Robin Hanson <rhanson@gmu.edu> wrote:
> Dave Sill wrote:
> > Robin Hanson wrote:
> > > Not every use of a time machine creates a grandfather paradox. We're
> > > not talking about killing your previous self, just about giving them $1
> > > more to spend back then. I see nothing paradoxical about that.
> >
> >OK, either I received the money from the future or I didn't. If I did, then
> >how can I *not* decide to send it back now? If I didn't, how can I change
> >the past by deciding to send it back today? And if I could decide to send
> >money to myself in the past, wouldn't that create a feedback loop? E.g., I
> >send back $1000 that turns into $5000 today which I reinvest in the past so
> >it grows into $25000 today which I reinvest in the past...
>
> There have been a bunch of physics articles about time machines over the last
> few decades. They clearly show that time machines are not logically
> impossible, though it is not yet clear whether or not they are physically
> possible with standard physics.
Do you not see the paradoxes in that paragraph? Whether or not time machines
are logically or physically possible, doing something in the present that
changes the past is Paradoxville.
-Dave
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:50:19 MDT