The Observatory

There are so many scenario's in here that I won't even bother.

 

It has the potential to be a paradox, unless you create an alternate universe by the choice that you make.

 

But we don't exactly know how the mechanics of time works...

You could say it could be explained that every action we take, everything that happens in the universe, is all planed out for us. So then you could meet yourself in such a scenario. But that would mean we all have no free will (which means you couldn't decide not to it the button and create a time paradox, you would be compelled to do it), but that seems a little impossible.

 

A better idea would be a modification of the split universe theory. you go back in time, but when you do, the universe splits in two directions, one where you have hit the button, and then you see your past self, and he sees you. But then what happens to the other universe branch? Do you hit the button or not? Does time in that direction just stop and follow the new course? Still working on that part. Also, what happens if your past self doesn't hit the button? I don't think it would cause a paradox, due to the split universes making it possible for you to meet yourself in time without pre-decided actions.

 

Hope I'm making sense here. Please excuse me while my head explodes. <_>

 

It's quite simple, keeping in mind that in temporal mechanics, any change, even the presence of a single atom that has time traveled, creates a new timeline.

 

In the original timeline, you don't encounter yourself. You go back in time.

 

The instant you arrive, you create a new timeline. It's that simple.

 

In this new timeline, another version of yourself sees you appearing. At that point, they can decide what to do. But if they do choose to go back in time, they simply make yet another alternate timeline. There would then be three timeships. Etc. until one of them decides not to make the jump as there are a bunch of copies of themselves there.

 

Although keep in mind there's a big risk of appearing so close to the same spot as where the other version of you is they crash, killing both. So probably not the wisest experiment just on those grounds, having nothing to do with temporal mechanics but more comparable to a car accident. In space.

 

Or apearing in the same spot, which could cause an effect similar to a nuke, which would also obviously kill both, or at best fuse them, still probably killing both.

 

So yeah, bad idea. And not a paradox. You could fairly call it a potential chain reaction, though.

I can think of three scenarios.

 

You see yourself, so you know it worked, so you go along with it.

You don't see yourself, which means you don't go through with it in the first place.

You don't see yourself, because you stuck to the mission and things went horribly wrong.

 

Reading the crash part.

 

What if you were standing somewhere and decided to time travel. You went back in time like 5 minutes and killed your old self. What would happen? Since you killed yourself you can't go back in time to kill yourself. O____o

It would be weird if you saw yourself, and decided not to go ahead with it because it worked.

 

Then, there would two of you even though you never went ahead with it...

 

O_o

What if you were standing somewhere and decided to time travel. You went back in time like 5 minutes and killed your old self. What would happen? Since you killed yourself you can't go back in time to kill yourself. O____o

Your past self would die, but your current self would stay alive, if the split universe theory is correct.

 

I <3 time paradoxes.

 

Reading the crash part.

 

What if you were standing somewhere and decided to time travel. You went back in time like 5 minutes and killed your old self. What would happen? Since you killed yourself you can't go back in time to kill yourself. O____o

Again, the instant you go back in time, you create a new timeline. So you would kill the version of yourself in that timeline, but in the one you came from, you were fine.

 

Why you would do that, I have no idea. But it wouldn't create a paradox. Just a murderer with a time machine.

You could hypothetically also go back in time and kill your grandmother before she gave birth to you, but you wouldn't disappear. The only problem is that there would never be any records of your life, and you'd be stuck in a new timeline...

 

It would be weird if you saw yourself, and decided not to go ahead with it because it worked.

 

Then, there would two of you even though you never went ahead with it...

 

O_o

It's either two of you, or keep going through with it so there's, like, fifty of you or something until one of you explodes and kills the rest. That wouldn't be weird. What would be weird is choosing to do the experiment in the first place. Anyone knowledgeable enough about temporal mechanics to actually accomplish it would (most likely) know about timelines and expect to see two of them. I'm just not sure why they'd bother to do it, when there are more... interesting or useful ways to use a time machine, like going back a bit farther than five minutes.

They'd do it so they would know how time works.

 

At this point, it's just a bunch of theories...

They'd do it so they would know how time works.

