Disclaimer: while my musings usually originate from consideration of facts, this one is 100% speculative.

There is a hypothesis, not at odds with the laws of physics, which surmises that every conceivable universe exists. Example: consider whether or not, right now, to lift your left index finger into a vertical position and hold it there for five seconds. Are you ready to decide whether or not to do it? Go ahead. Make your decision.

If the “many-worlds” hypothesis is true, there now exist a great many universes in which you lifted your finger, and a great many more in which you did not. Since I typed this before you made your decision, I have no control over which category the “I” in your current universe now inhabits — but then, you had no control over whether I typed this or not. It gets complicated.

So what? Where’s the promised speculation?

My answer is a question: what does it really mean to want something? I mean, maybe you wanted to lift your finger. Probably you want more comfort or status or recognition from other humans. Almost surely, you want something. What does that mean?

It’s possible that wanting – desiring – is tied to reptile-brain neurons firing in a particular sequence we’ve come to call ego. It’s also possible that the elusive phantom, Free Will, plays a role. I propose a third option.

Choose a particular thing you want; for purposes of illustration, I’ll suppose you want either to get up and leave the house tomorrow, or not (take your pick!). Now assume the “many-worlds” interpretation cited above is true. Then there are a few quintillion universes about to spring into existence, partially predicated on whether or not you go out the door in the morning.

Let’s denote by X the number of universes in which you do leave the house, and let’s use Y to mean the number of universes in which you do not. Clearly X and Y are very large numbers. Less clearly (but, I claim, still clearly), they are finite.

It is extremely unlikely that X = Y. One of them is going to be bigger than the other, just by virtue of how many options become available (to yourself and others) once you make your choice.

What if desire is simply an unconscious notion – whether an approximation or some not-yet-understood perception – of whether or not X > Y?

What if “wanting” to go outside is nothing more (or less) than a tacit acknowledgement that you’ll be outside in more universes than you’ll stay in the house?