Tuesday, August 13, 2019

False Memories


At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements. ðŸ˜‰

Have you heard of the Mandela Effect? It's when you mistakenly recall events or experiences that have not occurred. (Definition via this website.)

What if the Mandela Effect is us actually remembering an alternate timeline? 

And I'm not the first one to think of this...

17 comments:

  1. That's a favorite trope for science fiction.

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  2. That would be freaky and I think I had one.

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    1. They seem to be widespread.

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    2. yeah...I am almost 100% positive that I was with my ex and some friends in Toronto. We went down to take the subway and no one was there. There was yellow tape and we walked into the subway car which was covered in blood. We just stood there and my one friend was checking it out but my ex said we better get out of here. We quickly left and that was that. When I told this to my friends and my ex they don't recall this at all but i could swear this actually happened

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  3. I loved Birgit's answer! It would certainly be interesting if that was the case! Not sure I would like it!

    betty

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  4. Then really stupid things are different between the timelines. I mean, come on. Berenstein Bears instead of Berenstain? Can't we have better differences than that? :)

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  5. I believe I could have an entire list of question about the mandela effected.
    Coffee is on

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  6. Replies
    1. You've never heard of it before? Oh, it is.

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  7. I had not heard of that before. I would say that would be a premonition! Okay...to your question ~ haha if it was alternate timeline then I don't guess it could be a premonition.....oh these question my brain!!

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    1. These are things that supposedly happened in the past, but didn't actually.

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  8. Someone should base a movie around that. I love time travel type movies. My mind is blown right now.

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  9. Interesting idea. Perhaps related is seeing pictures from your childhood, when you were too young to really know what happened or remember it, but it seems real to you due to family stories and because you've looked at the picture a lot. Or maybe you remember things from your dreams, but don't know they're from your dreams? Thanks for the blog visit, always appreciated.

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    1. Could be. That would make more sense than an alternative timeline, but it wouldn't be as interesting a story ;)

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  10. I wrote about the Mandela effect a few New Years ago after my young adult son told me about it. It's rather fascinating. As a SF reader...no, I'm not going to say it. You must be sick of me by now.

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    1. Powdered Toast Man asked, so you're okay to say it.

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  11. I like to think that there are parallel universes in which I'm living a life unlike mine, such as being a mom of five kids.

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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.