Time travel paradox / conundrum

[BostonPatriot]

I guess this is the place to post this... Just curious if anybody has any thoughts/answers on this:

Suppose I travel back in time and kill my great-great-grandmother before I was born.

Therefore I do not exist, because I was never born. Which means that I could not travel back in time, since I don't exist.

But, since I don't exist, (because I killed my ancestor) how can I travel back in time to commit the act? And since I can't do that, then I didn't kill her. Which means, I do exist.

Interesting paradox, isn't it?:think:

[Residential Bob]

Both of my great great grandmothers were already dead before I was born.

I'll take a ham on rye.

[bayoubill]

Both of my great great grandmothers were already dead before I was born.

I'll take a ham on rye.


lol...


you want fries with that?

[bayoubill]

Both of my great great grandmothers were already dead before I was born.

I'll take a ham on rye.


BTW, RB...


unless you've got a serious case of redneckitis...


you should have no less than eight great great grandmothers. ;)

[JimGP20]

I guess this is the place to post this... Just curious if anybody has any thoughts/answers on this:

Suppose I travel back in time and kill my great-great-grandmother before I was born.

Therefore I do not exist, because I was never born. Which means that I could not travel back in time, since I don't exist.

But, since I don't exist, (because I killed my ancestor) how can I travel back in time to commit the act? And since I can't do that, then I didn't kill her. Which means, I do exist.

Interesting paradox, isn't it?:think:

The moment that you kill your great-great-grandmother, you alter the course of future history. You would vanish into thin air as would your parents and their parents and any other children that they fathered. Geez man..... didn't you see Marty's sister and brother fading from that picture in "Back To The Future" ?? :neutral:

[Dreamy]

I guess this is the place to post this... Just curious if anybody has any thoughts/answers on this:

Suppose I travel back in time and kill my great-great-grandmother before I was born.

Therefore I do not exist, because I was never born. Which means that I could not travel back in time, since I don't exist.

But, since I don't exist, (because I killed my ancestor) how can I travel back in time to commit the act? And since I can't do that, then I didn't kill her. Which means, I do exist.

Interesting paradox, isn't it?:think:


Hey Boston,how about those Sox?:mrgreen:

[Residential Bob]

BTW, RB...


unless you've got a serious case of redneckitis...


you should have no less than eight great great grandmothers. ;)Eight of whom are recorded in the family Bible.

The other six shot each other with their muskets.

[ThrowCop]

There are many possible answers to this classic, "Grandfather Paradox" question.

The two I lean toward are 1st that you cannot go back in time & kill our Grandfather since you would change the universe & the universe will not allow it.

The second is that there are many different universes that are formed with any & all possible outcomes. You can kill your Grandfather but if you went forward in time it would be to an entirely different universe.

[GoBucks]

The moment that you kill your great-great-grandmother, you alter the course of future history. You would vanish into thin air as would your parents and their parents and any other children that they fathered. Geez man..... didn't you see Marty's sister and brother fading from that picture in "Back To The Future" ?? :neutral:

Finally! someone with "hard science" to back up his answer!

[muhadeeb99]

I guess this is the place to post this... Just curious if anybody has any thoughts/answers on this:

Suppose I travel back in time and kill my great-great-grandmother before I was born.

Therefore I do not exist, because I was never born. Which means that I could not travel back in time, since I don't exist.

But, since I don't exist, (because I killed my ancestor) how can I travel back in time to commit the act? And since I can't do that, then I didn't kill her. Which means, I do exist.

Interesting paradox, isn't it?:think:

Basically a thought experiment that went wrong.:))
Then again in a parallel universe(Multiverse) You could with a phased conditioner and an alternating heisenberg compensator.:doh:

[dittoheadAZ]

Answer 1: It's no paradox, because if you kill your great-great-grandmother (which would most likely be before you were born anyway), it wouldn't necessarily be before your great-grandmother was born... which would be the key point.

Answer 2: Assuming that you meant that you went back in time and killed your great-great-grandmother before your great-grandmother was born, the answer is that you didn't, because otherwise, you wouldn't have been born in order to go back and kill her.

Answer 3: By killing your great-great-grandmother before your great-grandmother is born, you have created an alternate timeline (or, according to those who think that all possible realities exist concurrently, you will have jumped to an alternate timeline in which you wouldn't have otherwise existed).

Answer 4: Your attempt to go back in time and alter history would be thwarted by the High Council of the Time Lords at some point before they were all wiped out. Your sentence will be to be trapped forever in a strange world where someone who badly overacts keeps shouting "Lord Nimon, Lord Nimon!" while bugging out his eyes.

Answer 5: What makes you so sure you exist NOW? You could be just a figment of someone else's imagination thinking about a universe in which you wouldn't exist; by that figment going back in time and appearing to kill its own great-great-grandmother, the imagination will immediately end, and reality will be restored, in which you don't exist. So don't try it - someone might wake up.

Answer 3: <REMOVED> by the Temporal Police. This answer hit too close to the real solution. This poster is far too intelligent to be left alone; we are going to watch him closer than Janet Napolitano is, just to make sure he doesn't let out any secrets in the future that could destroy the fabric of reality.

[super cool ski instructor]

Hey if i could travel through time I sure as hell wouldn't waste my time killing my great granfather :D

[dittoheadAZ]

BTW, RB...


unless you've got a serious case of redneckitis...


you should have no less than eight great great grandmothers. ;)

Oh holy cow - that would be even better than Jeff Foxworthy's "family tree doesn't fork"...

If you only have one great-grandmother... you might be a redneck!

[Residential Bob]

Hey if i could travel through time I sure as hell wouldn't waste my time killing my great granfather :DWould you kill mine? I would like a different one.

