1. The Flashpoint Paradox

To my surprise, popular media like "The Flash" and "Bioshock Infinite" actually portray the idea of a multiverse well and simply. "The Flash" uses other timelines to convey what happens if Barry Allen saved his mom from her death or if Germany won during World War II. My favorite is DC's Flashpoint Paradox, in which Bruce Wayne dies in the alleyway and his father becomes Batman, but his mother becomes the Joker in response to her son's death.

Both big and small, "The Flash" is able to convey how any event can completely alter the future. However, they don't really delve into the infinite possibilities of the multiverse. "Bioshock Infinite" very clearly and literally walks the game's protagonist through this, giving the game it's name.

Every single choice a person makes, every event that happens or not, and all of the possibilities have their own timeline. Did you choose soup instead of salad? In another timeline, you chose salad. Remember that significant other that really f-ed you up? There's a timeline where you never met them. The universe has the potential to be infinite.

2. It's Our Timeline

It's weird to think that the other Mes in timelines are the me of their timelines. It's difficult to imagine that the world around us is ours. At the same time, it's incredibly invigorating. We could spend our lives looking for another timeline, looking for an ideal world. However, we would waste the chance we have in our world to be what we want.

3. It's Comforting For The Indecisive

Decision-making can be one of the most stressful things for a person. I'm the kind of person who saves video games right before a pinnacle decision in case I want to go back and make another one. Knowing that I can make a bad decision but another version of myself made the right decision is much more comforting.

4. It's The Library Of Babel

The Library of Babel is an infinite library that contains every book ever, which also contains every possibility. Somewhere in the pages of the Library of Babel, the future of yourself, all mankind, and the universe are written down. People will spend their entire lives looking for their future (ironic, isn't it?).

If their are an unlimited number of timelines, worlds of our greatest dreams exist. Everything we've ever wanted can exist in another timeline. It's just a matter of finding it.

5. IT'S THE LIBRARY OF BABEL

Do we really want that though? Alternate timelines are not ours. Tapping into them would be selfish and taking away from the you that already lives there. On the other hand, we could end up like the poor fools in the Library of Babel, searching forever to have the exact life we want. In the end, we've wasted a life we could have made.

6. Free Will Or Determinism?

Knowing that our choices do matter and that other versions of ourselves have different outcomes, this still doesn't help the argument about free will. The initial thought is "yeah, free will because whatever deisions we make determines our future and the other possibility exists in another timeline." Well, maybe.

It's possible for our decision to be pre-determined. My timeline is the one where I became a creative writing major, the adjacent timeline is the one where I stayed a music major. Did I choose to become a creative writing major or is this the timeline where that change was destined to happen?

Alternatively, what if free will exists in one timeline and not another. What if there is one timeline to rule them all, and the choices made in that timeline of free will determines the fates of all other timelines?

7. Who's To Say?

The absolute worst part about all of this is that no one knows for sure. This boils down to a philosophical debate of no one can know anything for sure since we could be living in a timeline where we can never fully understand the immensity of the world. And we just have to make the best of it.