Quantumania

Exploring my favorite reality bending sub-genre...

As many of you know, I recently started a new contract as a Marketing Manager for a quantum computing company. It’s a fascinating field on the cutting edge of physics and engineering, and I’ve entered at a time that’s ripe for innovation and discovery.

What is Quantum?

First, let’s define “quantum” in this context. The dictionary (okay, Google AI lol) definition is: The smallest discrete, countable unit of any physical entity, such as energy, light, or matter.

Quantum physics is the fundamental study of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic scales, where classical physics laws do not apply.

In science fiction, quantum technology is often used as a device to explore the concept of parallel worlds, or the “multiverse,” where infinite versions of our reality exist side by side (so to speak) and can be accessed in some way.

The mechanism of access can be physical (i.e., through some kind of machine, vessel, portal, device, etc.) or mental; through hypnosis, psychedelic drugs, dreams, near death states, actual death, or a combination thereof (technological upload, consciousness swapping or splitting the self into multiple versions, etc.).

Quantum Fiction vs. Quantum Reality

But that’s not what I’m here to talk about today! The implications of quantum computing are endlessly intriguing, but no more intriguing than the mind-bending sub-genre of science fiction exploring the idea of multiverses vibrating around us in infinite iterations.

Delving into the speculative futures that may unfold as we learn to harness and manipulate quantum entanglement for good or ill, these stories investigate what can go wrong when our human need to tinker with the building blocks of reality comes up against our need to make narrative sense of our lived experience.

Best Quantum Books (Fiction)

• Anathem – Neal Stephenson

  A philosophical masterpiece exploring parallel worlds and quantum cosmology.

• Dark Matter — Blake Crouch
  A physicist is pulled into an alternate version of his life and forced to confront the cost of the path not taken, then infinite paths, as he fights to return to his own reality.

• The Gone World — Tom Sweterlitsch
  A federal agent investigates a murder tied to branching future timelines and an approaching cosmic apocalypse. Quantum Leap meets Annihilation.

• The Man in the High Castle — Philip K. Dick
  An alternate-history world hints at deeper parallel realities beneath the surface.

• Recursion — Blake Crouch
  A technology that allows people to relive memories begins rewriting reality itself, collapsing time into overlapping loops. Propulsive and cinematic, a literal race against time with catastrophic consequences.

• Ubik — Philip K. Dick
  From the O.G. master of dark, mind-bending science fiction. Reality starts to break down after a mission goes wrong, leaving characters unsure what’s real.

Best Quantum Graphic Novels and Comics

• X-Men (especially 90s–2000s) – Days of Future Past, Age of Apocalypse, etc. I grew up reading Marvel comics long before the movies, so my brain was primed for the multiverse through my favorite “children of the atom.”

• Spider-Man (Spider-Verse arcs) – Multiverse chaos with a dose of charm and wit.

• Black Science – One of the most intense, unique, brilliant comic series I’ve ever read. Dark, violent multiverse hopping with a flawed genius father trying to reunite his family and save the universe that his invention put at risk. I’m holding out hope for a wildly ambitious TV adaptation (Noah Hawley would be perfect).

Best Quantum Movies

• Coherence – A dinner party turns surreal when a passing comet causes reality to split into overlapping versions. Low-budget, incredibly clever storytelling.

• Donnie Darko – Not driven by technology, but undeniably quantum-adjacent, this story explores tangent universes through teen angst, existential dread, sacrifice, and inevitability.

• Everything Everywhere All at Once – Chaos, identity, family, and love—meaning of life type stuff set against the infinite recursion of multiple worlds.

• Primer – Ultra-low-budget, brutally realistic film about engineers who accidentally build a time-affecting box through a quantum glitch.

• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – Arguably the most joyful multiverse story.

Best Quantum TV Shows

• Dark – A German masterpiece weaving time loops, connected families, and multiple worlds—one of the smartest sci fi series ever made.

• Counterpart – Parallel worlds spy drama starring JK Simmons.

• Dark Matter – Based on the exceptional novel—quantum technology pits a family man against his evil tech bro alter ego, across infinite possible worlds.

• Devs – Dark, philosophical thriller about a secretive quantum computing project that explores the nature of free will, determinism, and technological immortality.

• Fringe – Investigates strange phenomena tied to alternate timelines, parallel universes, and experimental quantum technology.

• The OA – Multiverse as spiritual/experiential “find your tribe” quest. Starts out darker than most, ends hopeful and life-affirming (but on fucking cliff-hanger, arghh!). Also, that crazy circle dance thing! If you know, you know…

• Quantum Leap

  A scientist “leaps” into different people’s lives via a quantum experiment in a dark and distant future, to “put right what once went wrong.” Not textbook quantum science, but a classic that deserves a place on any list of mind-bending sci fi.

• Rick and Morty – Animated comedy meets quantum chaos. Bizarre, bold, and beloved—one of the smartest, weirdest multiverse explorations on TV.

• Travelers – Time travel, consciousness hopping, looping consequences, trying to avert the apocalypse Terminator-style, and with so much heart. Characters whose pain you felt. The series finale was devastating.

• 12 Monkeys – Not all time travel is quantum, but I’ll throw this one in for the sheer batshit levels of entanglement that layered season upon season until it felt unsustainable. It didn’t jump the shark, it blew a hole right through the shark and powered through another two seasons before its ultimate finale.

Quantum Nonfiction

Last but not least, I’ve been doing a lot of studying since I started my new contract last year. It’s no easy feat, bringing my art student, sci fi nerd ass up to speed on just enough cutting edge physics to make myself useful to the Marketing team.

Learning the lingo, separating the hype from the science, and getting myself steeped in the world of quantum so I can help translate the fantastical wonders happening behind the scenes in the lab into the wider world.

Here are some of the sources that helped me wrap my mind around one of the most esoteric and inscrutable branches of modern science.

• Quantum Supremacy — Michio Kaku
  A big-picture, future-focused, less technical primer about how quantum computing could reshape the world in the next decade.

• Michio Kaku: Quantum computing is the next revolution

  The bite-sized YouTube version of Quantum Supremacy.

• Quantum Computers Explained: How Quantum Computing Works
  Animated Deadpool and Wolverine explain quantum computing. Totally up my alley, and also endorsed by one of my colleagues who knows her shit.

[All images by ChatGPT]