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Hypothetical answers
Posted By: MrHenDate: 11/22/06 4:53 a.m.

In Response To: Hypothetical question (Frungi)

: I am able to time-travel. I decide that I'm going to go back in time two
: minutes, in this same room, unless I see myself first. Then I go back two
: minutes. What happens? What happens two minutes later?

Okay, to make the example a little clearer, this is what happens:

You #1 sits down next to his time-travel devise and declares that in ten minutes time he will travel backwards five minutes in time.

You #1 also declares that he will cancel his five minute trip if he sees himself before he leaves.

In ten minutes, You #1 will have not seen himself, so he travels back in time and walks in on You #2 five minutes ago.

You #2 looks at You #1 and cancels his trip. Both You #1 and You #2 celebrate their victory over time and play Marathon for hours on end.

How is this possible? If you follow the cause/effect chain it makes sense:
You #1 has obviously not seen himself yet, because he did not travel backwards in time.
Therefore, You #1 travels back five minutes.
At this point, the cause and effect chain is broken and must be rewritten. You #1 exists in the same time as You #2 because he traveled in time. This is not a problem and they are now two different people. The events that happened after the point that You #1 traveled to "now" have an additional causer.

These are not two timelines, these are not different universes, they are the exact same timeline. The events on this timeline will change and it will look like a different timeline, but it is not. It has changed, but it is the same timeline.

You #1 walks in on You #2 before You #2 travels. You #2 never travels. You #1 could travel back to the future and find that he never took the trip.

So to answer the question, "will I travel back in time?", yes and no. You will do both, just at different, uh, times.

Another example from this setup is this:
I declare that in fifteen minutes I am going to travel back in time ten minutes.
I also declare that in ten minutes my assistant will travel backwards five minutes.
In addition to all of this, I will cancel my trip if I see either my or my assistant from the future.

In this case, I will never travel through time. Here is why:
In ten minutes, my assistant will travel back five minutes.
*The timeline resets.*
My assistant will walk in five minutes before his past self leaves and ten minutes before I leave.
I cancel my trip.

Another point I will make here is, using the first example, you have no idea which you you are. You could be You #1 and you will make the trip, or you could be You #2 and not make the trip. You have no idea which you are until the ten minutes are up.

In other words, this all basically works like the multiple universe thing except I put them all in the same timeline. If I could draw you a diagram this may be easier... That blog post I linked does talk about this and I have some diagrams there.

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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

