Talk:Grandfather paradox

Some of the content of the article (parts that were copied here) seems to be copied from the following page:. Both the article and this page should be deleted and recreated with those parts that are not a copyright violation. -- Cid Highwind 16:10, 25 Jun 2004 (CEST)


 * Done. -- Cid Highwind 11:28, 29 Jun 2004 (CEST)

I don't know what to make of all those Paradox resolutions. We should probably concentrate on those that were used or mentioned in Trek episodes, not include theories that have no basis in the series or even scenarios that aren't a grandfather paradox at all. I will move those cases here for discussion. -- Cid Highwind 10:07, 4 Jun 2004 (CEST)


 * The "something happening to prevent it" idea is what I call TV physics. The idea that something would magically happen to prevent you from killing your own grandfather is somewhat ridiculous. Star Trek's writers, since "City on the Edge of Forever" have been sensible enough to show the affects of changes to the timeline while isolating certain characters from them so that they can undo the changes and restore everything to "normal". The TNG episode "Parallels" suggests that for every single possible combination of events there is a parallel universe where that combination took place. Therefore, there would exist universes where you did and did not kill your grandfather and so you would be from the universe where you didn't, and thus continue to exist. However, a new universe would also be created where your grandfather was killed and all of his subsequent interactions with the rest of that universe never took place. Alex Peckover 10:42, Jun 4, 2004 (CEST)


 * Actually, the universa discussed in are a bit more complicated than is led on. In Parallels, the only universa you get to see are those significally different from the one Worf was in originally. However, the technobabble explanation of Data suggested that the producers used the "many worlds" interpretation of the quantum theory. This interpretation has existed for a long time, and suggest that every time when even one subatomic particle can go one way or the other, two universa form, one in which the particle went this way, and one where it went the other. So there are countless universa splitting off every nanosecond.


 * There is an interpretation of time seperate from this quantum interpretation that shares much of the characteristics, but isn't quite the same. This interpretation states that normally, one timeline exists. But when one travels back in time, a nw timeline breaks off. Now untill the point in time you travelled to, those timelines were one and the same. After that point, you have the original timeline, and the one in which you have travelled back in time (another timeline also breaks off at your starting point of timetravel, but let's not get into that). This interpretation was used in the movie "Back to the Future".


 * One should try to make these two interpretations very distinct, since they may appear very much alike, but aren't. The interpretation used in Paralels had nothing to do with time, and the interpretation from Back to the Future had nothing to do with quantumphysics.


 * I'm not really sure which explanation is used in Star Trek. Sometimes they will use seperate timelines, like in, but then in other episodes, like , the effects of a timetraveller to the past have direct effects to te future. In this case, the effects don't just pop in Janeway's head, but have allways been there, even before the time jump was actually made. There are also episodes in which the effects of an altered past start to affect the present from one second to another, like in , but have not always existed.


 * The question is how the paradox is explained in the Star Trek universe, when the producers won't stick with one theory. I reside with Janeway: Temporal paradoxes only serve to give you headaches. -- Redge 15:17, 4 Aug 2004 (CEST)

For an interesting theory and resolution to the Grandfather paradox, check out this link: The Effects of Time Travel on History in a Single Time Stream Universe -- Krevaner 03:08, 4 Aug 2004 (CEST)

Where's the Trek reference? Enzo Aquarius 17:39, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)


 * Although this comment is five years old, I want to second it. I don't believe the grandfather paradox was ever mentioned in Trek. I'm gonna add a delete tag to this article in an attempt to start a discussion. -Angry Future Romulan 19:52, September 3, 2010 (UTC)