1 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: Have you ever wondered about the nature of reality? Ever 2 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:17,479 Speaker 1: considered that the world around you might not be as 3 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,560 Speaker 1: it seems? That it's constructed, or that your life is 4 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:25,459 Speaker 1: on a course outside of your own control? If so, 5 00:00:25,900 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: you've likely stumbled upon a series of questions which have 6 00:00:29,140 --> 00:00:32,560 Speaker 1: been at the core of human thinking for thousands of years. 7 00:00:33,420 --> 00:00:37,290 Speaker 1: From Plato's allegory of the cave to Descartes' evil demon, 8 00:00:37,710 --> 00:00:42,250 Speaker 1: the nature of ontology, that is, the exact composition, veracity 9 00:00:42,510 --> 00:00:46,350 Speaker 1: and reality of living, has given rise to a multiplicity 10 00:00:46,390 --> 00:00:50,570 Speaker 1: of questions about not only our own place within the universe, 11 00:00:51,030 --> 00:00:54,950 Speaker 1: but the fabric of the universe itself. We feel it 12 00:00:55,010 --> 00:00:59,780 Speaker 1: acutely when we're sleeping, when our imaginations, to borrow from Freud, 13 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,880 Speaker 1: become untethered from the strictures of ego, offering us a 14 00:01:03,940 --> 00:01:10,039 Speaker 1: glimpse into strange and sometimes unsettling other worlds. Dreams and 15 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:14,860 Speaker 1: hallucinatory visions are strange frontiers that cannot be mapped with 16 00:01:15,020 --> 00:01:20,590 Speaker 1: any certainty. Scientifically speaking, they are simply images conjured from 17 00:01:20,610 --> 00:01:23,970 Speaker 1: the depths of our subconscious, a way for our brain 18 00:01:23,990 --> 00:01:27,670 Speaker 1: to to process the many complex events and emotions we 19 00:01:27,750 --> 00:01:32,220 Speaker 1: experience on a daily basis. But what if, as some 20 00:01:32,250 --> 00:01:35,319 Speaker 1: might have us believe, there was more to these often 21 00:01:35,420 --> 00:01:41,980 Speaker 1: familiar but otherworldly, supposedly self-made moving images? What if they 22 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:46,590 Speaker 1: weren't distorted depictions of our earthly experiences at all, but 23 00:01:46,630 --> 00:01:51,900 Speaker 1: were in fact actually glimpses into other worlds? you may 24 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:56,670 Speaker 1: be familiar with Hugh Everett's Many Worlds Theory. Essentially, it 25 00:01:56,810 --> 00:02:00,390 Speaker 1: posits that we exist as only one in an infinite 26 00:02:00,510 --> 00:02:04,370 Speaker 1: series of possible worlds, so that at any given moment, 27 00:02:04,710 --> 00:02:08,970 Speaker 1: there are potentially infinite versions of ourselves busily going about 28 00:02:09,110 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: our lives in ways that might seem unimaginable to us. Somewhere, 29 00:02:14,740 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 1: some version of you has died in a war. Elsewhere, 30 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:22,120 Speaker 1: you have become a famous rock star, won the lottery, 31 00:02:22,710 --> 00:02:27,270 Speaker 1: received the Fields Medal for Mathematics, have three heads, or 32 00:02:27,630 --> 00:02:31,269 Speaker 1: were never even born. At a time when so much 33 00:02:31,370 --> 00:02:36,130 Speaker 1: about the world seems untethered and beyond our control or understanding, 34 00:02:36,750 --> 00:02:40,470 Speaker 1: it is hardly surprising that the many worlds interpretation is 35 00:02:40,530 --> 00:02:45,370 Speaker 1: now prevalent in mainstream culture. Two of Marvel Studios' most 36 00:02:45,470 --> 00:02:50,510 Speaker 1: recent ventures, Spider-Man, No Way Home, and Doctor Strange in 37 00:02:50,550 --> 00:02:54,470 Speaker 1: the Multiverse of Madness, secured earnings of over $ 2 billion 38 00:02:54,780 --> 00:03:00,040 Speaker 1: and $ 1 billion at the box office respectively. In 2022, 39 00:03:00,020 --> 00:03:05,580 Speaker 1: A24' s Everything Everywhere All at Once, directed by best friends 40 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:10,400 Speaker 1: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, took home six Academy Awards. 