The Time Travel Paradoxes
Time travel is a very self contradicting idea.
Time travel - Fake or Real?
The Theories:
Novikov Self-Consistency Principle
This Novikov self-consistency principle says that whenever a time traveler tries to change a major event of history, time itself will make sure that he/she fails in their attempt. For example, if the time traveler tries to kill an ancestor of his, he is guaranteed to fail for some reason or another (Ex: The gun jams/time traveler changes his mind).
Bootstrap Paradox
- Involving People: Suppose a man decides to go back in time. While he is there, he marries a woman. Later, his wife gives birth to child, and he finds out that the child is him! He is now his own father, and his own son.
- Involving Objects: Suppose a person needed his keys to his car. Suddenly, his future self appears through time travel and gives him his keys, and then leaves. Then, when the present man drives his car to his house, he finds a time machine. He then decides to go back to the past and give himself the keys again.
Multiple Universes Hypothesis
Self-Healing Hypothesis
Example: A time traveler goes to the past to make it so that his invention never breaks. He succeeds in protecting it, but when he goes back to the present, he finds out that it has been broken in a different way than before. The event in which the invention is broken again by Time occurs later after the time traveler's visit.
Branching Universe Hypothesis
- The world is normal and nothing is changed (One of the time travelers would come back to this one)
- The world is affected by the change. It continues as if that change was there to begin with. (The other time traveler copy would come back to this one)
Well, that's all for now!
Time Travel in Einstein's Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time, By J. Richard Gott.
Works Cited
Clock Forwarding. Digital image. California Building a Presence for Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.cabap.org/finance/is-it-possible-for-time-travelers-to-gain-huge-financial-profit>.
String Theory. Digital image. Particle Physics. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.particle-physics.co.uk/string.html>.
"Temporal Paradox." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_paradox>.
Wormhole. Digital image. Mail Online. N.p., 27 Apr. 2010. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1269288/STEPHEN-HAWKING-How-build-time-machine.html>.