Obvious spoilers below.
The premise of this book is that every alternative, be it a choice or a random event, results in a “fork in the road” that creates a new universe for each possibility. So, in one universe, you chose option A; in the next universe, you chose option B. As a result, there are an infinite number of universes, and an infinite number of universes are being created every moment.
That is why, when “Jason 1”, our protagonist, was visiting various versions of Chicago via “the box”, each visit resulted in new universes and new versions of Jason 1. In keeping with the physics of the book, there should be an infinite number of these new versions of Jason 1, and in fact we do learn of hundreds.
Yet, despite this, the book portrays only a single universe in which “Jason 2” is living with Daniela and Charlie. And hundreds of copies of “Jason 1” descend on this universe.
But this makes no sense. In much the same way that every decision Jason 1 made while exploring “the box” resulted in a new universe and new copy of Jason 1, every decision Jason 2 makes in Jason 1’s original universe results in an infinite number of copies of that universe as well. So there isn’t just one universe in which Jason 2 has stolen the life of Jason 1; there are an infinite number of those universes and thus an infinite number of “original” Danielas and Charlies.
And because there are an infinite number of universes where Jason 2 has stolen the life of Jason 1 and is living with the “original” Daniela and Charlie, the odds that another Jason 1, let alone hundreds of them, would descend on the exact same copy of that universe — one of an infinite number — is zero.
It also means that, even if there were 100 Jason 1s in a single universe, there’s no need to act like this is the only one in which they can reunite with Daniela and Charlie. There are an infinite number of such universes in which they could be reunited. Thus, they only need to go back into the box and find one of the infinite others that doesn’t have 100 other Jason 1s in it.
by trytoholdon
23 Comments
It’s been years since I read it, but I remember thinking he should have gotten lost in the corridor with the infinite possibilities.
The only way any of it makes sense is if you assume he (and they) were drawn there by destiny or something.
Whatever, it’s supposed to be exciting, not realistic.
That’s the fun of infinites, they are, well, infinite.
We follow a single Jason 1 who chases a single Jason 2. But there are infinite Jason 1’s out there created by every branch that happens after the initial event. Same with Jason 2’s. So, logically, we are watching the events play out in one of an infinite number of universes where the same scenario is happening with one of an infinite number of Jason 1’s. In many of these other universes, hundreds of other Jason’s also show up, and in some Jason 5 prevails, some have Jason 7 and 8 prevailing together, etc. we are watching but one iteration of all possible iterations, and we just so happen to be watching one where Jason 1 wins.
Just by the fact that many Jason’s appear in the world where our Jason 1 is, an infinite number of variations of that same world are instantly created. For example, there’s an infinite number of worlds where everything is exactly the same, except Jason 19 does slightly different things in each one.
My point is, I wouldn’t call it a plot hole necessarily. You just have to go one step further and realize that our Jason 1 is one of an infinite Jason 1’s, and that there’s nothing inherently special or unique about the version of events we read about. There’s an infinite number of variations of those same events, we just aren’t looking at those ones.
I really enjoyed this book, I do think there are criticisms of it, but I’d didn’t consider this to be one.
Jason 2 stole an instance of Jason 1’s life. He wasn’t looking for a specific instance and had no motivation to find a specific instance, so there would not be more than one Jason 2 trying to take Jason 1’s life. He was also motivated to find an instance that he liked.. he wouldn’t have liked it if another Jason 2 had already stolen the family.
Important point.. when Jason 1 was forcefully boxed and sent to the other multiverse, this created a new branch where Danielle and Charlie were Jason 1’s family. So you’re right in there being multiple branches of Danielle, Charlie and Jason 2 from this point on.
Jason 1 then found his way back in the box and multiple/infinite Jason 1s then eventually found their way back to Danielle, Charlie and Jason 2. The multiple Jason 1s could have found any of the instances of Danielle, Charlie and Jason 2 from the branch after he was sent in the box. It doesn’t matter what their choices were after his forceful box-ing – it’s only important that they were his family at the forceful box-ing and he could only try to find a branch from that point.