41 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: The film was ostensibly about a mother travelling through the 42 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:25,510 Speaker 1: many worlds of Everett's theory to save her family. For 43 00:03:25,550 --> 00:03:28,389 Speaker 1: the most part, it seems we have latched onto Hugh 44 00:03:28,490 --> 00:03:32,250 Speaker 1: Everett's Many Worlds idea out of an urge to escape 45 00:03:32,310 --> 00:03:36,250 Speaker 1: the uncertainty of the world, or to appease the disappointment 46 00:03:36,310 --> 00:03:39,570 Speaker 1: we might feel when life and the world doesn't turn 47 00:03:39,710 --> 00:03:42,750 Speaker 1: out the way we might have hoped it would. There 48 00:03:42,810 --> 00:03:45,890 Speaker 1: is great comfort to be found in the possibility that 49 00:03:46,070 --> 00:03:49,590 Speaker 1: out there, somewhere, is a version of our world and 50 00:03:49,750 --> 00:03:54,020 Speaker 1: ourselves in which everything we have ever hoped for actually 51 00:03:54,140 --> 00:03:59,170 Speaker 1: comes true. Surely, as many of Everett's colleagues believed when 52 00:03:59,190 --> 00:04:02,610 Speaker 1: he first proposed the idea, the notion that there might 53 00:04:02,790 --> 00:04:07,510 Speaker 1: actually be infinite versions of ourselves existing out there somewhere 54 00:04:08,030 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: is an utterly ludicrous proposition. And yet, we need only 55 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,339 Speaker 1: look back at the history of our scientific understanding of 56 00:04:16,380 --> 00:04:20,940 Speaker 1: the universe to see a field littered with strange, unfathomable 57 00:04:21,050 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: theories once thought ridiculous, only to later be proven... to 58 00:04:25,690 --> 00:04:30,630 Speaker 1: be very real indeed. It was back in 1905 that 59 00:04:30,750 --> 00:04:36,250 Speaker 1: Einstein published his special theory of relativity, later refined in 60 00:04:36,250 --> 00:04:39,900 Speaker 1: 1915 as his general theory of relativity, in which he 61 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: proposed that mass and energy were essentially the same thing. 62 00:04:45,300 --> 00:04:50,910 Speaker 1: Einstein's theory also suggested that time is experienced differently between 63 00:04:51,010 --> 00:04:54,940 Speaker 1: two individuals if they are travelling at different speeds relative 64 00:04:54,980 --> 00:04:58,799 Speaker 1: to each other. However, it would be another four years 65 00:04:59,180 --> 00:05:03,430 Speaker 1: before concrete proof of this theory was actually demonstrated to 66 00:05:03,490 --> 00:05:08,410 Speaker 1: be true. For every minute of those intervening years, many 67 00:05:08,810 --> 00:05:13,270 Speaker 1: continued to doubt it. The same would no doubt have 68 00:05:13,290 --> 00:05:17,110 Speaker 1: been thought of Paul Dirac's theory on the possible existence 69 00:05:17,210 --> 00:05:22,460 Speaker 1: of antimatter, which he first proposed in 1928. but the 70 00:05:22,500 --> 00:05:25,940 Speaker 1: doubters would have been eating their words when it too 71 00:05:26,020 --> 00:05:31,010 Speaker 1: was finally proven correct, also four years later. And it 72 00:05:31,050 --> 00:05:36,270 Speaker 1: was 1964 when Peter Higgs theorized the possible existence of 73 00:05:36,330 --> 00:05:40,229 Speaker 1: the Higgs boson, and by extension, the existence of the 74 00:05:40,330 --> 00:05:44,160 Speaker 1: Higgs field, the field of energy that gives mass to 75 00:05:44,220 --> 00:05:49,589 Speaker 1: fundamental particles such as quarks and electrons. many still doubted 76 00:05:49,650 --> 00:05:53,830 Speaker 1: its existence right up until the moment when almost 50 77 00:05:53,830 --> 00:05:57,790 Speaker 1: years later, it too was finally proved to be real. 78 00:05:59,670 --> 00:06:03,970 Speaker 1: In especially unstable and uncertain times, it can also seem 79 00:06:04,029 --> 00:06:07,310 Speaker 1: as though reality is tenuous, that we live in a 80 00:06:07,350 --> 00:06:11,940 Speaker 1: world not bound by strict physical laws, but something of 81 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 1: far more insidious design, a world in which reality is 82 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,239 Speaker 1: decided for us in some other realm, that it is 83 00:06:20,310 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: merely a fiction, dreamt up for the gratification of an 84 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:30,680 Speaker 1: absent audience. Take Neil Bostrom's simulation theory for example, the 85 00:06:30,700 --> 00:06:33,210 Speaker 1: concept that we might in fact be living in a 86 00:06:33,330 --> 00:06:39,050 Speaker 1: simulation created by other beings. In the late 20th century, 87 00:06:39,550 --> 00:06:43,060 Speaker 1: a science fiction writer from the United States, took all 88 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: of these ideas and condensed them into his own brand 89 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:51,060 Speaker 1: of paranoid fantasy. Perhaps you've read one of his stories 90 00:06:51,430 --> 00:06:54,370 Speaker 1: or seen one of the many films adapted from his 91 00:06:54,450 --> 00:07:00,409 Speaker 1: dozens of novels. I am talking, of course, about Philip K. Dick. 92 00:07:01,470 --> 00:07:04,570 Speaker 1: There are some who declare him the greatest writer of 93 00:07:04,670 --> 00:07:09,540 Speaker 1: science fiction that ever lived. Others consider him a prophet, 94 00:07:10,060 --> 00:07:15,540 Speaker 1: fated like Nostradamus. and some believe he was nothing but 95 00:07:15,570 --> 00:07:21,740 Speaker 1: a complete and utter madman. You're listening to Unexplained, and 96 00:07:21,980 --> 00:07:36,940 Speaker 1: I'm Richard McLean Smith. All things considered, it was an 97 00:07:37,100 --> 00:07:41,150 Speaker 1: average day in Orange County, A tepid wind was blowing 98 00:07:41,250 --> 00:07:44,950 Speaker 1: in off Newport Beach and Philip, known as Phil to 99 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:50,040 Speaker 1: his friends, could almost taste something in the air. Perhaps 100 00:07:50,100 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: it was the breakfast burrito he'd had that morning at 101 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: the local diner or maybe it was the series of 102 00:07:56,060 --> 00:08:00,180 Speaker 1: stressful phone calls he'd had to field from his ex-wife Nancy. 