Time paradox

lets take an example.

A man travels back in time and does something insignificant, thus "butterfly" effect goes haywire and he winds up never having been born. BUT if he was never born how could he have gone back in time and caused said time paradox to stop him being born?

It would appear then, that him being born is of no effect or difference.  It would exist in nothing but memory, and it  doesn't matter.  He simply now exists in this "new" universe, seperating from the one he knew the instant he entered it.

Think of it like a stream of water - If there are 2 paths for it to take, but it so happens to take one over the other, it will continue to do so until it is blocked off.  Then it will take the other stream.  By travelling back, we simply cut off the stream that was being taken and force the flow of time to take one of the infinity many other paths.

Umm, ok then, the same problem exists in the "new" universe.  The universe takes a different path at the time of its death, but what is the cause of the butterfly dying if one of the new paths the universe is forced to take is one in which he was never born?

The cause of the butterfly dying?  I'm not sure what you mean by this, could you clarify?

As far as I'm concerned, there is no problem as to whether he becomes born or not in the future of this universe.  He simply "exists" now in this new universe and that's all there is to it.  It's kind of like asking what our universe is, exactly.  We can dissect specific parts of it, but as a whole, it simply "exists", to the best of our knowledge.

If he never existed then there is no reason for the split to take place...therefore time paradox.

But, if by changing time you create a=n alternate universe different from the one you left then it is possible for time to be changed even though the person who changed it would no longer exist.

>If he never existed then there is no reason for the split to take place...therefore time paradox

I see.  Then it would appear that his existence "began" at two different points - one is when he was born in the old universe, and the other would be when he entered the new one.  He was essentially born in a path that is no longer being used, but that doesn't change the fact of his existence.  He was born, but it didn't happen in the new universe.  If you look at the old universe and the new one as completely different paths instead of "the same universe", you might reach the same conclusion.

What you described is a fairly commonly used example for a "Time Paradox"

I don't see any real question or discussion topic...

The very defination of a Paradox states that it is self-contradictory and defies logical consideration.

All of the above posts would perhaps have some merit, if by chance time travel were possible and alternative dimensions were somehow proven to exist in areas outside of the realm of our imagination and the minds of science fiction authors.

Travelling backward in time and changing anything creates a Paradox.

If you go back in time and change something as you see fit, the result will be that, obviously, what you wanted to change never happened because you changed it, therefore you didn't go back in the first place, so it still happened.

That is the nature of a Time Paradox.

>>8
Multiple realities/timelines lol.

Time travel is impossible.

BUT WHO ARE THESE NEW ANDROIDS AND CELL?????

If you were to go back in time, two things could happen.. if there is one universe and one timeline, then you cannot affect the past.. since your time travel trip is already part of it.. and anything you do infact is part of the past already and creates your future, and if you try to kill say.. your father, before you where born.. it would not work.. you would probably die before you got the chance.. or just never successfully kill him, the attempt would always get botched, infact, you might even be the reason you were first born by making you mother and father meet or something.

If there are an infinite amount of parallel universes in a sort of "multiverse", then going to the past and affecting it would place you in a new universe with this new altered existence.

>>12
You either become part of the timeline or you create another timeline? How would you create a PIME TARADOX then?

>>13
I dont't think you can create one, for time travel to be realistically plausible.

Time..line? Time isn't made out of lines, it is made of circles. That is why clocks are round!

Read more Marvel comics. 

>>15
Spoiler: The universe doesn't last half a day.

There's no real need for two seperate timelines, the particles that may or may not comprise him will simply have two rather discreet states, much like the Schroedinger cat expiriment.  Assuming, of course, that the time travel device is flux capacitor based, not gravometric singularity based.