Time Travel
Paradoxes:
One of the most intriguing
qualities of time travel is its ability to create
paradoxes and other conceptually troubling phenomena. Dr. Who has
explored time paradoxes in several episodes including
Father's Day
in which the doctor's companion Rose travels back in
time to rescue her father from being run over by a
car. As a result, she, her father, the Doctor and
several other bystanders become trapped in a paradox
and tormented by "Reapers" which resemble huge bats.
![Father's Day](Images/timetravel3.jpg)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a8/Fathers_Day_%28Doctor_Who%29.jpg |
Physicists have puzzled over the possibility
of time paradoxes which could be generated as
the result of time travel. For example, what
would happen if someone traveled back in time
and killed their grandfather before he had met
the individual's grandmother? The individual
could therefor not exist, owing to the fact
that one of their parents would not have been
born.
Several theories have been proposed which
would ban such paradoxes from occurring (other
than the appearance of man eating bat
creatures). One theory is that there is a
cosmic law which prevents one from creating
paradoxes in the same way that there is a
cosmic law preventing someone from walking
through walls. Another theory, known as the
many worlds theory suggests that traveling
back in time would result in the formation of
a new timeline. As a result, a new world would
be manipulated while the original remained
unaffected. The consequence of such a model
would be that one could travel back in time
and murder a man who is genetically identical
to their own grandfather, but in reality is
not their relative (5).
Time travel allows for many
intriguing possibilities. While it may seem
bazaar or even paradoxical, there are no
physical laws which ban its existence. In
fact, because of time dilation, we are able to
time travel in minute amounts without
considerable effort. Unfortunately, the leaps
achieved by the Doctor as still well outside
our grasp. |
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