Retrocasualty in Time Travel

1456 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Writing about time travel

“Can the future affect the present, and can the present affect the past?”(1) This is the question posed by the philosophical concept of retrocasualty – the product of time travel to the past. Time travel has been a common staple in science fiction writing, so many of its explanations owe their origins to tales of protagonists discovering its often confusing implications. Many people may already have a great understanding of a few hypothesized behaviors of time travel due to popular media, such as Back to the Future, Star Trek, and many other works of fiction. Currently, scientific knowledge is too premature to know if time travel is possible, no less how it behaves, so questions and answers are open for anybody to contemplate. The most famous question of time travel is the one posed by the temporal paradox, in which the time traveler invokes a condition which causes the circumstances that led up to time travel, or the time traveler’s presence, to become impossible. Many theories have attempted to answer this paradox, introducing behaviorally diverse concepts such as merging time lines, multiple dimensions, or a nature of time where everything is predestined. The act of time travel can produce radically different effects, depending on which solution to the temporal paradox is applied. The largest difference between expressed solutions to the temporal paradox is in what degree they assume deterministic behavior of the time line. The time line protection hypothesis(2) is a rigidly deterministic solution to the temporal paradox, one that hypothesizes that any action that can cause a paradox will ultimately fail, due to some unforeseen twist of fate. This paradox assumes that all time travel to the past is (or will) become part of t... ... middle of paper ... ... then, it will remain an elusive tool for science fiction and philosophical contemplation. Works Cited “Retrocasualty.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 05:51, 11 October 2010 2) “Temporal Paradox – Time Line Protection Hypothesis.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 05:51, 11 October 2010 3) “Temporal Paradox – Harmony Theory.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 05:51, 11 October 2010 4) “Temporal Paradox – Temporal Merging Hypothesis.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 05:51, 11 October 2010 5) “Temporal Paradox – Time Line Protection Hypothesis.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 05:51, 11 October 2010

Show More
Related

  • Manipulation In The Cold Equations By Tom Godwin

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “The Cold Equations”, a short story by Tom Godwin, Godwin did some interesting things with time as he described the unfortunate story of a girl who stowed away illegally on a small spacecraft. The girl, Marilyn, did not know the consequence would be her own death. Unquestionably, in “The Cold Equations,” Tom Godwin manipulated time in order to influence the pace of the plot, because the manipulation and presence of time and deadlines creates suspense, inspires increased interest, and purposefully instills a sense of impending doom.

    Read More

  • Chisholm and the Doctrine of Temporal Parts

    2892 Words  | 6 Pages

    In the appendix to Person and Object, Roderick Chisholm discusses the doctrine of temporal parts. Chisholm’s position is that the arguments commonly supplied in support of the doctrine are not successful. In this paper, I will consider Chisholm’s objections and then give my own responses in favor of the doctrine of temporal parts.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of William Cronon's Why The Past Matters

    685 Words  | 2 Pages

    The study of past events have been a common practice of mankind since the verbal telling of stories by our ancestors. William Cronon, in his article “Why the Past Matters,” asserts that the remembrance of the past “keeps us in place.” Our individual memories and experiences shape how we act in our daily lives. In addition to influencing us at an individual level, our collective history binds us together as a society. Without knowing where we have been or what we have experienced, it is nearly impossible to judge progress or know which courses of action to pursue. The goal of the historian is to analyze and explain past events, of which they rarely have firsthand memory of, and apply the gained knowledge to make connections with current and future events.

    Read More

  • Irony in Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...t something can only happen if certain conditions prevents the very fulfilling of that condition prevents it from ever happening." (Colmer 211)

    Read More

  • Philip J. Erdelsky's The Birthday Paradox Theory

    1137 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Birthday Paradox theory was discovered to hold to it’s truth 66.7% of the time, meaning that this theory is based off of some presence of logic and is most likely bound to occur. However, since the paradox did not occur in all three group experiments, it is untrue. Looking further into research documents of other experimentations on the paradox, which were found to be true, it was decided that something had to contribute to this theory taking place more often than not. Although “The Birthday Paradox” is claimed to be an concurrence of events with no given connection, it seems that there has to be some form of connection which would pertain to why the people in each random group were in the same random location at the same

    Read More

  • Analyzing McTaggart's Theory of Time

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    John McTaggart in his essay “Time” presents a radical argument that claims time is unreal. While the argument is interesting and has attracted much attention for his arguments, I remain unconvinced of the argument he makes. This paper will lay out McTaggart’s argument that time in unreal, critically analyze why I believe McTaggart’s argument fails and present an alternative idea about time, utilizing aspects of McTaggart’s argument.

