Sum Omnia

Wheeler proposed, half-seriously, that all electrons appear identical because they are, in fact, a single electron moving back and forth through time. What we perceive as a positron, he posited, is simply that same electron traveling backward in time.

Now this is an absurd idea for many reasons, particularly because if it were true, we would see many more positrons than we do. Still, the concept stuck with Feynman. It later influenced his development of Feynman diagrams, a foundational tool in quantum electrodynamics (QED), which incorporate particles moving both forward and backward in time.

In relativistic quantum mechanics, particularly in solutions to the Dirac equation, particles traveling backward in time can be reinterpreted as antiparticles traveling forward in time. This reinterpretation is consistent with charge conjugation and time-reversal symmetry in quantum field theory. Thus, an electron moving backward in time does behave mathematically like a positron moving forward in time.

Of course, this doesn't mean there is only only one electron, however the odd uniformity that all electrons appear identical with the same mass, charge, and spin lends a kind of philosophical charm to Wheeler’s imaginative suggestion. What began as a wild idea, the one-electron universe ended up illuminating deep truths and proving conceptually useful in the development of modern physics.

But what does the one-electron universe have to do with our discussions? Well, in a strange way it is conceptually useful in a totally different manner than it was originally intended.

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Let's try abstracting this infinity journey in a way that can be visualized. Imagine we have a large room full of air molecules. Your egonaut is one of these molecules and your current existence is your position in this room. So your molecule moving from one place to another corresponds to you in two different lives.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics tells us that the entropy and disorder of this system is more likely to increase as time goes on. Therefore, you should expect that, given enough time, you will occupy all spaces within this room.

Given infinite time, you should expect that you will occupy all of these space an infinite number of times.

So, you should expect that you will live at some point as everyone and every thing capable of experiential existence.

Even if you take away the entropy room visual, the eternal throwing of the dice would get you into every position eventually and then continue on unabated.

Without a mechanism to ensure only one, assume more than one.

And if eternity, assume infinity.

So, when you see someone else, in a way you are seeing what has been and will again be you at a different point in your infinite journey.

Like with the one-electron universe, it may not literally be the case that they are you at a different time, but it might as well be the case. This is Sum Omnia, Latin for "I Am All," and it's implications for morality are vast beyond belief.

See Also

 ➤ Infinite Journey: 

 ➤ Wikipedia: