I've started watching Star Trek:Voyager on BBC America & one of the episodes I've watched deals with time travel. In it someone mentions the concept of a "Causality Paradox". Just what does that mean anyway?
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One take: " 'āAll You Zombiesā' " by Robert A. Heinlein (R.A.H. R.A.H. R.A.H!)I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.
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I'm rectally sourcing this, however, based upon this link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causality_(physics)
it would appear to me that a "Causality Paradox" would be something happening before or after it's supposed to. And because it shouldn't happen (because it either has no cause, or the cause happens after the event, I would guess).
I think that's the paradox.
It would be like if a glass was knocked off of a table after it shatters on the floor.Skilled programmers aren't cheap. Cheap programmers aren't skilled.
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The classic example is going back and time and killing one of your grandparents before whichever parent they birthed is conceived. Another example would be travelling back in time and showing previous you how to build a time machine, after you'd spent years getting it to work.You're only delaying the inevitable, you run at your own expense. The repo man gets paid to chase you. ~Argabarga
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The Causality Paradox is a loop. A causes B causes C causes A. That is the example given in All You Zombies. Another would be to go back in time and tell yourself how to build a time machine. One of the stories in the Stainless Steel Rat series also used the Causality Paradox. Villain attacks the future. Hero goes back in time to stop the villain. Villain attacks the future to stop hero from coming back in time.
What Kittish referenced is often referred to as the Consistency Paradox or the Grandfather Paradox. Taking an action that would inherently prevent you from taking that action.
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There's another one in the PERN universe - the story deals with the Question Song, all but one of the dragon roosts mysteriously emptying after the last Thread fall, and a VERY long span between Thread falls.
This one also appears in the anthology "Time Wars", edited by Poul Anderson.Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.
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wolfie -- It's been so long since I last re-read those books. You're describing the events of Moreta's Ride (and, indirectly, some of what happened in the original sets of books), correct? ...so long that I've forgotten -- Did Lessa "time it" back to Moreta's era and effectively inspire the Question Song that led to the mass temporal migration?"For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
"The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
"Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
"There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
"Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
"Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
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No. Lessa's story and Moreta's both involve time travel, but in very different time periods, and the two never get near each others' times."Crazy may always be open for business, but on the full moon, it has buy one get one free specials." - WishfulSpirit
"Sometimes customers remind me of zombies, but I'm pretty sure that zombies are smarter." - MelindaJoy77
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Quoth csquared View PostThe Causality Paradox is a loop. A causes B causes C causes A. That is the example given in All You Zombies. Another would be to go back in time and tell yourself how to build a time machine. One of the stories in the Stainless Steel Rat series also used the Causality Paradox. Villain attacks the future. Hero goes back in time to stop the villain. Villain attacks the future to stop hero from coming back in time.
What Kittish referenced is often referred to as the Consistency Paradox or the Grandfather Paradox. Taking an action that would inherently prevent you from taking that action.
I couldn't remember the name of the Heinlein story. It's a beautiful example, and a pretty good story, too.You're only delaying the inevitable, you run at your own expense. The repo man gets paid to chase you. ~Argabarga
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Quoth EricKei View PostDid Lessa "time it" back to Moreta's era and effectively inspire the Question Song that led to the mass temporal migration?Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.
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Thanks to ye both
Interesting you're writing the planet's name like that -- Not everyone is aware that it's an acronym (iirc: something like "Planet: Earthlike; Resources: Nominal")"For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
"The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
"Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
"There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
"Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
"Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
Acts of Gord ā Read it, Learn it, Love it!
"Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me
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Another story that may fit this is The Door Into Summer by Heinlein.
The protagonist gets sent to the future and is confused at how some equipment is very intuitive to use, exactly how he would set it up if he was designing it. That the competing company, with a slightly different design was also started at the same time, by the same person as Company A.
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Quoth Sakka View PostAnother story that may fit this is The Door Into Summer by Heinlein.Last edited by csquared; 02-15-2017, 11:59 PM.
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