Roger flinched as the flickering started again on the floor of his living room. Nothing had happened for three-and-a-half months. Roger tripped over a stool, slid on his knees, and stared in surprise at an algebraic formula floating above the floor. Agitatedly he phoned his son.
“Take a photo of the thing! Quickly, Dad, before it disappears!”
“Reminds me of the S-c-h-r-ö-d-i-n-g-e-r equation.” Peter Zwicky said slowly.
“Of what?”
“Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist. Lived from 1887 to 1961. He received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1933. About 1926, he presented an equation that is the foundation of quantum physics.”
“And what does this equation prove?” Roger senior wanted to know.
“In principle, the Schrödinger equation is a wave equation. It shows the change of a state over time through its energy. Ever heard of Schrödinger’s cat?”
“The cat which is simultaneously both alive and dead?”
“As a result of the Schrödinger equation, our colleague Max Tegmark proved the multiverse.1 Everything is everywhere and can be simultaneously. Those there, 107 years in the future, who have sent us this message, are indicating that the future is always with us. No matter what we do rightly or wrongly today: the future happens regardless.”