Talking about paradoxes gives me a headache

[draconic_historian]

A question to you all that has been weighing on my mind for some time.

We've already inadvertently changed history to our own detriment before. What happens if we accidentally change history so that one who invented our time machine was never born. If there was no one from the present to open the time portal back up, would we just get trapped in the past?

Do any of you know how to build a time machine from scratch? I do have some hope of eventually returning to my homeworld, and being stuck in the seventh century would make that significantly more difficult.

Comments

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[redheadcarrier]

It should be impossible for us to time-travel without breaking all of the laws of physics, so don't think about it too hard. You might hurt yourself.

text

[draconic_historian]

"Don't think about it too hard, you might hurt yourself" is never reasonable advice.

[redheadcarrier]

It is when you're asking stupid questions.

[draconic_historian]

And I suppose you are an expert on temporal mechanics?

[voice]

[medicating]

[Ugh, way to make him paranoid.]

Thanks. Like I didn't have enough to worry about.

Voice

[draconic_historian]

It's true. We live in worrying times...whenever they might be.

Voice

[medicating]

Can't argue with that. But don't you suppose if we erase the existence of the time travel creator, that another will spring up in their place?

[draconic_historian]

Why would that happen?

[toldinthebook]

You really think that could happen?

[draconic_historian]

I don't know, which is what makes it such an alarming prospect.

[toldinthebook]

Hopefully the Initiative realise this before something happens.

[draconic_historian]

Hopefully they already have. They have not seen fit to share their findings with us, though.

[reassures]

If they're being careful about where we go, then I doubt they would let us into a point or place in time where we could cause an outcome like that.

[draconic_historian]

They've made mistakes before. It only has to happen once.

[reassures]

What have they done before?

[draconic_historian]

Left signs of our tampering. When returned we found that in the passing two thousand years, United Earth had figured out what we had done and turned our little island into a menagerie of horrible things with teeth as a punishment.

Fortunately we were able to fix it by going back and getting rid of the evidence, but if our error destroyed the time machine itself there would be no way to fix our mistake.

[shoesfitperfectly]

Thankfully, time travel technology is never a one-person endeavour in reality. If one person responsible for it is killed before he can invent it, there are plenty of others who can step in.

[draconic_historian]

If that were the case, why don't both sides of this struggle have time machines?

[shoesfitperfectly]

To be honest, I don't know. Perhaps the Initiative were simply lucky. Maybe adversity breeds innovation. Or maybe the United Earth does have it and we haven't found out, yet.

I don't want to think that they do, though... knowing the present conflict, it'd start a Time War.

[IRONY, DOCTOR, YOU CAN HAS IT.]

[draconic_historian]

[The capital letters there were very audible.]

A "Time War"?

[biwinning]

They have the tech to find out where a really obthcure AI wath built, and what year and where to get the code. I'm sure they know who built the time machine, when, and intend to avoid interfering as much as possthible.

[draconic_historian]

That is honestly the most reassuring thing I have heard yet.

[biwinning]

That'th thad.

By the way when I thaid "they found what year the AI wath in" I really meant me. For the record.

[demonbloodblade]

And now I gain insight as to why the goddess of magic is the only one who can grant the use of temporomancy, and as far as anyone knows has never done it. At least, where I'm from.

Of course she might have done it then made it so no one knew.

[draconic_historian]

I wise policy on her part, if you ask me. Such spells are similarly rare on my own world, although I don't know if any gods of magic are behind that.