Alternate Universes and Modal Realism.
The Star Trek franchise is full of alternate universes, from different quantum realities (TNG: "Parallels") and the alternate reality seen in the Kelvin timeline (Star Trek, 2009) to the Mirror Universe seen in the Original Series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Discovery. In Star Trek, these alternate universes are just as real as the actual universe, a philosophical position known as "modal realism." In this episode of Meta Treks, hosts Zachary Fruhling and Mike Morrison debate modal realism, the reality of alternate universes, through the lens of the Star Trek universe and whether we should consider alternate realities or "possible worlds" to be as metaphysically real as our own actual universe.
Chapters
Intro (00:01:19)
Initial Thought on Modal Realism (00:04:04)
What Difference Does It Make? (00:08:45)
David Lewis and Counterfactuals (00:12:36)
Modal Concepts (00:17:43)
The Distinction and Contrast of the Mirror Universe in Star Trek (00:20:46)
Quantum Branching (00:29:50)
Gottfried Leibniz and "Best of All Possible Worlds" (00:34:28)
Is Modal Realism a Scientific Question or a Philosophical Question? (00:39:00)
The Space Between the Spaces (00:43:26)
Different Types of Possible Universes (00:45:20)
Criticisms of Modal Realism (00:57:13)
Diverging Universes (01:00:10)
Closing (01:05:03)
Hosts
Zachary Fruhling and Mike Morrison
Production
Mike Morrison (Editor) Zachary Fruhling (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Patrick Devlin (Associate Producer) Kay Shaw (Associate Producer) Mark Walker (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)
