For those who don’t follow the show, the characters are
investigating a series of strange incidences and events, called fringe
events. Throughout their investigations,
they’ve become aware of a group of people called the Observers. These bald men with impeccable fashion sense
appear at key junctions of history to observe (and occasionally interfere).
There’s also an alternate universe which is close to our
world but subtly different, populated by identical characters with slightly
different histories and personalities.
There have been strong implications that these are the only two universes,
rather than exponential numbers resulting for a different universe with every
choice made.
Most geeks have heard of the Schroedinger’s Cat thought
experiment. But for the more socially
adjusted among us, Schroedinger’s theory goes like this: if you put a cat and
an open bottle of chloroform in a sealed box, the cat will eventually die. But until someone opens the box, the cat is
both alive and dead because both potentials are equally possible. It isn’t until someone opens the box and
looks that reality picks one or the other.
(Don’t try this with a real cat, please.) I prefer the explanation of the covered
dinner plate. If a customer is served a
covered plate, underneath is every possible meal the restaurant serves. It isn’t until someone looks that reality is
fixed in place. Not until someone
observes.
Still with me? Now
comes the really cool theory part and I have to give my husband the credit for
coming up with this one. In the Fringe universe, they have been trying
to figure out what on earth the Observers are actually doing? Why are they collecting all this
information? Dave guessed that the
Observers are there to keep the two universes stable and parallel. By observing key events, they prevent
multiple alternate universes from springing into existence. They’re here because of Schroedinger’s
theory. They choose which events to
observe, making those events and outcomes “real”.
It was neat. It fit
the mythology as presented and frankly solved some of the science problems of
their science fiction. It was a
brilliant meta-theory.
But it was wrong. On
a recent episode, it was strongly implied (if not outright said) that the
Observers are scientists from the future.
Slightly more boring than our theory. And with the most recent episode, the Observers are no longer the mystery they once were. They are from the future and their goal was to take over our planet and timeline. It's an interesting plot twist, especially since they jumped twenty-odd years into the future. I'll be avidly waiting to discover if this is a one-off plot line or if they're trying to reset the series.
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