103 00:08:01,110 --> 00:08:05,850 Speaker 1: Whatever it was, Phil felt more apprehensive than usual and 104 00:08:05,890 --> 00:08:08,220 Speaker 1: it didn't help. that he was on his way to 105 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:12,430 Speaker 1: have his wisdom tooth removed. Despite being one of the 106 00:08:12,460 --> 00:08:17,970 Speaker 1: most well-respected writers in the world, 45-year-old Philip Kindred Dick 107 00:08:18,410 --> 00:08:21,110 Speaker 1: had just endured some of the most turbulent years of 108 00:08:21,150 --> 00:08:27,770 Speaker 1: his life. In 1971, after a long-standing amphetamine addiction began 109 00:08:27,860 --> 00:08:31,700 Speaker 1: to derail his domestic life, Phil's marriage to his fourth wife, 110 00:08:31,860 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: Nancy Hackett, fell apart. When she moved out of their home, 111 00:08:36,830 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: Taking their four-year-old daughter Isolde with her, Phil began indulging 112 00:08:41,300 --> 00:08:44,620 Speaker 1: in a way he never had before. He often allowed 113 00:08:44,700 --> 00:08:49,000 Speaker 1: other drug users to share his home with him. In November, 114 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:54,910 Speaker 1: the house was ransacked and burglarized. The increasingly paranoid Dick 115 00:08:55,290 --> 00:08:58,150 Speaker 1: believed this was an attempt to undermine the work he'd 116 00:08:58,170 --> 00:09:03,310 Speaker 1: been doing. When the police investigated, however, finding no obvious 117 00:09:03,370 --> 00:09:07,170 Speaker 1: suspects and nothing of value taken, save for some of 118 00:09:07,290 --> 00:09:12,360 Speaker 1: Dick's own personal papers. They concluded the writer had staged 119 00:09:12,420 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: the robbery himself. By March of the next year, Phil 120 00:09:17,620 --> 00:09:21,620 Speaker 1: upended his life and moved to Vancouver to pursue a relationship. 121 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:26,750 Speaker 1: When that too fell apart, he overdosed on potassium bromide 122 00:09:27,130 --> 00:09:31,010 Speaker 1: in a desperate attempt to end his own life. It 123 00:09:31,070 --> 00:09:34,370 Speaker 1: was only after being convinced by friends to return to 124 00:09:34,429 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 1: California that he tried to get his life back on track. 125 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:42,650 Speaker 1: All at once, he found himself writing again after more 126 00:09:42,690 --> 00:09:46,069 Speaker 1: than three years of writer's block, and for the first 127 00:09:46,130 --> 00:09:49,870 Speaker 1: time since his divorce from Nancy, Phil was starting to 128 00:09:49,929 --> 00:09:54,340 Speaker 1: feel good. It felt like nothing less than the universe 129 00:09:54,679 --> 00:10:00,660 Speaker 1: giving him another chance. Now it was 1974. and Phil 130 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:06,220 Speaker 1: was convalescing after recently finishing his latest novel, A Scanner Darkly. 131 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:11,780 Speaker 1: Under guidance from his psychiatrist and several trusted friends and confidants, 132 00:10:12,220 --> 00:10:16,819 Speaker 1: the then 45 year old author had recently started incorporating 133 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,380 Speaker 1: elements of his own life experience into with the kind 134 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:25,579 Speaker 1: of speculative fantasy he had first become famous for. Critics 135 00:10:25,660 --> 00:10:29,600 Speaker 1: were excited by what they saw as the emerging, broody, 136 00:10:29,780 --> 00:10:34,150 Speaker 1: paranoid texture this lent his work, almost as if the 137 00:10:34,290 --> 00:10:37,730 Speaker 1: author was on the cusp of something, and Phil was 138 00:10:37,790 --> 00:10:42,750 Speaker 1: satisfied that he was producing some of the most thoughtful, philosophical, 139 00:10:43,330 --> 00:10:54,720 Speaker 1: even therapeutic writing of his career. On the afternoon of 140 00:10:54,820 --> 00:11:02,070 Speaker 1: February 20th, 1974, Phil underwent an excruciating bout of dental surgery. 