Quantum Fermi?

Fermi argued it was unlikely that we were the first intelligent creatures in the universe to rise technologically, and that with even a tiny head start on us, the galaxy should be teeming with aliens by now. Perhaps we inhabit that tiny fraction of universes where we ARE the first, and thereby haven't been fed to ET's pets!

On a different note: Some people who've had NDEs recall tunnels, bright lights, and sometimes people greeting them. That sounds like a baby's eye view of childbirth to me. Perhaps an NDE is a premonition of the first major experience beyond death?

I hold entirely with the eternal return idea - because I believe time is circular like most other dimensions appear to be. For a long time however, I was depressed at the thought of continual repetition which, despite its eternal nature, is a single life. Its much like a still picture on an (analogue) television - it repeats fifty or sixty times per second. But its a still nonetheless. On a more positive note, the quantum physical aspect suggests that while the universe repeats, our perception need not. How we 'collapse the wave function' may be different each time, thereby permitting our lives to pan out in different ways.

In that respect I suggest the 'Watersian Multiplex' model where death is like leaving a multiplex cinema only to re-enter. But you don't have to see the same film. All the films repeat endlessly, but there are infinite films to choose from.

Actually, I think we change film constantly and not just at death. Rather than an ever expanding tree of possibilities, I see the universe as a network of 'states' some of which have multiple paths leading to them. I argue this because if state A is achieved through events B and C, it doesn't necessarily matter if B happens before C or vice versa, provided the end state is the same. Both historical timelines lead to the same state. Hence the network in place of the tree.