The Drabblecast

The quantum computer's success demonstrated the existence of multiple, perhaps infinite parallel universes. It functioned by collapsing all the potential universes to only those where the correct answer(s) exist.

Doctor Breider was the first who understood the quantum computer's hidden potential. He realized that by using the computer to arrive at a predetermined answer it's possible to prune the potential pasts though which that result came to be.

A pious man, the Doctor then used the computer to end Darwin's heresy, making real those potential pasts where men walked with dinosaurs and every word in the Bible is literally true.

What an interesting idea... Not sure the logic works, but, still, what an interesting idea.

This demands the short story treatment!

I've got Bob Jones Science Department working on it.

Clearly this story is highly speculative. I postulated a reality that is essentially fuzzy, consisting of many different potential overlapping universes and (as per the Amsterdam Interpretation) it is consciousness that ultimately causes the collapse into a single "real" reality. But I went a little further and tossed in the idea that the past too is fuzzy to within the limits of what our consciousness has selected as real. So in essence we create our own realities. In this story the quantum computer is simply a device to facilitate that creation. This story is that it implies that there is a single "real" universe but when you think about it there is no reason why if this was true there couldn't be an infinite number of real universes (including an infinite number where Ed is a billion years old) but the only one we know about is the one that this universe's version of "me" has made real.

Isn't this fun?

Fun and a tried and true source concept for spec-fic. Some of my favorites:

Zelazny's Amber series, (Magic Realism, but multi-worlds, nonetheless)
Dan Simmons, Illium & Olympos (where the strong minds collapse and create realities, Shakespeare and Proust being two such minds in this case.)
Heinlein's "The Number of the Beast" (Hey, it's got female protagonists that are easy and have big boobies, what's not to like... )