 

At this point, it's just a bunch of theories...

Yes, but most of physics is considered theories -- it's confirmed by observation and by the math of it. We essentially already know how time works from relativity and alternate timelines. As discussed in what Argetlam linked to, for example, we know the multiple timeline thing I brought up is true because otherwise, there would be a paradox, which is impossible. Paradox is just another word for "my understanding of this must be incorrect." (Although one other possibility is that time travel is simply impossible -- in which case there also wouldn't be any paradoxes.)

The main reason for merely setting the temporal drive for five minutes is to test the technology. Once it could be proven that it worked, you could set it back as far as you wanted to.

 

Also, Bonesiii, I must disagree with you saying that multiple timeline theories are true, and that paradoxes can't exist. There's no definite evidence to prove either theory, and neither can completely be proven correct until someone actually invents a time machine of some sort and tests it.

 

Finally, as has been discussed multiple times here, the temporal drive would be set so that your ship would appear next to you, and not exactly in the same spot that you're in; so that neither party would blow up. I guess I didn't clarify that well enough in the entry.

 

The Argetlam

Also, Bonesiii, I must disagree with you saying that multiple timeline theories are true, and that paradoxes can't exist

Paradox is another word for an impossibility. Perhaps if you go by the definition of it as an apparent impossibility. But an actual impossibility is, by definition, impossible. If something can happen, it is possible, and thus cannot possibly create a paradox.

 

There are only two options, considering for example the grandfather paradox. Either time travel to the past like this is impossible, so you it's not even possible to test this, or there are multiple timelines.

 

Personally, I think stable time travel is impossible anyways -- you have to get destroyed in the process of going back in time in every scenario we know of currently. In real life, I mean. Alternate timelines IMO exist only so that we can have multiple possible futures so that we have free will -- the ability to choose which future we will cause to happen. Fictionally anything's possible though. (Everything in this paragraph is just my opinion, though.)

 

And I have very good reason to know for a fact that alternate futures do exist, though as I've said before, I will not reveal why. It's best that people discover it on their own. But this one is not just opinion.

 

Finally, as has been discussed multiple times here, the temporal drive would be set so that your ship would appear next to you, and not exactly in the same spot that you're in; so that neither party would blow up. I guess I didn't clarify that well enough in the entry.

I know, but mistakes can happen, especially with the problem of spacetime vs. relative location. Our relative locations are always moving through spacetime. If a timejump had never been tested before, we wouldn't know for sure that during the jump, you wouldn't align with your absolute spatial position instead of your relative location. Thus, before the process is complete, the two ships could overlap.

 

Also, once the third ship comes, it gets way harder to predict -- theoretically, the second ship, when it makes its jump, would become a third ship in the exact same spot as the first ship appeared in. At least by relative location. If it's just two ships, a problem like this is unlikely, but if you let the experiment turn into a chain reaction, it could be extremely dangerous.

I couldn't be bothered to read that last comment, but a paradox can also be something we can't fully explain. Sometimes it doesn't have a beginning, and sometimes it doesn't have an end, or both.

I couldn't be bothered to read that last comment, but a paradox can also be something we can't fully explain.

Something we can't explain is a mystery.

 

But sure, if you define the word that way. But with both that definition and the "apparent" one, it's only the limits of each person's understanding of the subject that makes it a paradox in their minds. This is why I say there is no such thing as a real paradox, and even with those two definitions, it shouldn't stop there -- we should seek to understand them. IMO, instead of just calling it a paradox and leaving it at that.

 

Pet peeve, really. But yeah.

What if, Everyone was wrong, and screwing with time destroyed the universe? Seriously, Time is just weird like that...

 

~X

What if, Everyone was wrong, and screwing with time destroyed the universe? Seriously, Time is just weird like that...

 

~X

Well, as interesting of a theory as that is, I doubt that it's true. Time is "messed with" on a daily basis. Objects that move incredibly fast begin to experience a slow in time; super-massive stars and black holes distort time in many different ways, and time itself experiences bumps and waves as it goes on. Throughout all of these changes, the universe manages to stay in tact.

 

The Argetlam