141 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:06,890 Speaker 1: Hazy from the dose of sodium pentothal, he was advised 142 00:11:07,190 --> 00:11:09,710 Speaker 1: that he'd need painkillers if he was going to make 143 00:11:09,770 --> 00:11:13,870 Speaker 1: it through the next few days in peace. Phil duly 144 00:11:13,929 --> 00:11:17,730 Speaker 1: contacted his local pharmacy and requested a home delivery of 145 00:11:17,770 --> 00:11:23,930 Speaker 1: the synthetic opioid Darwin, which arrived soon after. Having taken 146 00:11:24,070 --> 00:11:27,630 Speaker 1: some of the medication, Phil had just fixed himself an 147 00:11:27,790 --> 00:11:31,660 Speaker 1: iced drink when his front doorbell began to ring with urgency. 148 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:36,199 Speaker 1: Not expecting any visitors, he felt a pang of anxiety 149 00:11:36,540 --> 00:11:39,180 Speaker 1: at the thought of who on earth might be calling 150 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:43,980 Speaker 1: on him at this time. With no small degree of trepidation, 151 00:11:44,580 --> 00:11:48,660 Speaker 1: Phil opened the front door to find the striking aspect 152 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:52,610 Speaker 1: of a dark-haired young delivery woman standing on his doorstep 153 00:11:53,460 --> 00:11:56,950 Speaker 1: A woman who he instinctively felt reminded him of the 154 00:11:57,020 --> 00:12:01,130 Speaker 1: twin sister he had never known, who had died in childbirth. 155 00:12:02,450 --> 00:12:06,310 Speaker 1: Taken in by the woman's beauty, and something ineffable he 156 00:12:06,330 --> 00:12:10,470 Speaker 1: would later struggle to explain, Phil was entranced by the 157 00:12:10,510 --> 00:12:15,010 Speaker 1: golden necklace she wore over her uniform. In fact, he 158 00:12:15,070 --> 00:12:18,890 Speaker 1: couldn't take his eyes off it. He asked the woman 159 00:12:19,110 --> 00:12:23,819 Speaker 1: about its strange fish-shaped design. something which at once felt 160 00:12:23,980 --> 00:12:28,660 Speaker 1: both familiar and alien to him. What is that? he asked. 161 00:12:29,780 --> 00:12:33,870 Speaker 1: The woman smiled. It's the symbol early Christians used to 162 00:12:33,950 --> 00:12:40,010 Speaker 1: signal one another, she said. The vesicle Pisces, or Christian ichthys, 163 00:12:40,410 --> 00:12:44,360 Speaker 1: perhaps better known as the Jesus fish, consists of a 164 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:49,420 Speaker 1: simple fish-shaped insignia fashioned out of one continuous loop or line, 165 00:12:51,070 --> 00:12:54,610 Speaker 1: As the woman turned to leave, Phil noted that the 166 00:12:54,690 --> 00:12:58,650 Speaker 1: sun on his porch seemed to then suddenly shine brighter, 167 00:12:59,470 --> 00:13:05,350 Speaker 1: that its energy almost seemed concentrated on the pendant. As 168 00:13:05,510 --> 00:13:08,620 Speaker 1: one of the sun's rays made contact with the ichthys, 169 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:13,300 Speaker 1: its glancing reflection threw off an intense beam of pink light. 170 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:18,760 Speaker 1: It struck Phil on the forehead, leaving him momentarily mesmerized. 171 00:13:20,100 --> 00:13:26,130 Speaker 1: Moments later, the woman was gone. Back alone inside his house, 172 00:13:26,730 --> 00:13:29,850 Speaker 1: Phil couldn't be sure how he knew, but he felt 173 00:13:29,910 --> 00:13:33,420 Speaker 1: that in that moment he'd been gifted with a long-dormant 174 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:38,220 Speaker 1: sense of wisdom and clairvoyance, that the pink light had 175 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:43,970 Speaker 1: been intelligent, even tangible in form. Over the next few days, 176 00:13:44,490 --> 00:13:50,050 Speaker 1: Phil later claimed to have experienced several intense visions. Visions 177 00:13:50,070 --> 00:13:53,940 Speaker 1: that which he at first dismissed as hallucinatory, but that 178 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:58,460 Speaker 1: he gradually came to believe were revealing the true nature 179 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 1: of the universe to him. Phil's visions apparently came in 180 00:14:09,620 --> 00:14:12,780 Speaker 1: the form of words that he both saw and heard, 181 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:17,440 Speaker 1: as well as elaborate pictures, figures of people, and the 182 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:22,530 Speaker 1: frequently repeated motif, of words printed on a page. It 183 00:14:22,590 --> 00:14:26,530 Speaker 1: was as if, quote, sights of his brain were being 184 00:14:26,630 --> 00:14:32,610 Speaker 1: selectively stimulated by energy beams emanating from far off, perhaps 185 00:14:32,770 --> 00:14:37,130 Speaker 1: millions of miles away. He believed it was a message 186 00:14:37,590 --> 00:14:43,320 Speaker 1: coming directly from God. He remained housebound for several days 187 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:47,760 Speaker 1: as the messages kept on coming, later telling a journalist 188 00:14:48,020 --> 00:14:50,640 Speaker 1: that it seemed to him that his mind had been 189 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:56,780 Speaker 1: invaded by another transcendentally rational mind. He felt as though 190 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:00,120 Speaker 1: he had been insane all his life, but was now 191 00:15:00,660 --> 00:15:05,920 Speaker 1: finally sane. Though the frequency of the visions gradually began 192 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:10,960 Speaker 1: to wear off, their intensity seemed only to grow, moving 193 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:15,310 Speaker 1: from the conceptual to the physical. And several weeks after 194 00:15:15,350 --> 00:15:19,230 Speaker 1: the initial event, he still found himself at their mercy. 