Shaping Yourself
Monday, September 9
A longer excerpt today, again from Ted Chiang. This is from Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom, a science fiction story in which technology allows limited communication between parallel universes that diverge following quantum events. In the excerpt, an emotional support group discusses the implications of this technology:
“I want to know whether my decisions matter!” That came out more emphatically than she intended. Nat took a breath, and then continued. “Forget about murder; that’s not the kind of thing I’m talking about. But when I have a choice to do the right thing or the wrong thing, am I always choosing to do both in different branches? Why should I bother being nice to other people, if every time I’m also being a dick to them?”
There was some discussion among the members for a while, but eventually Nat turned to Dana. “Can you tell me what you think?”
“Sure,” said Dana. She paused to gather her thoughts. “In general, I think your actions are consistent with your character. There might be more than one thing that would be in character for you to do, because your behavior is going to vary depending on your mood, but there are a lot more things that would be utterly out of character. If you’re someone who’s always loved animals, there isn’t a branch where you kick a puppy just because it barked at you. If you’re someone who’s always obeyed the law, there’s no branch where you suddenly rob a convenience store instead of going into work in the morning.”
Kevin said, “What about branches that diverged when you were a baby and your life took a totally different course?”
“I don’t care about that,” said Nat. “I’m asking about branches where I, having lived the life I led, am faced with a choice.”
“Kevin, we can talk about bigger divergences later, if you want,” said Dana.
“No, that’s fine. Proceed.”
“Okay, so let’s imagine you’re in a situation where you have a couple options, and either course of action would be consistent with your character. For example, suppose a cashier has given you too much change, and you can either give it back or just keep it. Suppose you could see yourself doing either of those, depending on the kind of day you’re having. In that case, I’d say it’s entirely possible that there’s a branch where you keep the extra change, as well as a branch where you give it back.”
Nat realized there probably weren’t any branches out there where she gave back the extra change. For as long as she could remember, if she was having a good day, getting extra change would have just made it a better day.
Kevin asked, “So does that mean it doesn’t matter if we act like jerks?”
“It matters to the person in this branch that you’re acting like a jerk to,” said Zareenah.
“But what about globally? Does being a jerk in this branch increase the percentage of jerkish behavior across all branches?”
“I’m not sure about the math,” said Dana. “But I definitely think that your choices matter. Every decision you make contributes to your character and shapes the kind of person you are. If you want to be someone who always gives the extra money back to the cashier, the actions you take now affect whether you’ll become that person.
“The branch where you’re having a bad day and keep the extra change is one that split off in the past; your actions can’t affect it anymore. But if you act compassionately in this branch, that’s still meaningful, because it has an effect on the branches that will split off in the future. The more often you make compassionate choices, the less likely it is that you’ll make selfish choices in the future, even in the branches where you’re having a bad day.”
“That sounds good, but—” Nat thought about how years of acting a certain way could wear ruts in a person’s brain, so that you would keep slipping into the same habits without trying to. “But it’s not easy,” said Nat.
“I know it’s not,” said Dana. “But the question was, given that we know about other branches, whether making good choices is worth doing. I think it absolutely is. None of us are saints, but we can all try to be better. Each time you do something generous, you’re shaping yourself into someone who’s more likely to be generous next time, and that matters.
“And it’s not just your behavior in this branch that you’re changing: you’re inoculating all the versions of you that split off in the future. By becoming a better person, you’re ensuring that more and more of the branches that split off from this point forward are populated by better versions of you.”
Better versions of Nat. “Thanks,” she said. “That’s what I was looking for.”
I’m not sure if there are multiple universes that split from each other at all possible decision moments. But it does seem true that behavior, psychological patterns, and choices are subject to cycles of self-reinforcement.
Habit and ritual can carry us a long way. Every choice we make reinforces the person we will eventually become.