In 1990, I was geared up to go into Theoretical Physics at
Hampshire College.* I was encouraged greatly by an overview of a
course called "Quantum Mechanics for the Myriad" given to
prospective students. All eggs in one basket.* Even then I knew
better but still, excited. Turned out the professor who gave the
talk was on leave that year and I had to make other choices.*
Chose child psychology type classes instead and a little
programming. No regrets, as it gave me a greater understanding
of "how people think" generally and tied into the whole "inner
child" idea that I grew up with as "more or less fact" thanks to
the "I'm ok/you're ok" type books I remember reading as a
teenager. Still, there was the inner Theoretical Physicist that
wanted expression. I forgot that professors name all of these
years.* Tripped over it today, memories brought forward from
writing about my "almost path" elsewhere and it just so happens
the title of the talk and course I wanted in 1990 *still* exists
and is taught today by the same professor at the same college
and the information *didn't* disappear like most of the
information from the earlier Internet already has. I saw this,
and I'm proud.* Herbert Bernstein.* Never became my professor.*
I never took the advanced mathematics and logic classes needed.*
Never learned Prolog or LISP.* Never learned the how-tos of
neural networking. Yet the interests remained and I'd look on
from the sidelines, occasionally seeking information on these
topics through the years here and there, curious about a "could
have been life". Again, no regrets: each choice I make and was
made made me who I am today and will become, and I'm grateful
for all of it. But there's no harm in peeking.* In this
alternate reality, I can cheer on the professor I almost had on
the success he *did* have in the area I nearly worked in and
feel as if, in some way, I'm a part of it. That's the beauty of
alternate histories and the nature of the Possible:* If you look
on The Possible without regret, you can _be_ all of those people
you never were, and lead all of those lives you never led,
because you *are* all of those people and you *did* lead those
lives. How? In your mind.* Just as we can cheer on a fictional
character on a movie screen, we can also cheer on our fictional
selves, those who followed different paths in alternate
fictional realities and in the process, they too, are cheering
YOU on in your own life, for YOU are leading an alternate
reality for them and they also want you to succeed and are proud
of you. Sound nuts?* It's not. To me, it's integration of your
fictional and real selves.
https://www.hampshire.edu/news/2015/06/02/superdense-quantum-teleportation-success