195 00:15:20,380 --> 00:15:23,420 Speaker 1: that any of this was the consequence of the high-strength 196 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:27,580 Speaker 1: medication Dick had been taking was an impossibility to him. 197 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:32,160 Speaker 1: As something of a self-proclaimed authority on casual drug use, 198 00:15:32,590 --> 00:15:35,330 Speaker 1: he knew of no drug he had taken before that 199 00:15:35,370 --> 00:15:38,450 Speaker 1: would have affected him so strongly for such a long 200 00:15:38,530 --> 00:15:44,370 Speaker 1: period of time. Dick's strange visions continued periodically into March. 201 00:15:45,130 --> 00:15:48,210 Speaker 1: He began to document them in a series of journal 202 00:15:48,310 --> 00:15:56,830 Speaker 1: entries he referred to as 2374 or February to March 74. 203 00:15:56,830 --> 00:16:01,230 Speaker 1: The visions were said to mostly comprise of complex geometric 204 00:16:01,310 --> 00:16:06,660 Speaker 1: patterns before later becoming vivid images of Jesus Christ and 205 00:16:06,780 --> 00:16:10,240 Speaker 1: even depictions of the plight of the early Christians and 206 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:13,720 Speaker 1: the corruption at the heart of the ancient Roman Empire. 207 00:16:15,110 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 1: It was Phil's absolute conviction that this information was wholly 208 00:16:19,580 --> 00:16:23,060 Speaker 1: in origin and thus should be regarded as a form 209 00:16:23,100 --> 00:16:27,880 Speaker 1: of scripture. One night, Phil was apparently woken by the 210 00:16:27,980 --> 00:16:33,660 Speaker 1: sudden re-emergence of the strange pink light. In that moment, 211 00:16:34,090 --> 00:16:37,510 Speaker 1: he was filled with the complete certainty that his youngest 212 00:16:37,550 --> 00:16:41,770 Speaker 1: son Christopher was gravely ill and that he needed medical 213 00:16:41,830 --> 00:16:47,560 Speaker 1: attention before it worsened irrevocably. The problem he was supposedly 214 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:51,540 Speaker 1: in that moment being made acutely aware of was something 215 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:55,910 Speaker 1: to do with an undiagnosed hernia. After pleading with the 216 00:16:55,950 --> 00:16:59,430 Speaker 1: boy's mother, Tessa, that he needed to be taken seriously, 217 00:17:00,010 --> 00:17:03,590 Speaker 1: she and Phil rushed Christopher to hospital in a panic. 218 00:17:04,830 --> 00:17:08,190 Speaker 1: Unknown to Phil at the time, the child had indeed 219 00:17:08,390 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: been suffering from a vague abdominal complaint. The doctor found 220 00:17:13,420 --> 00:17:16,700 Speaker 1: nothing wrong with him, but Phil insisted they give his 221 00:17:16,740 --> 00:17:21,679 Speaker 1: son a scan. Much to the doctor's astonishment, there, in 222 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:25,970 Speaker 1: the boy's bowel region, was a clear herniation for which 223 00:17:26,090 --> 00:17:41,770 Speaker 1: the boy was promptly treated. Throughout the 1970s, Phil's visions 224 00:17:41,850 --> 00:17:46,200 Speaker 1: increased in duration and frequency, though by now the author 225 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:49,320 Speaker 1: was so inured to their message that they no longer 226 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:53,310 Speaker 1: frightened him. He began to regard them as a gift. 227 00:17:54,369 --> 00:17:58,390 Speaker 1: By the time 1980 came around, Phil now claimed that 228 00:17:58,430 --> 00:18:04,630 Speaker 1: he was living two parallel lives, one as Philip K. Dick, writer, father, 229 00:18:05,109 --> 00:18:09,449 Speaker 1: occasional person of interest for the FBI, the other as 230 00:18:09,510 --> 00:18:15,060 Speaker 1: a man named Thomas, an ichthys-wearing Christian and revolutionary. who 231 00:18:15,100 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 1: was persecuted by the Romans in the 1st century AD. 232 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:23,880 Speaker 1: Throughout it all, the pink light had continued to visit him. 233 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,310 Speaker 1: He was now unequivocal in his belief that it really 234 00:18:28,369 --> 00:18:31,480 Speaker 1: was some kind of rational mind in its own right. 