Episode 23 —

Dark Matter Season 2: Before All Worlds

Leibniz, the Multiverse, and Original Sin

What if the multiverse isn't really about other universes—but about finding another version of ourselves?

With Season 2 of Dark Matter approaching, Matthew revisits the first season and follows its central ideas into an unexpected theological territory: Original Sin, the Fall, Leibniz's “possible worlds,” the problem of evil, repentance, guilt, grief, and the fear of death.

Why this world?

Leibniz's attempt to answer that question helped give us the concept of theodicy and his famous argument that God chose the best of all possible worlds. But what happens when that philosophical idea is transformed  ...