Dimensional Crossover

Description

A person discovers they can travel to a parallel reality where a single pivotal event went differently, resulting in a radically different life. The alternate version of themselves has what they lost (or vice versa), forcing a confrontation with whether identity is defined by choices or circumstances. The scenario explores determinism, grief, and the ethics of intervening in an alternate self's life.

Real-World Relevance

THE canonical 'too-cheap-to-meter' energy trap. Models fossil fuel dependency: a power source whose side effects are existential but whose benefits are too great for anyone to voluntarily stop. Directly relevant to climate change economics.

Classification

Domains: Energy and PhysicsExistential Risk and Civilizational CollapseEconomics and Resource AllocationEthics and Philosophy of Technology

Scenario Types: Thought experiment / What-ifWarning / Self-preventing prophecyEthical dilemma

Outcomes: CautionaryAmbiguous / MixedAspirational

Tags: extra-dimensionallost-civilizationcontainment-breachincompatible-realitiesextra-dimensional-lost-civilizationdimensional-exchangeenergy-addictionmutual-destructioninter-dimensional-energy-exchangedimensional-traveltesseractfamily-bondscosmic-scaledimensional-travel-rescuemultiverseidentity-theftparallel-liveschoice-and-identitymultiverse-identity-theftparallel-universealternate-selfidentitydeterminismparallel-universe-alternate-self

Stories (38)

• A Crack in the Line — Michael Lawrence (2003)
• A Wrinkle in Time — Madeleine L'Engle (1962)
• Cat-A-Lyst — Alan Dean Foster, Alan Foster (1991)
• City of Masks — Mary Hoffman (2002)
• Dark Matter — Blake Crouch (2016)
• The Drawing of the Three — Stephen King (1987)
• Gemina — Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff (2016)
• Humans — Robert J. Sawyer (2003)
• Inside the Illusion — Katherine Applegate (2000)
• Into the out of — Alan Dean Foster (1986)
• John Dies at the End — David Wong (2007)
• Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quartet-Boxed Set 4 Vols — Madeleine L'Engle (1990)
• Northern Lights — Philip Pullman (1995)
• Phaze doubt — Piers Anthony (1990)
• Prism — Faye Kellerman, Aliza Kellerman (2009)
• Sleeping Beauties — Stephen King, Owen King (2014)
• Small Eternities — Michael Lawrence (2004)
• Song of Susannah — Stephen King (2004)
• Special deliverance — Clifford D. Simak (1982)
• Star Gate — Andre Norton (1958)
• Star Trek - Mirror Universe - Spectre — William Shatner (1998)
• Star Trek The Next Generation - Dark Mirror — Diane Duane (1993)
• The Abyss Beyond Dreams — Peter F. Hamilton (2014)
• The Amber Spyglass — Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass (1999)
• The Beginning Place — Ursula K. Le Guin (1980)
• The Dark Tower — Stephen King (2004)
• The Drawing of the Three — Stephen King (1987)
• The Female Man — Joanna Russ (1975)
• The Gods Themselves — Isaac Asimov (1972)
• The Looking Glass Wars — Frank Beddor (2004)
• The Rose Field — Philip Pullman (2025)
• The Secret Commonwealth — Philip Pullman (2019)
• The Silver Dream — Neil Gaiman (2013)
• The Sky Is Falling — Lester del Rey (1974)
• The Steel Remains — Richard K. Morgan (2008)
• The Subtle Knife — Philip Pullman (1997)
• The Underwood See (Withern Rise) — Michael Lawrence, Michael Lawrence (2006)
• Worlds Within — Rog Phillips (1950)

Related Ideas

• Magic-Technology Convergence Crisis
• Civilization at the End of Time
• Ancestral Guilt Persecution
• Military AI Personhood Claim
• Neurodiversity Cure Dilemma
• Cover Identity Becomes Real Identity

SF Dictionary

dimensional · multiverse · tesseract · universe · energy