Thursday, December 29, 2011

Looking for Questions

I like speculative fiction. An interesting world or a strange idea can capture my imagination and hold it captive for days. (Okay, sometimes years.) I suppose that's why I'm drawn to write it. (Or at least try to.)

Many times, it starts with a "what if?" Some of my "what ifs?" lead me to interesting stories. Sometimes, the thoughts are interesting, but they go nowhere.

Since it's been that kind of week, I'm offering one of my "what if?" thoughts. I'm not sure if I will turn this into any sort of story, but it's a thought I've been pondering for a couple weeks now. It's in two parts, and both parts have to be considered together:

Part 1: What if we are the only intelligent life in the universe (and I mean we Earthlings, not just we humans)? What if the universe is built around us?

Part 2: Now consider parallel universes. What if each individual universe is built around a different set of intelligent species? What if the search for extraterrestrial life in this universe is a useless endeavor? What if we find that we are alone here, but if we could get through to these other universes we might find all sorts of other creatures?

(Wow, it's harder than I thought to put this all into words!)

I'm not looking for answers. I'm trying to see where this thought takes me. And if I can construct a story from it, all the better.

1 comment:

  1. Very interesting questions. I wonder if rules would be different for the different universes. I feel like an epic story could come from this.

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your comments.

I respond to comments* via email, unless your profile email is not enabled. Then, I'll reply in the comment thread. Eventually. Probably.

*Exception: I do not respond to "what if?" comments, but I do read them all. Those questions are open to your interpretation, and I don't wish to limit your imagination by what I thought the question was supposed to be.