Ontological Paradox

It's Paradox Week on Rocketboom. Today, Molly explains the ontological paradox.

Ontological Paradox
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontological_paradox

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Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• ontological
• paradox
• TimeTravel

[ChristianTarsney]

The "thermal law of dynamics," eh?

[p34cekeeper]

@OldSchoolSkill

Thank you, hardly anyone gets this: if, somehow, one could travel through time, and decided to travel to the same location one day in the past, you would 'appear' in outer space, because the planet wasn't there one day ago.

High-school level physics can defeat most of the pseudo-science you see/hear every day. Rule of cool, right?

[RaikenXion]

shes beautiful

[MrCrushus]

so...hot...

[lonestar2779]

@lonestar2779 no ring either, so your free :)

[lonestar2779]

your hot.... travel to me

[Emeengor]

@Emeengor {continuing from post 1}.... manipulate atoms indvidually you have to know ALL the atoms original location on the desired date) there is no other way to achieve TEH END! leave with it.... it could be possible (just for the sake of imagination ) to travel through other dimensions in which we could see the past (assuming other dimensions evolve EXACTLY as ours and that the universe of that dimension started to expand in absolute time later than ours so to put it simple {continues}

[Emeengor]

why pple get so romantic about all that time travel stuff for me its very simple!time travel to the past on the same dimension of the same universe is plausible but practly imposiible= you ne unimaginably huge amounds of energy to reverse every movement of every atom (for example in earth)in order to reset it to its original position at the desired date you like to reanimate(even if it was possible to control that force and be able to think of a way to nanipulate atoms indvidually.. {continues}

[p34cekeeper]

@FretNinja

That's a good point, but I would argue that the coordinate problem is far from simple: which reference frame do you use? All of the bodies and systems in the universe oscillate constantly in relation to eachother, so to mathematically predict the position of the earth 1,000,000 years ago, you would have to account for the influence of an enormous number of planetary, solar, and extra-solar events.

[FretNinja]

@p34cekeeper A man, on earth, which is travelling from A to B must be oriented correctly when being transported through time. Otherrwise, even if the point of entry was correct, if the man did not have the same momentum AND in the same direction as the planet, then... SPLAT!

[FretNinja]

@p34cekeeper lol yeah but simple co-ordinates solves this problem, the problem of time travel makes this small obstacle insignificant.

Just to add to it though, not only does the point of the materialization or portal need to be addressed but also perhaps the speed at which the planet moves and in what direction it is travelling in relation to the speed and direction of whatever is being transported through time.