[super cool ski instructor]

Would you kill mine? I would like a different one.

What's in it for me? Money? I could use it to buy a new snood during my time travel.

[EnchantedFrog]

Hey if i could travel through time I sure as hell wouldn't waste my time killing my great granfather :D
I wouldn't either. I'd go back and buy a few thousand shares of choice stocks. When I got back to the future I'd cash them in for big bucks. :D

[Talk2Bill]

caught in a Time travel paradox ?

there's an app for that!

[Talk2Bill]

to the actual question: bigger smarter geeks than us have gone very deep in to this idea. and the answer is: even if you could time travel and could meet your grandparent you could not kill them before they made your parent. you would always fail. in fact you might discover that the story they told you of the time they were attacked was about you.

[ThrowCop]

caught in a Time travel paradox ?

there's an app for that!:))

[Claymore]

lol...


you want fries with that?

I didn't know you were a UCONN business major?

[BostonPatriot]

There are many possible answers to this classic, "Grandfather Paradox" question.

The two I lean toward are 1st that you cannot go back in time & kill our Grandfather since you would change the universe & the universe will not allow it.

The second is that there are many different universes that are formed with any & all possible outcomes. You can kill your Grandfather but if you went forward in time it would be to an entirely different universe.

Reminds me of Star Trek TOS "Mirror Mirror" or TNG "Parallels" (The one where Worf is caught in alternate universes."

[BostonPatriot]

I wouldn't either. I'd go back and buy a few thousand shares of choice stocks. When I got back to the future I'd cash them in for big bucks. :D

You could use the same principle for picking horseraces or lottery numbers.

[Darkwind]

The moment that you kill your great-great-grandmother, you alter the course of future history. You would vanish into thin air as would your parents and their parents and any other children that they fathered. Geez man..... didn't you see Marty's sister and brother fading from that picture in "Back To The Future" ?? :neutral:Actually, that isn't quite true. You would still exist but you would become part of an alternative timeline in which your grandparent did not die. But since you killed your grandparent, the timeline in which you exist would become cut off from the rest of the time stream and would become isolated and alone.

[Darkwind]

Answer 1: It's no paradox, because if you kill your great-great-grandmother (which would most likely be before you were born anyway), it wouldn't necessarily be before your great-grandmother was born... which would be the key point.

Answer 2: Assuming that you meant that you went back in time and killed your great-great-grandmother before your great-grandmother was born, the answer is that you didn't, because otherwise, you wouldn't have been born in order to go back and kill her.

Answer 3: By killing your great-great-grandmother before your great-grandmother is born, you have created an alternate timeline (or, according to those who think that all possible realities exist concurrently, you will have jumped to an alternate timeline in which you wouldn't have otherwise existed).

Answer 4: Your attempt to go back in time and alter history would be thwarted by the High Council of the Time Lords at some point before they were all wiped out. Your sentence will be to be trapped forever in a strange world where someone who badly overacts keeps shouting "Lord Nimon, Lord Nimon!" while bugging out his eyes.

Answer 5: What makes you so sure you exist NOW? You could be just a figment of someone else's imagination thinking about a universe in which you wouldn't exist; by that figment going back in time and appearing to kill its own great-great-grandmother, the imagination will immediately end, and reality will be restored, in which you don't exist. So don't try it - someone might wake up.

Answer 3: <REMOVED> by the Temporal Police. This answer hit too close to the real solution. This poster is far too intelligent to be left alone; we are going to watch him closer than Janet Napolitano is, just to make sure he doesn't let out any secrets in the future that could destroy the fabric of reality.


:)):)):)):)):))



Post of the day!

[czzzaar]

I guess this is the place to post this... Just curious if anybody has any thoughts/answers on this:

Suppose I travel back in time and kill my great-great-grandmother before I was born.

Therefore I do not exist, because I was never born. Which means that I could not travel back in time, since I don't exist.

But, since I don't exist, (because I killed my ancestor) how can I travel back in time to commit the act? And since I can't do that, then I didn't kill her. Which means, I do exist.

Interesting paradox, isn't it?:think:

Simple. You cannot change the past. Whatever you do in the past already happened. Sure you killed you great-great grandmother before you were born but since you were alive to do it it must mean that you great grandmother (or great grand father) has already been born.

Anyway, what sick bastard would do such a thing? Get help.

[czzzaar]

answer 1: It's no paradox, because if you kill your great-great-grandmother (which would most likely be before you were born anyway), it wouldn't necessarily be before your great-grandmother was born... Which would be the key point.

Answer 2: Assuming that you meant that you went back in time and killed your great-great-grandmother before your great-grandmother was born, the answer is that you didn't, because otherwise, you wouldn't have been born in order to go back and kill her.

Answer 3: By killing your great-great-grandmother before your great-grandmother is born, you have created an alternate timeline (or, according to those who think that all possible realities exist concurrently, you will have jumped to an alternate timeline in which you wouldn't have otherwise existed).

Answer 4: Your attempt to go back in time and alter history would be thwarted by the high council of the time lords at some point before they were all wiped out. Your sentence will be to be trapped forever in a strange world where someone who badly overacts keeps shouting "lord nimon, lord nimon!" while bugging out his eyes.

Answer 5: What makes you so sure you exist now? You could be just a figment of someone else's imagination thinking about a universe in which you wouldn't exist; by that figment going back in time and appearing to kill its own great-great-grandmother, the imagination will immediately end, and reality will be restored, in which you don't exist. So don't try it - someone might wake up.

Answer 3: <removed> by the temporal police. This answer hit too close to the real solution. This poster is far too intelligent to be left alone; we are going to watch him closer than janet napolitano is, just to make sure he doesn't let out any secrets in the future that could destroy the fabric of reality.

lol.