A New Look at Time Travel

[trogdor1316]

So. We all have heard of different types of time travel. The most recent I have come across is in the book "The Annotated Legends" by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It's a very complex theory, so I won't get into it, but I do suggest reading the book, or it's less entertaining 3-book none-annotated form.

But after reading and understanding (if understanding can indeed be acheived in a subject like this) the theory, I came up with one of my own. The main point of my theory is this: If you TRAVEL THROUGH TIME! for any reason at all, there could be possibly dire consequences, but you will never accomplish what you set out to do. It is only if you TRAVEL THROUGH TIME! simply to observe that you can accomplish anything.

Let me elaborate.

Say someone is sitting under an apple tree. They are enjoying the veiw, looking out at the grassy plains around them, when all of a sudden...*DHONK!* An apple drops off the tree and hits them in the head.

Say this person has a mental disorder that causes them to get angry at inanimate objects. He gets up and shouts at the tree, wishing he had never planted it. An idea strikes him. What if he could travel back in time to the day he planted the tree, and stop himself from planting the tree?

So this person sets out to create a machine to TRAVEL THROUGH TIME!.

So he makes one.

After the creation of this machine to TRAVEL THROUGH TIME!, this person goes backwards in time to the day he planted the tree. He stops himself from planting it, and, assuming that he hasn't already lost his sanity from the TRAVEL THROUGH TIME!, or from seeing himself from a different time and space, he goes back to the present.

Now. Let's stop the story for a second. The events that just occured would have prevented the planting of the tree. But think about this: If there was no tree, then there would be no reason to TRAVEL THROUGH TIME! at all, and therefore the man would never have TRAVEL THROUGH TIME!ed.

But once more, lets think about this. If the man never TRAVEL THROUGH TIME!ed at all, then he never would have stopped himself from planning the tree in the first place.

Now, there are multiple things that could happen at this point.

I personally like to beleive that the paradox created by this man TRAVEL THROUGH TIME!ing would do one of two things. It would either destroy the universe, which is the least likely of the two, or it would cause the universe to stop. Simply stop. While this man repeatedly TRAVEL THROUGH TIME!ed over and over again, the universe would come to a halt, with the space-time continuum so damaged that nothing could be accomplished by anyone. Either one would technically lead to the "end of the universe."

I eagerly await feedback and maybe even some new theories of your own.

[! mINDsELFiNDULGE !]

My theory of time travel paradox solving is easy.

Avoidance.

Any time travel backwards results in a new fork, in realities(universes).

When ever you go back, think about BOTH times still going forward. Like taking a separate path on a road (but with NO CHANCE, to get back to the original path).

This can easily mesh well with current hypothesies about multi dimensionality in quantum mechanics.

Nice, clean, and neat.

[devis666]

that's like back to the future..... but they fixed it.....

[Milonius]

Time Paradox.

Taken from Wikipedia:

" The paradox is this: suppose a man traveled back in time and killed his biological grandfather before the latter met the traveler's grandmother. As a result, one of the traveler's parents (and by extension the traveller himself) would never have been conceived. This would imply that he could not have travelled back in time after all, which in turn implies the grandfather would still be alive, and the traveller would have been conceived allowing him to travel back in time and kill his grandfather. Thus each possibility seems to imply its own negation, a type of logical paradox."

[King Alboin]

My sentiments are aligned with mINDsELFiNDULGE. Avoid time travel at all possible occations.

Your apple tree dilema is torqued. Twisted by too many supposed endings.

mIND said it best when she said think about both times still going forward.
A time traveler would set off two different time lines, because the entrance and exit are moving forward in time, hence departing from the original exodus perimeter. In both time lines the Earth is revolving and also moving forward in its orbit. The Solar System is still orbiting around the Galactic Core, within the Orion Arm.

Two sets of time lines are therefore created where there was only one. In your scenario, the man would go back and affect the non planting tree ceremony, however when he returned he would return to a different timeline that he induced but would not go back to the timeline that originally besought the motivation in the first place. (assuming of course this is at all probable). That timeline would still be on its original journey to the future. Now continueing the thought line. If he were to return to the original exodus he would return seeing the tree still planted and dropping those mean and vicious emotional altering apples.

Being a Sci fi geek as i am have seen the best of minds ponder this cunundrum. What i dont get is why would anybody want to go back to the past. I see the one motivation to change the past so as to affect future outcomes, but what i dont see is why.

I would personnably prefer to go into the future and become a History Professor with tenur and a whopping good salary from the sale of accurate Archeology Text E-books.

[joemanf]

My sentiments are aligned with mINDsELFiNDULGE. Avoid time travel at all possible occations.

Your apple tree dilema is torqued. Twisted by too many supposed endings.

mIND said it best when she said think about both times still going forward.
A time traveler would set off two different time lines, because the entrance and exit are moving forward in time, hence departing from the original exodus perimeter. In both time lines the Earth is revolving and also moving forward in its orbit. The Solar System is still orbiting around the Galactic Core, within the Orion Arm.

Two sets of time lines are therefore created where there was only one. In your scenario, the man would go back and affect the non planting tree ceremony, however when he returned he would return to a different timeline that he induced but would not go back to the timeline that originally besought the motivation in the first place. (assuming of course this is at all probable). That timeline would still be on its original journey to the future. Now continueing the thought line. If he were to return to the original exodus he would return seeing the tree still planted and dropping those mean and vicious emotional altering apples.

Being a Sci fi geek as i am have seen the best of minds ponder this cunundrum. What i dont get is why would anybody want to go back to the past. I see the one motivation to change the past so as to affect future outcomes, but what i dont see is why.

I would personnably prefer to go into the future and become a History Professor with tenur and a whopping good salary from the sale of accurate Archeology Text E-books.

Agreed. Don't you people ever watch cartoons where they travel back in time do, something, come back and everything is different?

[StormSurge]

My favorite theory on time travel is that each possible event has multiple timelines stemming from it. So, you make one choice, and there are several untraveled paths.

I suggest you read The Forest of Time to fully get the details of how this particular idea works. It's a short story written by Michael Flynn.

[joemanf]

Yeah, I've heard about that theroy. Free will over predestination. I think free will.

[King Alboin]

Yup, and another great explanation of multiple time lines can be found here...

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread61544/pg1

[devis666]

there are three possibilities I see........
1. what you try to do is actually what affects the future to be the way it is...... in other words if i go back in time to stop my parents from getting married that will inevitably lead to my birth, and only supremely large events like murder and such affect the future.........
2. chaos theory....... whatever step you take, ant you kill leave you make fall shall affect the future in a large way for every action you make........
3. paradox........ like the many others stated here a paradox occurs and leaves the time either standing still making it a failed univese out of the many universes...... or that universe is destroyed.......