The multiple instances of Jason 1 can be explained through motivation. Jason 1s were motivated to find Danielle, Charlie and Jason 2 – that was their raison d’etre. You’re also right that there would have been infinite Jason 1s in infinite branches of Danielle, Charlie and Jason 2s branch that was created after his forceful box-ing. It’s not important… what is important is him finding a branch. At the end, they just had to find another multiverse… not one where Jason 2 had stolen Jason 1’s life.
That’s my best shot at understanding and explaining it!! Entirely possible I’m wrong but it made sense to me.
It’s not interesting or fun or exciting
I noticed the exact same plot hole! Thanks for confirming that I’m not crazy
It’s best not to think too deeply about it. There are lots of plot holes. There would be infinite Jason’s descending on every timeline.
Recursion is a tighter plot.
At some point you just have to roll with it and try to enjoy the ride. Think too hard on any sci-fi book and eventually you’ll be able to pick it apart.
It’s garbage, why even bother?
I’ve never heard of this book, and based on OP’s description and the comments below, I think I should consider myself lucky in that respect.
Yes!!! This is exactly why I searched up Reddit. For this exact plot hole. I don’t understand!!! 😂
I never read the book, but I am watching the TV adaptation, and I definitely see a number of plot holes. On the other hand, if I were the author of this book, I could also rationalize it by saying that there were infinite versions of this very book/story and that you were just observing one of them because you happened to exist in that particular universe. So the reason this book feels flawed to you is because you cannot perceive all other infinite versions of this book in infinite universe. In fact, by definition, for infinity to be true, one of infinite variations of this book needs to include this very version that seems flawed to our eyes (since if this reality didn’t exist, it would not be infinite); therefore, the way Jason’s story unfolded in this universe is just one of many, and it is not flawed, but we just got lucky to read the version with an extremely unlike happy ending.
Just read it in almost one sitting as we approach the end of the Netflix series. It was quite suspense-filled until all these extra Jasons started descending on the WRONG Universe. In a few sentences he could have sent them all back to the box, running: your Daniela is still waiting for you to rescue her from the wrong Jason. You gonna steal my Daniela too or go rescue yours?
I just finished the book and was coming to write about this point.
The first half of the book is ok. No hard science. Just pop. It and TV show track each other pretty well. Which isn’t surprising since the author is also a script writer.
The second half, oof. The science goes out the window in flavor od a bad plot device and a weak ending.
There should be an infinite number of Jasons pouring out of the box given the rules established. If there an infinite worlds spawned by every decision (every decision: like left foot first or right foot first) then there stands to be an infinite number who make it to Jason1 world.
It’s the paperclip problem combined with multi-verse.
The fact that Jason1’s family is cool cool with it all in the end and go right along into the box is the weakest ending to where the book found itself.
It honestly made me want to not watch the second season. As I’m sure they’ll drag out the season with weak wrap up.
I watched the TV adaptation and perhaps I missed something along the way…who built the box in Jason1’s world? In this world, he didn’t pursue academia and therefore, didn’t invent the box so there was no portal for Jason2 to enter from.
It kind of seems that Jason2 could only travel to other universes where he also (or someone else) built the box.
The biggest plot hole is Crouch somehow equating superposition with uh…..portaling to other universes. In reality, Schrodinger’s cat would just be a glob of uncollapsed probability wavefunction of all the possible configurations of being a trapped cat in the box. It doesn’t suddenly allow it to travel to other universes or make the box into an infinite corridor. The box is still a box. The cat still a cat, but just…..all over the place in that box, presumably.
Exactly lol. But if I were the author I’d say if there is infinite universes than there is going to be one world where 100s of Jason’s show up etc bcz of infinite possibilities. Still doesn’t really make sense though
I was up in arms about this as well. The best explanation I have seen from other Reddit threads (which is actually correct I think but yet not fully satisfactory) is that the scenario you posit – that there should be multiple “Jason from world 2” copies showing up in world 1 ready to kidnap “Jason from world 1” – actually DOES happen in an infinite number of other universes. So in other words, where the possibilities are infinite, there will be at least one where only 1 “Jason 2” makes it into world 1 without any others, while multiple Jason 1’s return. The author chose to tell that particular story.