    Read More

  • Compatibility of Free Will in The Tenseless Theory of Time

    2073 Words  | 5 Pages

    , The debate between free will and fatalism has existed since the conceptualization of time. On one hand, in everyday life, time flows in a uniform fashion. People experience time in which there is a past, present, and a future. Yet, physicists and philosophers see time as something completely different. In fact, they see time as an illusion. Called the tenseless theory of time, time does not flow but this theory views time as a fourth dimension where all past, present, and future events are equal (Callender & Edney, 2004). Essentially, this theory proposes that there is no passage of time and no becoming of future events. As a result, one can view this theory as a “block” universe in which every event that has happened, is happening as of right now, and is going to happen has been set in stone.

    Read More

  • l

    1639 Words  | 4 Pages

    b) Indeterminism: The idea that the nature of the universe is not determined by previous points in time

    Read More

  • Analysis Of A New Refutation Of Time

    1600 Words  | 4 Pages

    In this short story, Dr. Yu Tsen, a Chinese spy for the German army, realizes that he is soon to be murdered by a Captain Madden and that he must pass on information of paramount importance to “the Chief” before his death. Reflecting upon his impending doom, Tsen remarks that “everything happens to a man precisely, precisely now. Centuries of centuries and only in the present do things happen; countless men in the air, on the face of the earth and the sea, and all that really is happening is happening to me…” (The Garden of the Forking Paths, 40). This immediately smacks of Borges theories on time, namely his point that time is like an ever-rotating sphere, which appears in “A New Refutation of Time.” Essentially, all the actions that have occurred and will occur take place in what is perceived as the present, and this is the moment our protagonist chooses to live

    Read More

  • Discuss the Role of Memory and Recollection In Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let me Go (2005)

    2451 Words  | 5 Pages

    Suddendorf, T. & Corballis, M.C. (2007) The evolution of foresight: What is mental time travel, and is it unique to humans? [On-line] Available from: http://www.memorylab.org/Files/Corballis_MTT_BBS_2007.pdf, [accessed 5th May 2011].

    Read More

  • Interview With an Elderly Person

    2512 Words  | 6 Pages

    Quoidbach, J., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2013). The end of history illusion. Science, 339(6115), 96–98.

    Read More

  • The Negative Effects Of Time Travel

    1605 Words  | 4 Pages

    The scientific definition of time is a measurement of progress that is relative to an individual’s perception of events (HowStuffWorks.com, 2010). A psychological study proves that these viewpoints are

    Read More

  • The Time Machine Themes

    1085 Words  | 3 Pages

    Herbert George (H.G.) Wells’ 1895 scientific romance novella, The Time Machine, is considered to be one of the forerunners of the science fiction genre. Whilst the story was not the first to explore the concept of time travel, it is quite significant for its pseudoscientific account of how time travel could perhaps occur, this interpretation has shown to be quite influential to numerous productions in both media and literature. Wells explores a number of themes throughout this novella, however there are three prominent ones, the relativity of time, social Darwinism and evolution, and capitalism. These themes explore concepts which are relevant to society and creates connections with the intended 19th century audience.

    Read More

  • Clock Arithmetic

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    The topic of time has always been one of interest to me at least on a philosophical basis. Through the works of Einstein, ancient timepieces and calendars such as Stonehenge, and even theories on past and present, time is everywhere. I chose this topic to perhaps explore further the relevance of clocks and timepieces in mathematics and arithmetic. To gain a better understanding of the mathematical features of time would be rewarding knowing that philosophy and mathematics are closely related.

    Read More

  • The Bermuda Triangle

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    science can't totally disprove this theory since we don't quite know the full nature of time, and/or

    Read More

More about Retrocasualty in Time Travel

Open Document