Harry
Tash Jayasinghe
CibbuanoYou can't go back in time and prevent your parents from having you
June 30th 2008 03:02
That is, whatever you do in the past, has to be consistent with the future. It's a premise that was suggested in the terrific Sci-Fi novel "Timescape", that the past and the present had to be free of paradox.
From the BBC article:
""Quantum mechanics distinguishes between something that might happen and something that did happen," Professor Dan Greenberger, of the City University of New York, US, told the BBC News website.
"If we don't know your father is alive right now - if there is only a 90% chance that he is alive right now, then there is a chance that you can go back and kill him.
"But if you know he is alive, there is no chance you can kill him." "
"If we don't know your father is alive right now - if there is only a 90% chance that he is alive right now, then there is a chance that you can go back and kill him.
"But if you know he is alive, there is no chance you can kill him." "
Does this prevent me from going back in time and handing out birth-control pamphlets to the parents of middle-school parents? I suppose so - if my bullies were never born, I'd never be bullied, and wouldn't know to go back in time.
It's a maze of critical thought, and we'll leave it to the quantum mechanics.
Does it offer you interesting chances in the dating game, though? You've been eyeing that girl that works at the bar, so go back in time, time-travel-stalk her to learn a little bit about her, then surprise her with your remarkable insight into her past. It's a creepy plot right out of a slapstick comedy, but with much more energy consumption.
Anyway, Bill Murray got slapped in the face for being too perfect in "Groundhog Day". You better watch your step.
Ladies, if you're thinking about doing the same thing, you've got it slightly easier. Just appear in your man's life when he's down, give him some level of comfort, then disappear back to your present. You'll be the mysterious stranger that propped him up. Reappear in his life and knock him off his feet.
*this image is from Gizmodo
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