Abstract
In his book Our Mathematical Universe, Max Tegmark proposes a way of viewing “reality” as a multiverse of parallel universes governed by mathematics. In this article we take a few of Tegmark’s more accessible ideas and combine them with the study of masculinities to form “quantum masculinities.” Specifically, we use Tegmark’s presentation of the multiverse and the quantum state of superposition as a thinking tool for imagining not just multiple masculinities but infinite and contradictory masculinities. We then mobilize this newly proposed concept of quantum masculinities in two contexts. First, we put quantum masculinities in dialogue with Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity to question to what degree gender performance requires an observer. Second, we explore how far quantum masculinities are reconcilable with The Five Stages of Masculinity. We conclude with some discussion about the categories of “I” and “we” in imagining the self, as well as how the study of masculinities might evolve.
Highlights
In his book Our Mathematical Universe, Max Tegmark proposes a way of viewing “reality” as a multiverse of parallel universes governed by mathematics
An orthodox treatment of quantum masculinities would no doubt investigate masculine performances within the field of quantum physics, and we can find studies that do just that in comparable physics communities
No doubt similar findings would be discovered were such a study made of the specific subfield of quantum physics, adding to what is a long history of feminist literature regarding the gendered nature of science, including quantum physics (Barad, 1995)
Summary
The Level III multiverse operates at a quantum level in the multidimensional Hilbert space, which is a purely mathematical domain This type of multi-dimensional space feels very intuitive when discussing the multiplicity of masculinities. The Level I multiverse has the same laws of physics but different histories This means that the multiverse “contains many more people who are almost like you, yet slightly different” and, given its infinite capacity, “out of all your infinitely many look-alikes out there on other planets, there’s one who speaks English, lives on a planet identical to Earth, and has experienced a life completely indistinguishable from yours in all ways.
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