all, everything they said in this chapter was pure speculation on their part. Maybe they're wrong? Which would take us right back to Option 1.
"Haha, I really love how much thought you put into this :)"
Thanks. I'm glad it's appreciated!
The second option relies on the idea that our universe is just one part of a "multiverse" that naturally generates a huge variety of different universes, or even all possible universes. It's a decently common trope in soft sci-fi. If it were true for Steve and Harry, then it's not like there'd be anything about the particular worlds depicted in movies that compels them to exist. There'd just be so many different universes that making a movie that doesn't accurately depict at least one of them would be near-impossible. And as long as there exists a universe that matches up well with a movie, the remote can find it and take you there.
And it's true - Steve and Harry don't know any of this for sure. There may not even be a way to know. And in some ways, that just makes the whole thing more interesting.
Ah, so we're finally explicitly questioning the nature of the movie worlds and the people in them. But if they're real people with real lives, is it morally permissible to possess them with the remote?
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess they wouldn't have even existed if Harry and Steve hadn't used the remote to jump into their world, so as long as they don't do anything TOO bad while they're there, I personally don't see anything wrong with using their bodies to have a little fun ;)
DeleteA reasonable point. But if the movie worlds continue to exist after Steve and Harry leave, how do we know they didn't already exist before Steve and Harry entered? Does the remote create a world based on the movie, or does it find an already-existing part of the multiverse that resembles the movie?
DeleteI guess we can't know that for sure. But I personally see no reason to believe that these fictional universes would already exist before the magical element was introduced to create them.
DeleteThe way I see it is that the remote creates a fully functioning 'copy' of whatever universe it is used on. For example, when Harry and Steve used the remote to jump into Emma Stone and Emilia Clarke at the Oscars, I believe that a copy of OUR universe would have been created in that instance. And if they had then decided to jump into it again then an entirely different copy would have been created, which would end up being slightly different based on their actions.
As to whether the remote retroactively makes it so that the entire history of these universes actually happened or if it just comes into existence from the point of entry, I guess that's an entirely different question.
Your view of the remote has indeed occurred to me, and it does make sense - but I guess I've been considering alternatives to it because I'm biased toward hypotheses in which the remote is less powerful, so to speak.
DeleteIf the movie worlds come into existence when Steve and Harry enter, and disappear when they leave, that suggests that the remote is simulating or otherwise sustaining the existence of the movie worlds somehow. This makes the remote out to be like a hyper-advanced virtual reality device that can also do some crazy stuff with your mind, like making you experience an entire year in a second.
If, as an alternative, the movie worlds exist before Steve and Harry enter and continue to exist after they leave, then that suggests that all along they've existed independently of the world that Steve and Harry consider the real one. In this situation, the remote looks like a sort of psychic interdimensional travel device that transports/projects your mind into the already-existing movie universe, and then returns you to your own universe when you're done. (To account for the fact that you can jump into the same movie multiple times... well, if the multiverse contains all possible universes, then maybe on repeats the remote just sends you to a universe with only irrelevant or imperceptible differences from the first one. Or maybe the remote's interference naturally creates new timelines within the same universe, "superimposed" alongside the original timeline, like how more conventional time travel is depicted in some fiction.)
A third possibility - the one you're suggesting - is that the movie worlds continue to exist after Steve and Harry leave, even though they didn't exist prior to Steve and Harry's arrival. In other words, the remote creates new universes that are, in an important sense, just as real as our own. The power to create universes is far beyond perfect VR simulation, mind manipulation, and even interdimensional travel. It's a power normally reserved for gods. Is one little remote really capable of that?
But, well, it is magic...
Haha, I really love how much thought you put into this :)
DeleteI like the first possibility. Makes the remote seem more like a sci-fi device than magic one, which is interesting. And probably the most plausible explanation of the three.
The second possibility is also very interesting, but I just can't seem to wrap my mind around why these worlds would already exist, unless that's just something that happens in Steve and Harry's universe for some reason.
And I agree that the third option might make the remote seem a little too powerful. But then again, we STILL don't know for sure whether these universes continue after Steve and Harry come out of them. After all, everything they said in this chapter was pure speculation on their part. Maybe they're wrong? Which would take us right back to Option 1.
"Haha, I really love how much thought you put into this :)"
DeleteThanks. I'm glad it's appreciated!
The second option relies on the idea that our universe is just one part of a "multiverse" that naturally generates a huge variety of different universes, or even all possible universes. It's a decently common trope in soft sci-fi. If it were true for Steve and Harry, then it's not like there'd be anything about the particular worlds depicted in movies that compels them to exist. There'd just be so many different universes that making a movie that doesn't accurately depict at least one of them would be near-impossible. And as long as there exists a universe that matches up well with a movie, the remote can find it and take you there.
And it's true - Steve and Harry don't know any of this for sure. There may not even be a way to know. And in some ways, that just makes the whole thing more interesting.