235 00:18:32,490 --> 00:18:37,169 Speaker 1: Sometimes he called it Zebra, other times God, though the 236 00:18:37,210 --> 00:18:40,100 Speaker 1: name he most frequently used for it was the one 237 00:18:40,180 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 1: he would eventually choose for one of his most divisive 238 00:18:43,820 --> 00:18:49,120 Speaker 1: and controversial novels, Valis, in which he presented through his 239 00:18:49,340 --> 00:18:53,430 Speaker 1: alter ego, horse lover Fat, much of what had been 240 00:18:53,490 --> 00:18:59,710 Speaker 1: occurring to him. One evening, Valis, or vast active living 241 00:18:59,790 --> 00:19:04,359 Speaker 1: intelligence system, told Phil that the reason for its communication 242 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:08,400 Speaker 1: with him was simple. The people of Earth were being 243 00:19:08,540 --> 00:19:13,139 Speaker 1: silently controlled by an underground cabal with its roots in 244 00:19:13,180 --> 00:19:17,500 Speaker 1: the Roman Empire. At the head of this cabal was 245 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:23,659 Speaker 1: none who had to be taken down. In order for 246 00:19:23,700 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: the descendants of Vallis' true messenger, Jesus Christ, to continue 247 00:19:29,380 --> 00:19:35,860 Speaker 1: their work liberating humankind from its universal blindness, Phil would 248 00:19:35,900 --> 00:19:41,110 Speaker 1: later claim that the Watergate scandal of August 1974, which 249 00:19:41,210 --> 00:19:45,280 Speaker 1: ultimately led to the resignation of Nixon from high office, 250 00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: marked the final downfall of this hidden Roman Empire. Philip K. 251 00:19:51,580 --> 00:19:57,300 Speaker 1: Dick published Valis in 1981. In it, his alter ego, 252 00:19:57,580 --> 00:20:02,780 Speaker 1: horse lover Fats' communication with the godhead Valis ultimately leads 253 00:20:02,859 --> 00:20:06,900 Speaker 1: to an elaborate encounter with the fifth saviour of the universe, 254 00:20:07,660 --> 00:20:13,710 Speaker 1: a two-year-old messiah figure named Sophia Lampton. Quite why Dick 255 00:20:14,170 --> 00:20:18,609 Speaker 1: chose to first render his apparent real-life experiences through the 256 00:20:18,670 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 1: medium of fiction is not entirely clear, though what we 257 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:27,320 Speaker 1: do know about his private beliefs regarding his alleged contact 258 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:31,770 Speaker 1: with the divine was later recorded in a 900-page journal 259 00:20:32,250 --> 00:20:38,580 Speaker 1: known as the Exegesis. What makes this a compelling story, 260 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:41,859 Speaker 1: and not one which can easily be dismissed as the 261 00:20:41,900 --> 00:20:45,860 Speaker 1: delusions of a man plagued by mental illness and drug addiction, 262 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:50,410 Speaker 1: is that Dick himself struggled with its veracity as a narrative. 263 00:20:51,750 --> 00:20:55,470 Speaker 1: Using the figure of horse lover Fat to outline his concerns, 264 00:20:56,030 --> 00:21:00,410 Speaker 1: Dick not only provides the supernatural explanation to everything that 265 00:21:00,450 --> 00:21:05,420 Speaker 1: had befallen him, but also offers up several lucid, rationalist 266 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:10,770 Speaker 1: explanations that about what may have transpired. Philip K. Dick 267 00:21:11,220 --> 00:21:15,570 Speaker 1: was well aware that visual and auditory hallucinations could sometimes 268 00:21:15,609 --> 00:21:19,490 Speaker 1: seem persuasive to the sufferer, even going so far as 269 00:21:19,530 --> 00:21:26,670 Speaker 1: to question whether schizophrenia, bipolar-induced psychosis, or flashbacks could be responsible. 270 00:21:28,060 --> 00:21:31,980 Speaker 1: Having spent significant time in psychiatric hospitals over the years, 271 00:21:32,460 --> 00:21:36,669 Speaker 1: owing to multiple suicide attempts, Phil knew only too well 272 00:21:36,990 --> 00:21:42,109 Speaker 1: about the counter-arguments. In Vallis, he outlined them with care 273 00:21:42,170 --> 00:21:46,170 Speaker 1: and precision, ultimately leaving the reader to make up their 274 00:21:46,260 --> 00:21:50,440 Speaker 1: own mind about whether the trials of horse-lover fat had 275 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:55,219 Speaker 1: been self-generated or really had come from some higher power. 276 00:22:02,500 --> 00:22:05,900 Speaker 1: Perhaps what this all comes back to relates to what 277 00:22:05,940 --> 00:22:09,080 Speaker 1: we discussed at the beginning of the show. If the 278 00:22:09,180 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 1: universe really is as complex as quantum mechanics theorises, and 279 00:22:14,140 --> 00:22:17,940 Speaker 1: the many worlds theory proves to be correct, then surely 280 00:22:17,980 --> 00:22:21,260 Speaker 1: it must follow that some version of Philip K. Dick 281 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:25,300 Speaker 1: will have had these experiences somewhere, even if in this 282 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:30,740 Speaker 1: timeline they arose simply from mental illness or drug-induced psychosis. 