Plotline question concerning InfinityIcarus 11/15/06 12:18 p.m.
     Re: Plotline question concerning InfinityForrest of B.org 11/15/06 1:10 p.m.
           Re: Plotline question concerning InfinityRyokoTK 11/15/06 1:43 p.m.
                 Re: Plotline question concerning InfinityForrest of B.org 11/15/06 3:51 p.m.
                       Re: Plotline question concerning InfinityForrest of B.org 11/15/06 3:59 p.m.
                       time travel and plots in generalMrHen 11/15/06 6:08 p.m.
                             Re: time travel and plots in generalpatrick 11/15/06 6:48 p.m.
                             Re: time travel and plots in generalForrest of B.org 11/15/06 7:57 p.m.
                                   more on plotMrHen 11/16/06 5:07 a.m.
                                         Re: more on plotDocument 11/18/06 11:39 a.m.
                                               I would not know.MrHen 11/18/06 12:33 p.m.
                                                     Re: I would not know.Document 11/18/06 12:44 p.m.
                                                           oh, okay. :)MrHen 11/18/06 3:37 p.m.
                                                                 Re: oh, okay. :)thermoplyae 11/18/06 7:18 p.m.
                                   Re: time travel and plots in generalLegacyTyphoon 11/17/06 12:39 a.m.
                                         Re: time travelFrungi 11/17/06 1:04 p.m.
                                               Re: time travelDocument 11/17/06 1:09 p.m.
                                                     Re: time travelMrHen 11/17/06 2:51 p.m.
                                                     Re: time travelFrungi 11/18/06 1:09 p.m.
                                                           Re: time travelDocument 11/20/06 11:01 a.m.
                                                                 well, obviouslyMrHen 11/20/06 12:17 p.m.
                                                                       Re: well, obviouslyFrungi 11/20/06 5:01 p.m.
                                                                             Re: well, obviouslyForrest of B.org 11/20/06 6:52 p.m.
                                                                                   unilinear?MrHen 11/21/06 4:49 a.m.
                                                                                         Re: unilinear?Frungi 11/21/06 5:49 a.m.
                                                                                               gah, no...MrHen 11/21/06 6:21 a.m.
                                                                                                     Re: gah, no...Frungi 11/21/06 7:41 a.m.
                                                                                                           Re: gah, no...MrHen 11/21/06 8:25 a.m.
                                                                                                                 Hypothetical questionFrungi 11/21/06 1:45 p.m.
                                                                                                                       Hypothetical answersMrHen 11/22/06 4:53 a.m.
                                                                                                                             Re: Hypothetical answersFrungi 11/22/06 4:24 p.m.
                                                                                                                                   Re: Hypothetical answersMrHen 11/23/06 7:52 a.m.
                                                                                                                                         Re: Hypothetical answersFrungi 11/23/06 9:11 a.m.
                                                                                                                                               Re: Hypothetical answersMrHen 11/23/06 4:04 p.m.
                                                                                                                 Re: gah, no...Forrest of B.org 11/21/06 8:19 p.m.
                                                                                                                       there are no time-loopsMrHen 11/22/06 4:21 a.m.
                                                                                         Re: unilinear?Forrest of B.org 11/21/06 8:07 p.m.
                                                                                               Something is wrong...MrHen 11/22/06 4:35 a.m.
                                                                                                     Re: Something is wrong...Forrest of B.org 11/22/06 9:09 a.m.
                                                                                                           this is awesome, I love this stuffMrHen 11/22/06 9:33 a.m.
                                                                                                                 Re: this is awesome, I love this stufftreellama 11/22/06 11:25 a.m.
                                                                                                                       Re: this is awesome, I love this stuffForrest of B.org 11/22/06 12:00 p.m.
                                                                                                                             Re: this is awesome, I love this stufftreellama 11/22/06 2:41 p.m.
                                                                                                                                   Re: this is awesome, I love this stuffForrest of B.org 11/22/06 5:48 p.m.
                                                                                                                                         Re: this is awesome, I love this stufftreellama 11/23/06 4:58 a.m.
                                                                                                                                               ha, niceMrHen 11/23/06 8:05 a.m.
                                                                                                                             Re: this is awesome, I love this stuffDocument 9/18/07 11:06 a.m.
                                                                                                                 Re: this is awesome, I love this stuffForrest of B.org 11/22/06 12:28 p.m.
                                                                                                                       Re: this is awesome, I love this stuffFrungi 11/22/06 4:07 p.m.
                                                                                                                             Re: this is awesome, I love this stuffForrest of B.org 11/22/06 6:05 p.m.
                                                                                                                                   Re: this is awesome, I love this stuffDocument 11/22/06 7:14 p.m.
                                                                                                                                         Re: this is awesome, I love this stuffFrungi 11/22/06 7:31 p.m.
                                                                                                                                               Re: this is awesome, I love this stuffForrest of B.org 11/23/06 12:37 a.m.
                                                                                                                                                     Re: this is awesome, I love this stuff *LINK*Frungi 11/25/06 1:15 p.m.
                                                                                                                                                           Re: this is awesome, I love this stuffForrest of B.org 11/26/06 10:04 a.m.
                                                                                                                                                                 Re: this is awesome, I love this stuffFrungi 11/26/06 6:30 p.m.
                                                                                                                                   timeline == ?MrHen 11/23/06 8:09 a.m.
                                                                                                                       agreement :)MrHen 11/23/06 8:00 a.m.
                                                                                                           Re: Something is wrong...Aachim 11/22/06 1:24 p.m.
                                                                                         returning to time travelPfhorever 11/23/06 10:13 a.m.
                                                                                               Re: returning to time travelFrungi 11/23/06 10:43 a.m.
                                                                                   Re: well, obviouslyDocument 11/21/06 10:30 a.m.
                                               Re: time travelForrest of B.org 11/17/06 3:47 p.m.
                                                     Re: time travellegacytyphoon 11/17/06 8:29 p.m.
                                                           Re: time travelDocument 11/17/06 9:17 p.m.
                                                                 Re: time travelFrungi 11/18/06 1:07 p.m.
                                                                       Re: time travelDocument 11/19/06 5:59 a.m.
                                                     I disagree *LINK*MrHen 11/18/06 6:55 a.m.
                                   Re: time travel and plots in generalFrungi 11/21/06 7:48 a.m.
                                         Re: time travel and plots in generalForrest of B.org 11/21/06 8:26 p.m.
                             Re: time travel and plots in generalVid Boi 11/16/06 6:18 a.m.
                                   Re: time travel and plots in generalD-M.A. 11/16/06 8:38 a.m.
     Re: Plotline question concerning Infinitythermoplyae 11/15/06 2:05 p.m.
           *cough* spam *cough*MrHen 11/15/06 3:35 p.m.
           Re: Plotline question concerning InfinitySnowCrash 11/15/06 4:12 p.m.
                 Re: Plotline question concerning Infinitythermoplyae 11/15/06 5:03 p.m.
                       Re: Plotline question concerning Infinitykyjel 11/15/06 5:06 p.m.
                             Re: Plotline question concerning Infinitythermoplyae 11/15/06 6:14 p.m.
                                   Re: Plotline question concerning InfinityDocument 11/16/06 10:10 a.m.
                                         Re: Plotline question concerning InfinityREB 11/16/06 7:31 p.m.
                                               REB!!! *NM*ukimalefu 11/16/06 8:24 p.m.
                                                     Re: Hey, ukimalefu! *NM*REB 11/17/06 9:41 a.m.
                                               MrHen apologized it for in his post, but thanks :) *NM*thermoplyae 11/16/06 11:27 p.m.
                                               WMaiDAaron Sikes 11/17/06 9:33 a.m.
                                                     Re: WMaiDkyjel 11/17/06 10:28 a.m.
                                               It was a joke. >. *NM*MrHen 11/17/06 2:49 p.m.
                                                     Re: Got It ;-) *NM*REB 11/17/06 3:07 p.m.
                 WMaiD *LINK*Blayne 11/17/06 11:24 a.m.
                       Re: WMaiDSnowCrash 11/18/06 10:31 a.m.
                             Re: WMaiDBlayne 11/21/06 10:18 a.m.
                                   Re: WMaiDAaron Sikes 11/21/06 10:50 a.m.
                                   Re: WMaiDFrungi 11/21/06 7:09 p.m.

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