I've been promising this post for almost a month, but just haven't gotten around to finishing it. All my Facebook shares about procrastination may have had something to do with the delay. I don't know...
Anyways, I present to you some of my thoughts on time travel-
I mean, who doesn't?
It's no surprise to me that the most popular Star Trek movies and shows are the time travel stories. At our nature time is a reminder that we are finite beings. We know that at some point our time will run out, and that is the heart of most time travel stories; the desire to manipulate time to extend our own personal time in the universe or to manipulate time to our advantage.
I'd like to talk today about time and time travel as it pertains to narrative devices. First, I need to lay some groundwork. We'll talk about theories, paradoxes, practicality, and all that good stuff.
To begin, let's start with the differing views of spcaetime. To make it simple, there are essentially two views of time that branches out into the others, but lets start with the basics.
You can either view the timeline as a constant or as a variable. That is a simplistic view of the matter at hand, but it works. Either it can be changed or it can't. Everything stems from that.
Viewing time as a linear constant lends itself to different types of paradoxes, but let's begin with the basics. Those that accept the concept of linear singular time believe that the past, present, and future are constants. The past cannot be changed because, well simply stated, it is the past. Working within this theory, you find yourself coming upon the Bootstrap Paradox (coined by the great Robert Heinlein). The Bootstrap paradox is defined as a self sustaining timeline. Objects from the future become their own precedents in the past.
The Terminator is a great example of the Bootstrap Paradox. The elements and origin of Skynet were birthed from the Terminator sent back in time. Skynet essentially created itself. Another example from pop culture is the TV show Futurama. In a time travel episode, one of the characters, through a series a misadventures, becomes his own grandfather.
In a singular time system, there is no question about if the chicken or the egg came first.
A time traveler in a singular timeline could not alter the past or the future, only experience it.
On the other side of the temporal coin is the multiverse, or many worlds theory. This one has been utilized by the comics industry for decades. Marvel and DC go a little overboard with it sometimes. What with all the alternate versions of all their characters running around. It's enough to make your head spin sometimes. The basic gist of this outlook comes down to every choice you can ever make actually happens, but because our finite minds we can only see one reality.
If you've ever seen the show Sliders, you have a pretty good understanding of the multiverse.
Imagine every choice that could ever happen creates a branch in the timeline. Going to the past or to the future can change the branch that you observe.
Back to the Future is another good example of divergent timelines. Marty and Doc are able to alter their branch of time based on their actions the past.
I know a lot of what I've said in this post is simplified, but I wanted to keep it very basic. I wanted to share this as a tool for readers and writers.
Ideas and theories to keep in mind the next time you pick up a story involving time travel.
If you want to understand more I encourage you to read any of Brian Greene's books on temporal theories.
If I've made a mistake, please correct me in the comments or send me a note on the contact page.
Thanks for reading. Please share, like, +1, etc...
-Anthony
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