Linear Deterministic Time Travel

I believe if time travel were possible (I am not making any decision I'm unsure, more to the side of saying no) but if it were possible... There would be perhaps, many paradoxes using the school of thought most prescribe to when talking time travel.

I struggle to put in words how I see it in my head so I did make this diagram. Basically I feel if it were possible to time travel on what we have subscribed to being a linear time line, the original point when time was traveled could not and should not be distinguished as separate from the time-line itself. I think that when time is traveled we have to realize nothing actually happens, the time-line doesn't and can not split into myriad alternate universes. This is absurd.

I believe when you travel you have created a loop in which cause and effect are absolute in the same way they are in a linear causal deterministic system. This being said the loop is still part of the linear system, as it originated from it. In such a sense there is no loop at all but it is best to create a loop for better understanding. The loop is a full one and as such you can't distinguish from start and end point. It becomes a cycle, which can't be broken or avoided. Even if you knew you had just traveled in time, nothing you could do could sabotage the world because it has already taken place.

A cycle in nature - not just the nature on our planet, but all of the universe is another large static variable alike cause and effect. It can be seen in all things, over large or short periods of time.

Thu, Sep 24, 2009  Permanent link

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Causal Determinism

I like to work with cosmology in this theory in that cause and effect is a fundamental in all of the universe in my opinion.
So if you accept the big bang theory and that the universe was originally a singularity. Then the consequent effect of the big bang is everything that has happened up to this point. What we did yesterday is a direct effect of the big bang and what we are doing now and tomorrow shall also be. Which means the mind also is just an effect of the big bang and was inevitable
to claim that we have any amount of free-will over what happens - in this case would be contradictory.


All the processes of the mind being cause and effect in what order do they come about? The brain produces the mind, the mind is a tabula rasa when you are born - the brain however retains some genetic processes that which without the mind could never form - when the brain becomes damaged you damage the mind through whichever way it becomes damaged; drugs, accident it doesn't matter which really but it's just a further little way of seeing the mind comes after the brain. The genetic parts of our brain that come way before consciousness are things such as our capacity for creativity, intelligence, memory and the
senses. These all later have a great affect on how our mind will work and in doing so perceive our own reality.

Causal determinism is not essentially a bad thing... Why? Well in a deterministic system which yes chaos/randomness can exist in at least from the perspective of the observer*, we are equally important to anything else in this universe... A tower without it's supports is not going to stand. We have our place, we have our function - this is our point - if there is any
meaning in life it is to fulfill this, to just be.

This is different from say a fatalist view-point.

*Chaos and randomness are subjective because the observer has a wide range of tools that are arbitrary without an observer to administer them. These are used to measure and calculate probability. This is just one way of looking at the future, which although predetermined by causality is not yet fixed because the cause and effect is a continually on-going thing e.g. We do (X) now and (X) will later cause (Z) the effect. Despite this chaos is not chaos if it was going to happen anyway in the sense that although the observer can predict and calculate possible odds of an outcome which would mean to us that there are finite outcomes and thus that causal determinism is not possible this is an invalid notion - like I said chaos is not chaos if it was going to happen anyway - no matter what the possibilities are it was never going to happen any other way. A ball has a chance however slim that when bounced up against a wall that it will go right through but it never does. Yes there are slim chances where-in you may be hit by lightning this is a possibility, yes it has happened this does not however prove my argument incoherent. As there is a chance that what DOES happen will happen. I am not arguing against chance I am arguing that chaos rules over causal determinism.

Causal determinism can work with randomness. Things are simply random from the perspective of the observer. If there was no observer, something that was random would never have been observed as such and there would be no distinction between what is
random and what is not random.

What I am saying is - random events are not random, we just perceive them as such as we are unable to understand all of the actions that happened previously.

Causal determinism is perfectly replicable and is indubitable. If someone can not see that determinism is completely provable using inferable knowledge and observable in day to day life, then essentially there is something wrong with their
logic.

Some people have problems with determinism because they can't accept it has any rule over them... As such they have a dualistic view of the world which is a fallacy. We are beings made up almost completely from experience and genetics play a part also, experience being a causal chain of effect which leads to new experience - with this experience we can make more choices call it action and re-action in this instance but in essence is the same as cause and effect. It has a snowball effect and the more experienced we get the better we get at making these decisions and eventually we may become 'wise'.
Now onto the genetics; genetics are also a deterministically decided thing to challenge this point would be to challenge that your mother and father having intercourse is the cause of the effect of your birth.

You see it is observable everywhere.

Tue, Sep 15, 2009  Permanent link

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