Reality is a palimpsest

Reality is a palimpsest. I could just leave it there and let you ponder that inspiring statement, but this is a five minute free write, so I must go on and explain what I mean.

Reality is a quantum superposition, at least it acts like one: it could be anywhere until it is experience (measured) by me, then it crystalizes into the reality I know. But it is only my reality, as experienced by me. Others have their own perspective of reality which is unique to them.

However, as soon as your reality solidifies, it is overwritten by a new reality; the merest act of creating a reality creates a new one. So, as reality is constantly over written, but a portion of all your previous realities are also present, reality it is a palimpsest in the truest sense.

Reality could also be a brane, this dawned on me whilst watching my daughter play with slime, which she stretched up into a sort of thin skin. One string theory interpretation of the multiverse, is that each universe is a brane, like a skin, which is why they can all coexist in the same space. The idea is that each time different branes touch, a new universe is created.

It occurred to me that realities might be like that too - each person’s personal reality is a single brane, and where different peoples’ lives cross each other, that is where their branes touch.

So reality is a palimpsest brane.

That is the end of the free write. Not a story this time, but an idea for a story world. Okay, so it is all complete nonsense - what sci-fi writers would call rubber science - but it sound good doesn’t it. One day, I will write a sci-fi series using these ideas of reality. I have never heard of the word palimpsest until today, but it seems to fit this idea really well, so thank you for introducing me to this new word and concept.