Footnotes on a life ill-lived.

¹ Ice cream dilemma: every decision irrevocably affects the course of the universe, including whether or not a person decides to eat chocolate or vanilla ice cream. A universe in which one eats chocolate ice cream on Tuesday is entirely inconsistent with one in which he eats vanilla ice cream, becaue each event inevitably leads to a slightly different result. Some scientists posit that there is not one universe, but in fact many millions, billions, trillions — heck, think of the largest number you can imagine, and square it — of universes, each caused by the way a set of probabilities (for example, which ice cream you choose) play out. In our ice cream example, in Universe A, you have chocolate ice cream, but you leave it out on the table, and your dog gets into it while you’re in the bathroom. You have to rush your dog to the vet, where you meet a very nice veterinary nurse who makes you feel better while your dog’s stomach is being pumped. You ask her out on a date, and a year and half later, you’re married. In Universe B, you have vanilla ice cream, the dog gets into it, and barfs on the floor, the ultimate upshot of which is that you don’t get to watch House tonight because you’re busy cleaning up dog puke. Both of these probable universes exist simultaneously.