So it’s technically possible. infinity has lots and lots and lots of possible permutations. Although highly unlikely, there is theoretically one scenario where none of the other branching Jason 2s ever makes it into world 1 and one extraordinarily lucky Jason 2 gets Daniela and Charlie all for himself (until the Jason 1s start returning).
But it still feels like a storytelling gimmick that there is only 1 Jason 2 and multiple Jason 1s.
(By the way, the author basically admitted that there SHOULD BE multiple Jason 2s, but that just made for too difficult of a story to tell so he left it with 1.)
The general conceit is that EVERY decision spawns a new world and, therefore, new copies of the people.
But in this instance, the “world” being respawned is The Box. And true to that, the box exists in every Chicago where they open the door.
Therefore, the only people being respawned are Jason and Amanda. We get a hint that all of the Jasons have “lost” all of the Amandas at some point. Some died, some stayed behind in other worlds, and that’s the common thread; every time a Jason is separated from his Amanda he finally makes it to the primary world.
But not all of the alternate Jasons are copies of Jason1, some would be copies of Jason2, who has also been using the box, traveling to different worlds. Chicagos throughout the multiverse would be lousy with alternate Jasons spawned in The Box… Alternate Chicagos created by individual choices made since Jason2 arrived in Jason1s world… by every. single. human on the planet.
So, definitely a potential infinity of Jasons, both 1 and 2. But also an infinite number of Chicagos, so a finite, if very large, number of Jasons in each world.
The Many Worlds Interpretation is obviously something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about… issues with Conservation of Mass, Causality, and Determinism…
Obviously, Dark Matter (the book and now series) is fiction. But Crouch got a lot “right” in theory… or rather, hypothesis, since testing is required to make theory… and if such bridging of reality as in this (or some sort of time travel), it would, I believe, prove Determinism, because of the aforementioned Conservation of Mass.
For mass to cross the reality barriers of spacetime, either by a lateral move or a temporal move across realities, it would have to mean that such an event has always happened.
The way I look at the logic, an infinite potential (infinite permutations of Jason1) descending upon a finite space (Jason1’s universe), would be the destruction of that and potentially all universes.
Infinite doesn’t mean something like, “out of billions of possibilities, 100 Jason1s make back.” Infinite would mean that out of an infinite number of possibilities, an infinite number of Jason1s are coming back staggered and simultaneously. The box doesn’t occupy space until the door is open so it just keeps popping into existence.
I just picked this up and started reading relatively late in the evening. Finished at about 6am. It is very suspenseful and the author writes well. If you pick apart any piece of SciFii you will find holes, but then you are ruining a good suspenseful read. Many times a plot hole is too big to get over and ruins the experience; but this is not one of those.
However, one of the biggest puzzles for me is: how did Jason2 know there was a Charlie, and what was his process in arriving at a world where Daniele and Charlie existed in a stable and happy relationship? I mean, I know the guy had 100 ampules, but the box only seemed to take you where there was an real emotional connection. He had neither of those connectons with Daniele and Charlie, but he still arrived in their universe? If Jason1 took so many tries to find them despite his connection to them, how did Jason2 do it? I think this is the bigger plot hole..
If the box only works by thinking and manifesting a possible reality there is no logical way jason 1 could end up in jason 2’s timeline in the first place.And this is the main plot hole!
I’ve just finished it and want to share a funny though that I didn’t see here mentioned yet – when Jason1, Dani and Charlie were running off and then coming to the box, they definitely made a lot of choices, so it must exist large number of universes, where those three made it to the box (each in slightly different path), and from those versions a lot of Charlies would pick up this new universe. So in the end, the “promise land” (aka the final universe) will be soon crowded with lots of version of Dani, Charlie and Jason 😀
Yeah I thought this too! Also it kind of bothered me that he didn’t explore life as Jason2 or a similar version at all. Like he didn’t wonder what it would be like to live as this genius scientist who accomplished everything he ever wanted? I get he missed his old life and his wife and kid but to not even try on that other life for a day or 2??? That would’ve given the book more meaning for me if he still wanted to return to his family after really experiencing the alternative.