Question Inside: Handle With Care?

Question

Let's suppose that Mr.A went back in time before his biological father even met his biological mother. In a twist of fate, Mr.A unwittingly kills his biological father .
But the consequence would be a paradox: If his father was killed, then Mr.A would not be born. If Mr.A were not born, then, there would be no Mr.A that would go back in time to kill his father so his father would be alive. But if his father is alive then Mr.A would be born to kill his father. And a vicious circle of cause and effect results.

How does one get around this absurd problem? Does it say anything about the way time moves or how cause is connected to effect?

Answer 1

It is just one of the many vicious circles that result from thought experiments concerning travel in time. Back is particularly paradoxical. Many people like "Back to the Future", for example, but do not notice that if Mike's character watches himself going back in time there must be an endless number of Mikes at each point of the circle. I like Stephen Hawking's speculation that if time travel is possible where are all the visitors from the future? Since there are none it seems likely that time travel will never be invented.

Answer 2

I had a discussion with some physics friends and came up with this conclusion: The Humean principle of Causality that states "Everything Has A Cause," with nothing as an exception, has been debunked by Quantum Physics by proving movement in the future can surely affect the past, and vice versa. Anything can happen in any order. So if Mr. A went and killed his father, it all ends up that Mr. A is his own father but then again, what happens to Mr. A after the killing and conception? Nothing that has not already happened in the space/time continuum.

It is time for everyone to accept that the Universe is Indeterminate as Man is indeterminate. Classical Physics is dead while the Quantum continues to thrive.

Answer 3

Without cause, there is no effect and without action, there is no reaction.
Effect is dependent on effect, but cause and effect are both related like the sides of two coins. It is a vicious cycle of time;just like the past, present and future are related, birth and death, everything has a cause and an effect.Everything perishes in the lapse of time. Who came first-the chicken or the hen?
It is really tough to explain the theory of cause and effect as they are so related and inseparable.

Answer 4

Let's take this paradox out of the box you've put it in.
Suppose an infinite number of possible worlds, or dimensions; any action or inaction taken creating an offshoot dimension containing the circumstances affected by the action or inaction taken in the previous world---A goes back in time, shoots his biological father-to-be; thus creating a dimension in which he ultimately does not exist---however, the dimension he started from still exists, along with all the other possible dimensions stemming from other actions or inactions...multiply this by infinity and nearly anything is possible, and probably is.
This, along with the more-than-likelihood that we are unable to disconnect ourselves from the dimension we currently are in and travel back and forth at will precludes paradox.

Answer 5

4 Get the past, move on to the present take a wife

create Mr. B and then C what happens in the future.

Answer 6

You get around the problem through the possibility of multiple time lines. If you accept the possibility of multiple universes, this could be an acceptable concept.

Answer 7

See the movie "Time Rider" for the answer. Stars Fred Ward

Answer 8

yes its a paradox nobody has solved till now.

Answer 9

gimme a break its a circle live goes on u cant chnage fate

Answer 10

Don't go back in time ,it's too complicated.