Alternate versions of yourself

Do you feel that alternate versions of yourself exist?

  • Yes, some of thoese ATL's have alternate versions of me

    Votes: 43 75.4%
  • no, there only one of me

    Votes: 7 12.3%
  • Don't know

    Votes: 7 12.3%

  • Total voters
    57
Here's a spinoff question from my last poll. Since some of you belive that ATL's really exist. How many of you beleive that versions of yourself live (or had lived) in some of thoese ATL's?
As for my own view, I like to think it's possiable.
 

Xen

Banned
I have seen my twin, my first reaction was thinking I was looking in a mirror. I remember thinking "I didnt wear that shirt today did I?" About that time what I thought was my reflection turned his head and walked down an aisle in the store we were in. I just stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds, he had the same look on his face when he first saw me too.
 

Grey Wolf

Gone Fishin'
Donor
tom said:
The questions are practically identical.
If anyone disagees, please explain.

Well no, I think the difference is that in many ATLs one parents do not meet, or they have children at different times etc so that there is a greater probability of ATLs existing than of you being in any of them....except if the number of ATLs is infinite whereat those with you in are infinite too, its just a smaller infinity than the big one...

Grey Wolf
 
You are your experiences and all that so there could be similar people though no other me.
 
Leej:
This answer is a matter of definition, I do not think that was what was meant...
 
Well, how would you define yourself first off? Do you mean timelines where I have the same genes/appearance as I do now? Timelines where I have the same personality? Timelines where I have more or less the same opinions? There are so many variables to consider when it comes to what makes a person.
 
personal POD

Most of us have personal PODs, Dad took that other job, family moved when we were in High school. We took that other job moved or, Enlisted 4 yr or, 30 yr career, asked that other girl to the Prom. ect. Rite up to that POD, I was ME, after I was ME & HIM. l :cool: :) :D If the TL are close enuff it explains why the Car keys you put on the dresser, are on the table. ;)
 
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Straha

Banned
heres an ATL based on your premise.... be warned this is an exerisise of the butterlfy effect

POD:my dad gets the offer from SU in 1985 instead of 1987

really short term effects
-he's able to get a better pay offer than OTL
-when they get the house they manage to get the property expanded so that areas that IOTL are owned by neighbors
-Im' born a year earlier and have far better luck in the gene pool(no need for glasses,good hearing,blonde hair(hell it was very likely in my family and my mom was an abberation on her side for beign a brunette),gene for a higher metablosim
-as a butterfly effect a few people who IOTL were born in 1987 that I know end up being born earleir and their families move to my neighborhood
-some of my friends who IOTL live on the other side of town's families end up being moved to this

medium term effects(1987-1992)
-I meet my first crows of friends with some minor changes like people that i met more recently beign met earlier
-instead of gettign a 2 door madza car myp arents get a 4 door madza instead
-the age 21 law of buying alcohol is repealed

medium-long 1992-1997
-Bill Clinton focuses his efforts on marijuana decriminalization rather than national healthcare
-welfare abolsihed to a greater degree than OTL
-tristar goes with their original idea of their godzailla movie with godzilla VS the gryphon istead of OTL's garbage
-toho releases the post 1989 godzilla movies in america during this time period

long term 1998-2000
-I get civilization II and its expansions when it comes out
-I discover alternate history earlier
-I discover the alternatehistory.com forum early enough for me to
-the alternate histroy yahoo group and SHWI begin to slowly lose members to this forum when its established
-I get digital cable
-we get the roadrunner ISP earleir than OTL
-Alpha Centauir,starcraft
-instead of pokemon red and blue we get pokemen red and green

really longterm effects(2000-2004)
9/11 doesn't happen because of the butterfly effect causing OBL and Al Queada's supreme command to get hit with a cruise missile in
the economy merely slumps in 2000-2001 and recovers
-Emo/punk displace rap almost completely
-the alternate histroy yahoo group and SHWI become ghost towns with all the productive members on this forum.
-the law that was passed that mandates a 6 month waiting period for 16 year oldsto upgrade from a permit to a license IOTL doesn't get passed.
-I've had 3-4 GFs by now
-the color of the used car my parents got for my sis/me to drive is dark teal

this is just a start I"ll do a full TL someday...
 

