Um, there's this thing about how if you go back in time and change the past, the event that made you go back in time to change it in the first place never happens, so you never go back in time, so it does happen. What's that called?
2007-10-16 14:25:08 · 19 answers · asked by princesspower100 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Paradox
2007-10-16 14:27:39 · answer #1 · answered by Jason 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
One of my pet time travel theories that I came up with states that history is the way it is because time travel is already figured in. If you're going to invent a time machine when you're 54 years old, and then go back to change history, you'll find when you get there that somehow your actions caused it to turn out that way.
Because the past already happened, if a time traveller were there mucking about with things, then the results of their mucking about are still with us. So in other words, you can't change history with time travel.
An interesting corollary of this is that the future also is immutable. If you're going to go into the past and affect the outcome of things, then your not doing so would also violate causality. You were back there telling Queen Isabella to fund Columbus's voyage, and telling Galileo to give it up before he got burned at the steak. You haven't done it yet, but you're already in the past, so obviously you're GOING to do it later.
If you don't, then you've caused what you're asking about: a paradox, when two things that can't be true together both turn out to be.
2007-10-16 15:55:05 · answer #2 · answered by ZeroByte 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's called a paradox. The one you're thinking of, I believe, is a variation of the grandfather paradox. It's kind of the opposite of a predestination paradox - you go back in time to discover something that happened in the past, unintentionally causing the event that inspires you to go back and unintenionally cause it which inspires you to go back... whew! (And that's why predestination paradoxes are called casual loops!)
2007-10-17 05:25:21 · answer #3 · answered by ryttu3k 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Imagination!!! Time warp... All things that are going to happen already have happened! There is no past or future, only the present...Time is relative and is an ether in our minds!
2007-10-16 15:34:23 · answer #4 · answered by Knarf 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
thats called a Paradox.
Often referred to as a Time Paradox...
On Star Trek they say "Temporal Paradox"
A paradox is two propositions that cannot be true together. If you go back in time and kill Grandpa, then you were never born, so you couldn't kill Grandpa, so you go back and kill grandpa, which means you didn't kill Grandpa...
Or someting like that.
Or as on Futurama, if you kill your own Grandfather, make sure that you >ahem< BECOME your own grandfather...if you know what I mean...
2007-10-16 14:30:24 · answer #5 · answered by chocolahoma 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Fate
2007-10-16 14:37:26 · answer #6 · answered by Grendle 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Causality?
2007-10-16 14:27:27 · answer #7 · answered by eri 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's called a paradox.
2007-10-16 14:28:45 · answer #8 · answered by shinelove8702 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
they made a television show about that called Quantum leap dont know what it was called though
2007-10-16 14:28:34 · answer #9 · answered by Aloha_Ann 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thats called Spasing it up good and proper.
2007-10-16 14:28:27 · answer #10 · answered by miserable old git 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