I believe this song was inspired somewhat by the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which was developed by E's father, Hugh Everett III. If you've seen the BBC documentary "Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives," which is available on Vimeo, then you are familiar with this story.
The elder Everett developed the theory because he thought that the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics did not make sense ("When the world stops making sense . . .") . He wrote a lengthy dissertation backed up by the kind of math that physicists use, which is incomprehensible to a lay person. As E said at one point, "It's like a completely different alphabet." That is, to make sense of the world, the elder Everett needed a new alphabet.
Through the making of the film, E learned about the universe and about his father. At several points he was genuinely shocked with how much more he understood. The point, I think, is that sometimes the world is so strange and so complicated that we cannot explain it with our common sense, our experiences, or our language, and you cannot come to terms with it unless you make your own alphabet.
I believe this song was inspired somewhat by the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which was developed by E's father, Hugh Everett III. If you've seen the BBC documentary "Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives," which is available on Vimeo, then you are familiar with this story.
The elder Everett developed the theory because he thought that the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics did not make sense ("When the world stops making sense . . .") . He wrote a lengthy dissertation backed up by the kind of math that physicists use, which is incomprehensible to a lay person. As E said at one point, "It's like a completely different alphabet." That is, to make sense of the world, the elder Everett needed a new alphabet.
Through the making of the film, E learned about the universe and about his father. At several points he was genuinely shocked with how much more he understood. The point, I think, is that sometimes the world is so strange and so complicated that we cannot explain it with our common sense, our experiences, or our language, and you cannot come to terms with it unless you make your own alphabet.