Of all things that intrigue me, the fractal nature of
spacetime takes the cake (remember
my God-builder thread?), and
a recent article by NewScientist got me thinking about this again.
Does the past really go away as time passes, or does it leave some sort of quantum residue behind that can be read in the future? This could apply to all matter and energy - the data on your computer, your body, your thoughts at any particular moment of your life. Can you just imagine the social consequences of this?!
On one hand this is wonderful - no information can truly be lost. We can find and analyze the quantum residue of what Julius Cesar, Mohammad, and Shakespeare were thinking verbatim! And petty crime would be downright impossible.
On the other hand this is awful - the government tyranny that this could enable makes the Catholic Inquisition and the imagined dystopia of Orwell's
1984 look pleasant in comparison - at least there you could still be in possession of what's taking place inside your own skull!
This is why the battle we fight now is so important. If humanity doesn't abandon its collectivist ways now, right now, we could end up like a giant ant-hill with individual thought being downright impossible to even dream about!