Predestination Paradox - This has nothing to do with religion

Welcome back to TARDIS Talk my fellow Doctor Who fans and time traveling theorists!

Last week, we spoke about the Bootstrap paradox, which basically stated that there is no cause, instead it is the effect that becomes the cause.. which becomes the effect... that becomes ... the cause.... Okay, we're past that so let's move on already. What we're moving on to is like a branch of that paradox: The Predestination paradox. And no, it has nothing to do with religion so before you jump to conclusions, you better read this sentence first.

Going back on the internet, I came upon an entirely new website, explaining this paradox in the simplest way possible ("simple", being used loosely). The website is called the Examiner.

The Temporal (Predestination) Paradox is described as an event in a fixed point in time. It means that attempting to change something in the past, coming from the future, wont change anything. Instead it would become unchanged, actually staying as it were as an event. What really happens is when the future force attempts to change the past, that same force becomes what causes the event in the past.

Once again, this becomes a discussion needing an example. BACK TO OUR IMAGINATIONS!

Now, imagine yourself as a person... or an alien... OR AN ALIEN HUMANOID.... reading an article about a huge forest fire that happened about a month ago. You find out that it was a mere campfire gone wrong, and knowing the cause, you are inspired to try and stop it. So, you get in your time machine and go to the very place and time that the fire started. Arriving a few hours before the fire (assume it's night time), you set up camp. You get your tent up and then you start a campfire... the campfire... the camp- THE CAMPFIRE.... YOU WAKE UP THE NEXT MORNING AND FIND THAT YOUR CAMPFIRE WAS SO STUPIDLY MADE THAT IT SET FIRE TO YOUR TENT THAT YOU SET UP BY A TREE, THAT, IN TURN, WAS SET ABLAZE!.... you... you... just... oh my gosh, learn to make a campfire... geez.... Anyway, after that event, you realized that YOU are the actual cause of the same, great forest fire that inspired you to try and stop it.

A basic representation of the paradox using a billiard ball.

So, that is the Predestination Paradox. Yes, it does have a bit of disappointment for time travelers, but it's just something that can't be changed. Not ever.

Thank you all for tuning back in to TARDIS Talk! I hope to see you all again here and to learn more about time travel and the TARDIS. Goodbye!

On a last note: DID YOU GUYS SEE THE DAY OF THE DOCTOR? WASN'T IT AMAZING?! AHHHHHHHHHH! If you didn't see it, you shouldn't even be reading this blog until you have.

"Pull Yourself by Your Bootstraps" - The Ontological Paradox

Welcome back to TARDIS Talk, friends, strangers and possible aliens!

Last week, we talked about a paradox of time travel: The Grandfather Paradox. Today, we will be looking into yet another paradox. Don't worry, because this one won't be as mind boggling and confusing as the last paradox. This paradox basically follows a constant loop through time: The Ontological Paradox - more commonly known as the "Bootstrap" Paradox.

Looking through the internet, I did not find a website, but I found a book excerpt. The excerpt gives basic information and examples of how the bootstrap paradox works. Unlike the Grandfather Paradox, I didn't have to read this 10 times just to have a basic understanding. The book I found was called Eating The Dinosaur and the short excerpt talking about the paradox can be found on page 60.

The Ontological Paradox states that effect eliminates the original cause of the effect and itself becomes the cause. . . . Perhaps an example would be a lot clearer.

Imagine yourself as a time traveler (obviously) and you just finished reading The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (a marvelous book I might add). You loved the book, you adored it, and you with your compulsive nature, wants to make sure that H.G. Wells writes it so it can be published. So, you get in your time machine with your copy of The Time Machine, travel to 1894, about one year before the book was published, and leave it at Wells's door. Then, Wells takes the copy, claims it as his own, and publishes it the next year for it to be copied once again for you to read in the future. 

That is the Bootstrap Paradox in the nutshell. Most of the time, in stories, the Bootstrap paradox becomes an essential part of the principles of cause and effect. This means that if you disrupt the loop, like if you didn't bring the book back to H.G. Wells in the past, the effect couldn't happen thus making the cause impossible. This either disrupts space time and reality, or just can't happen and the paradox occurs anyway.

Thinking about it now, this paradox will probably be something I will run into continually if I ever do time travel, whether accidentally or intentionally. 

If you'd like to learn more about the Bootstrap Paradox, I'd suggest you watch a couple of episodes from Doctor Who again. The one episode I would greatly recommend is Blink, and yes, it is the one with the weeping angels unfortunately. I'm sorry, but if you want to learn more about "Bootstrap", you're going to have to suck it up, deal with the angels, and watch that episode again.

Thank you everyone for again partaking in the discussion of time travel and the TARDIS. I hope this discussion wasn't as head pounding as the last.

On a last note, I am fabulous and you should be too! Goodbye!

The Grandfather Paradox - The Inconsistent Causal Loop

Welcome back to TARDIS Talk, my good followers of time travel!

So, for the last few weeks, we have been exploring the methods of time travel, but now, I will be reviewing with you vital information that I probably should have explained to you before I even started on how to time travel. We will want to - need to - know about the very mind boggling paradox of time travel: The Grandfather Paradox.

I went around, scoping about information to further explain what this famous paradox is. Upon finding the Time Travel Philosophy website, I found what I needed to explain how the Grandfather Paradox works. I literally had to read this about 10 other times to fully understand how this whole system of cause and effect works.

Basically, what this paradox states is that when you go back and time and take part in an action that contradicts you and your present, the universe, in all its splendor of space and time, will not allow it. Confused? Well I was too. Let's put it into an example.

Now, imagine you are a genius who finally created the first ever successful time machine and at the same time you hated your grandfather for no apparent reason. The next thing you know, you buy a gun, you get into your time machine, go back in time to whenever your grandfather was a young man, face the old-young man himself, and point the gun at him. Now, here is things start to get a little tricky. What happens when you pull the trigger? There are two ways that I can see this go down.

1. The gun fires and kills your grandfather instantaneously. You achieved what you were after. However, from killing your grandfather, you also indirectly killed your father, which also means you could not have been conceived and have been born to kill your grandfather back in time. So, if you haven't been born, then your grandfather will still be alive so that you could still be born to kill him again?

2. You pull the trigger, but something happens. Like I said earlier, with this kind of situation, the universe will not let a contradiction be set, so you can't kill your grandfather. Maybe you miss, maybe the gun malfunctions, maybe someone killed YOU in the midst of it all, but something will happen that will not let you kill your grandfather for a paradox to occur.

Does your head hurt yet? You see, this is what you call an Inconsistent Causal Loop which is basically a vicious cycle, all directed from a contradiction - a paradox - that just can't happen. 

With this information, I'm having very serious thoughts on how I would go about time travel, if it was actually successful that is. But this tells us that we cannot mess with the reality of time or else something on a universal level will erupt, all because you decided to mess with the cause and effect of the universe. 

Thank you for coming to join the discussion of time travel in TARDIS Talk! I hope I didn't make you cry in this blog, because I know how confusing and mind boggling it is, but bear with us for a little bit longer, because it's all going to get EVEN MORE CONFUSING.