283 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:39,580 Speaker 1: In his 1969 semi-autobiographical novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut envisioned a 284 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:45,950 Speaker 1: fourth-dimensional race of beings called Tralfamadorians. These aliens are imbued 285 00:22:46,010 --> 00:22:49,409 Speaker 1: with the power to traverse the universe, as well as 286 00:22:49,470 --> 00:22:54,530 Speaker 1: the latent ability to observe all points within the space-time continuum. 287 00:22:55,350 --> 00:22:59,500 Speaker 1: They treat death as barely registrable on their infinite timeline, 288 00:23:00,220 --> 00:23:05,420 Speaker 1: a non-event, that interrupts rather than ends proceedings. They see 289 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:10,160 Speaker 1: the past, present and future simultaneously. They embody both free 290 00:23:10,220 --> 00:23:14,830 Speaker 1: will and determinism, chaos and order, and for them death 291 00:23:15,230 --> 00:23:18,950 Speaker 1: is merely the transfer of energy from one state to another. 292 00:23:20,770 --> 00:23:24,010 Speaker 1: It is comforting to think that in some other reality 293 00:23:24,450 --> 00:23:27,840 Speaker 1: the people we've been bereaved by are still happily living 294 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:32,490 Speaker 1: their lives. It also provides comfort to think that somewhere 295 00:23:32,650 --> 00:23:36,770 Speaker 1: we are right, even if in this universe our actions 296 00:23:36,869 --> 00:23:41,780 Speaker 1: or beliefs have proved wrong. For centuries we lived under 297 00:23:41,820 --> 00:23:46,419 Speaker 1: the presupposition that the universe works entirely within the realm 298 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:50,140 Speaker 1: of Newtonian mechanics, that it is a kind of giant 299 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:55,810 Speaker 1: clock with each of its components in perfect, harmonious working order. 300 00:23:56,950 --> 00:24:00,950 Speaker 1: In reality, what quantum mechanics proves is and the many 301 00:24:01,230 --> 00:24:05,650 Speaker 1: as yet still unproven theories, like Everett's many worlds, suggest, 302 00:24:06,290 --> 00:24:12,369 Speaker 1: the universe is vastly more complex. An antecedent to the 303 00:24:12,410 --> 00:24:16,889 Speaker 1: many worlds interpretation developed by Hugh Everett can be found 304 00:24:16,950 --> 00:24:21,690 Speaker 1: in the double slit experiment. It is, according to Richard Feynman, 305 00:24:21,990 --> 00:24:25,190 Speaker 1: the experiment with which all of the mystery of quantum 306 00:24:25,230 --> 00:24:30,410 Speaker 1: mechanics can be found. The experiment was first devised by 307 00:24:30,490 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 1: Thomas Young in 1801 and revealed that photons of light 308 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:40,720 Speaker 1: also behave like waves. In the experiment, photons of light 309 00:24:40,900 --> 00:24:43,960 Speaker 1: are fired at a screen with two slits cut out 310 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,600 Speaker 1: of it, with another screen behind to record the pattern 311 00:24:47,619 --> 00:24:52,020 Speaker 1: they make. You might assume the resultant pattern recorded on 312 00:24:52,060 --> 00:24:55,080 Speaker 1: the back screen would mimic the shape of the slits, 313 00:24:55,680 --> 00:25:00,639 Speaker 1: creating two matching lines in the manner of a stencil. Instead, 314 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:04,770 Speaker 1: it creates a wave interference pattern of many strips of 315 00:25:04,830 --> 00:25:11,910 Speaker 1: light interspersed with darkness. Subsequently, however, the experiment revealed something 316 00:25:12,170 --> 00:25:17,129 Speaker 1: even more staggering, that when single particles, be they photons 317 00:25:17,170 --> 00:25:20,900 Speaker 1: of light or electrons, are fired one at a time 318 00:25:20,940 --> 00:25:25,460 Speaker 1: through the slits, an interference pattern is still generated behind 319 00:25:25,500 --> 00:25:32,030 Speaker 1: the screen, suggesting the single particles are somehow interfering with themselves. 320 00:25:33,230 --> 00:25:36,109 Speaker 1: As if that weren't strange enough, if you place a 321 00:25:36,150 --> 00:25:40,030 Speaker 1: device next to the slits to detect which particles go 322 00:25:40,070 --> 00:25:44,679 Speaker 1: through which slits exactly, the pattern generated behind the slits 323 00:25:45,180 --> 00:25:49,120 Speaker 1: is not one of wave interference, but rather two lines 324 00:25:49,420 --> 00:25:53,260 Speaker 1: that mimic the shape of the slits after all. In 325 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:57,540 Speaker 1: other words, It seems to suggest that a subatomic particle 326 00:25:58,060 --> 00:26:01,820 Speaker 1: is not one single thing, but that it exists rather 327 00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:14,240 Speaker 1: as a probability of possibilities until it is observed. Though 328 00:26:14,260 --> 00:26:17,660 Speaker 1: the true implication of the double slit experiment has yet 329 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:21,780 Speaker 1: to be established, it has led to some interesting interpretations 330 00:26:22,470 --> 00:26:26,070 Speaker 1: chief among them being the idea that it is consciousness 331 00:26:26,210 --> 00:26:30,430 Speaker 1: that somehow fixes what could potentially be an infinite amount 332 00:26:30,490 --> 00:26:34,670 Speaker 1: of possible realities into the one that we actually experience. 