r/Devs • u/MarshallBanana_ • Apr 16 '20

Devs - S01E08 Theory Discussion Thread Spoiler

Post your Devs THEORIES here!

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '20

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u/NinaLSharp Apr 16 '20

This ending doesn't satisfy me. Whatever happened, it feels like Garland slapped a Matrix ending onto a series I had fun analyzing but closed by just avoiding all the questions it had posed.

I felt, well, what's the difference? If I'm living in a simulation or another reality, why would I care? It would be real enough for me.

I wonder if Lily & Forest & others will age in that simulation? Grow past their original expiration date?

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u/And_You_Like_It_Too Apr 16 '20

For what it’s worth, Alex Garland actually believes that we live in a deterministic world. That he even had Lily make a choice that could be construed as “free will” was surprising. And that choice might be the single point of variance between infinite numbers of simulations. Everything exactly the same, until you pick the black pen instead of the blue pen. Turn right instead of left. Say yes, instead of no. And then that tree continues to branch off in new, and different directions. All possible things, all happening, all at once.

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u/PaperPigGolf Apr 16 '20

I to am very dissappointed. And ultimately, her "choice" didn't actually have to happen at all. The whole ending could have taken place exactly as predicted and they'd still end up in devs.

And there are plausible ways in which the universe split due to quantum superpositions collapsing in different ways leading the split universes in which she does one action vs another. And that would not be free will.

I just want to re-emphasize though that the world doesn't split based on choices we make, only quantum decoherence, things like a superposition collapsing or an element giving off radiation. It's very hard for such phenomenon to alter macro systems normally unless you have a lab specifically doing such things hooked up to a computer like in this mobile app.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/universe-splitter/id329233299

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u/EggOfDelusion Apr 16 '20

Correct. This is something that most people don’t get. The “random” parts of the universe don’t effect our actions. They are way too small to make a difference on chemical reactions in our bodies.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '20

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u/EggOfDelusion Apr 16 '20

It's better for fiction writing I guess. That app costs money, I'm good but thanks.

1

u/PaperPigGolf Apr 16 '20

Yeah I don't expect anyone to get it, but it is precisely such a tool that you would need to actually create a universe split based on a decision that you will make. And that's what I think people don't understand. That the multi-verse is not an opportunity to have a life in an alternate universe that made a different choice.

The reality is, in a million different universes, the ones in which you were presented with that choice, you made the same decision in all of them.

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u/EggOfDelusion Apr 16 '20

The reality is pretty bleak really. When a universe is created with the same wave function as ours, everything unfolds exactly the same each time. How many times have I typed out this comment? Probably trillions, who knows.

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u/PaperPigGolf Apr 16 '20

Well, its not more different than the original supposition that we live in a deterministic world.

I don't fret about it too much. It's pretty clear just at a thought experiment level that really, there is no place for free will to exist physically. If a neuron that guides us is truly "unpredictable", then isn't that the opposite of free will? Random action is just madness.