NapoleonXIV

Banned
Xen said:
I have seen my twin, my first reaction was thinking I was looking in a mirror. I remember thinking "I didnt wear that shirt today did I?" About that time what I thought was my reflection turned his head and walked down an aisle in the store we were in. I just stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds, he had the same look on his face when he first saw me too.

:eek: :eek: Scary, according to German legend your double is your doppelganger, and its a good thing you didn't follow or confront him. That's according to the legend. If you actually had you'd probably notice you didn't look alike at all up close.

If there's a physical duplicate of this universe then I and you are duplicated within it but there the similarity ends. The duplicate of a self aware being, even if all memories are duplicated too, is not the same. It may be indistinguishable to us, but it would not be to the self-aware being
 
Answering this takes a matter of faith and a great degree of probability and coincidence I think. I consider that it is likely that a multitude of ATLs spring up with every choice and decision that we make or is forced upon us by outside forces. The PODs around us are constant and in flux, both influencing and being influenced by us. For every right (or wrong) decision I have made when at such a 'crossroad' there are a multitude of other possibilities that were either entirely or partially successful, each to a different degree from the other.

I think in our positions as 'Alternate Historians' we can, if we adequately remove ourselves from the present postulate ATL times for ourselves if we look back upon our lives and identify those PODs, which stand out to ourselves at least, are crucial. For example, if one applies their cold 'Vulcan like' logic, one knows two women, Woman A and Woman B. (The actual sex of the example and subject may differ upon the individual) The individual marries Woman B and after several years have gone by just in passing a conversation of relationships come up. The wife (Woman B) asks the individual if he could ever have been happier had he married someone else.

Sidestepping the point of self-presevation and remaining entirely logical about things, shouldn't the Alternate Historian mention that given the variables know and not known, and given what he knows about both himself and Woman A (the most likely cause of the speculation to begin with) he would (or should) answer YES. No one would say that they will willing renounce their success for proverty, so it can be assumed that one will most likely keep a willing constant move upward.

Okay, perhaps - and most likely - that doesn't make any sense. I think, given our birth, environment, upbringing, etc. that - considering the Present to be a fixed point, that we create the variables which our ATL selves within a predictable range of differences/similarities. With 0 (zero) representing our Present Self our ATL selfs will most likely fall between -5 to +5 (for example) of our Present Self. Undoubtedly if one suffers from an inherited genetic disorder the variable would be even smaller - another example.

One can have a situation where an ATL self is a Hells' Angel, however I feel that it is reasonably possible to estimate a likely outcome and there will be, mostly caused by the influence of outside forces, exceptions.

Perhaps even that doesn't make much sense. In the end right now I would certainly like to believe that there is an Alternate Time Line where an Alternate Self is having a better life. That he has found the happiness that always seems to elude this Present Self.
 
If alternate time lines due exist then I assume there'll be an almost infinite number of them which means I must exist in many, many, places.
 

Grey Wolf

Gone Fishin'
Donor
An SU wondering

"my dad gets the offer from SU "

Straha, I am guessing that doesn't mean from the Soviet Union ?

Grey Wolf
 
further comment

Nice to see this poll get some interesting responses. Here's some more of my thoughts on the matter.
How do I define my alternate self? (Or selves)
I define my alternate selves as someone who shares my genetic structure (or one very close to it) and has the same biological parents and the same (or close to) Birth date.

Due to different environments some of my alternate selves, probably have different personalities. I can think of several personal POD's that would have led to different men, than the man I am today.
 
I plan to write a story of my alternate life in which I'm named Jeff Parke.
Instead of living in chily ass Ottawa Im still living in Toronto where I was born. ;)
 

Straha

Banned
Grey Wolf said:
"my dad gets the offer from SU "

Straha, I am guessing that doesn't mean from the Soviet Union ?

Grey Wolf

syracuse university why'd you think soviet union??
 
Mr. G said:
Here's a spinoff question from my last poll. Since some of you belive that ATL's really exist. How many of you beleive that versions of yourself live (or had lived) in some of thoese ATL's?
As for my own view, I like to think it's possiable.

It depends on how you define it. If you are talking about a person with an exact genetic match, having your physical appearance and mental capabilities, then the probability is very likely.

But I think that what makes a person is not simply his genetic makeup. It is the sum total of that plus his experiences based on the world he lives in. If we define it that way, then it would be virtually impossible for another "me" to exist, because no other alternate timeline will be exactly the same as this one, thus the experiences of this other "me" are going to be different, producing a different person.
 
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