333 00:26:35,950 --> 00:26:39,580 Speaker 1: A fanciful notion perhaps, but one that at least allows 334 00:26:39,660 --> 00:26:43,180 Speaker 1: for the poetic idea that perhaps we really do hold 335 00:26:43,220 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: the power to make our own reality and that other 336 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 1: worlds are always possible and always existing side by side 337 00:26:52,380 --> 00:26:56,879 Speaker 1: in one way or another. I'll leave you with the 338 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:03,310 Speaker 1: beautiful poem Snow by Louis McNeice. The room was suddenly rich, 339 00:27:03,869 --> 00:27:07,629 Speaker 1: and the great bay window was spawning snow and pink 340 00:27:07,750 --> 00:27:14,260 Speaker 1: roses against it. Soundlessly collateral and incompatible, world is suddener 341 00:27:14,670 --> 00:27:18,760 Speaker 1: than we fancy it. World is crazier and more of 342 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:23,790 Speaker 1: it than we think, encourageably plural. I peel and portion 343 00:27:23,850 --> 00:27:28,230 Speaker 1: a tangerine, and spit the pips, and feel the drunkenness 344 00:27:28,290 --> 00:27:32,510 Speaker 1: of things being various, and the fire flames with a 345 00:27:32,570 --> 00:27:37,250 Speaker 1: bubbling sound, for world is more spiteful and gay than 346 00:27:37,410 --> 00:27:42,030 Speaker 1: one supposes. On the tongue, on the eyes, on the ears, 347 00:27:42,690 --> 00:27:46,030 Speaker 1: in the palms of one's hands, there is more than 348 00:27:46,109 --> 00:27:55,870 Speaker 1: glass between the snow and the huge roses. Thank you 349 00:27:55,950 --> 00:27:58,740 Speaker 1: as ever for listening to the show. Please subscribe and 350 00:27:58,780 --> 00:28:01,740 Speaker 1: rate it if you haven't already done so. In some 351 00:28:01,780 --> 00:28:05,060 Speaker 1: other news, Unexplained will be coming to YouTube very shortly 352 00:28:05,260 --> 00:28:08,820 Speaker 1: in video form, so please watch out for future developments there. 353 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,850 Speaker 1: You can subscribe to the channel at youtube.com forward slash 354 00:28:13,190 --> 00:28:16,750 Speaker 1: at unexplainedpod. You can also now find us on TikTok 355 00:28:16,810 --> 00:28:22,229 Speaker 1: at tiktok.com forward slash at unexplainedpodcast. This week's episode was 356 00:28:22,290 --> 00:28:27,020 Speaker 1: written by James Connor Patterson and produced by me, Richard McLean-Smith. 357 00:28:27,730 --> 00:28:31,200 Speaker 1: James is a brilliant writer and poet. His debut collection 358 00:28:31,220 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 1: of poems, titled Bandit Country, exploring the hinterland between the 359 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:40,140 Speaker 1: north of Ireland and Republic, was shortlisted for the 2022 T.S. 360 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,330 Speaker 1: Eliot Prize and is out now to buy. Do check 361 00:28:43,370 --> 00:28:49,230 Speaker 1: it out. Unexplained is an AV Club Productions podcast created 362 00:28:49,310 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: by Richard McLean-Smith. All other elements of the podcast, including 363 00:28:53,460 --> 00:28:58,860 Speaker 1: the music, were also produced by me, Richard McLean-Smith. Unexplained, 364 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:02,380 Speaker 1: the book and audiobook, is now available to buy worldwide. 365 00:29:02,940 --> 00:29:06,860 Speaker 1: You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones and 366 00:29:06,940 --> 00:29:11,240 Speaker 1: other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever 367 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:13,860 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts and feel free to get in 368 00:29:13,900 --> 00:29:17,420 Speaker 1: touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've 369 00:29:17,460 --> 00:29:20,170 Speaker 1: heard on the show Perhaps you have an explanation of 370 00:29:20,210 --> 00:29:22,870 Speaker 1: your own you'd like to share. You can find out 371 00:29:22,930 --> 00:29:27,900 Speaker 1: more at unexplainedpodcast.com and reach us online through Twitter at 372 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:32,240 Speaker 1: UnexplainedPod and Facebook at facebook.com forward slash unexplainedpodcast. www.facebook.com forward 373 00:29:32,280 --> 00:30:06,450 Speaker 1: slash unexplained podcast Thank you.