Recent Work on Time Travel

Richmond, Alasdair

doi:10.1111/1468-0149.00308

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Physical possibility is only one such candidate (e.g., Klimov's Come and See is physically possible whilst Lucas's Star Wars is not); moreover, in the context of science fiction, it is unlikely to be of much interest. Certainly, when it comes to time travel, broader modalities are normally our focus, e.g., logical possibility [1,5,[12][13][14][15][16][17], metaphysical possibility [3,[18][19][20][21][22][23], conceptual possibility [24], or absolute possibility [25,26].…”

Section: Close Possibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Close Possibility of Time Travel

Effingham

2023

Philosophies

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This article discusses the possibility of some outlandish tropes from time travel fiction, such as people reversing in age as they time travel or the universe being destroyed because a time traveler kills their ancestor. First, I discuss what type of possibility we might have in mind, detailing ‘close possibility’ as one such candidate. Secondly, I argue that—with only little exception—these more outlandish tropes fail to be closely possible. Thirdly, I discuss whether these outlandish tropes may nevertheless be more broadly possible (e.g., metaphysically or logically possible), arguing that whether they are or not depends upon your favored metaphysics of the laws of nature.

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Section: Close Possibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Close Possibility of Time Travel

Effingham

2023

Philosophies

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“…If we accept this possibility, it is acceptable that intelligent beings will, in the fullness of time, indeed perform such engineering feats; from a plethora of possibilities offered by closed timelike curves, hardly anything is more interesting than intervening in the early epochs of the universe to make it more conductive to high complexity and advanced cognition. Of course, everything related to the closed timelike curves is bound to be highly speculative, since the causal structure of spacetimes containing them is bound to be extremely complex and counterintuitive; for some of the stranger philosophical aspects of such spacetimes see Richmond (2003Richmond ( , 2004 and references therein.…”

Section: Coevolutionary Hypothesis: Closed Timelike Curvesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Co-evolution of the Universe and Observers as an Explanatory Hypothesis

Ćirković

Dimitrijević

2017

Found Sci

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Abstract. The answer to the fine-tuning problem of the universe has been traditionally sought in terms of either design or multiverse. In philosophy circles, this is sometimes expanded by adding the option of explanatory nihilism -the claim that there is no explanation for statements of that high level of generality: fine-tunings are brute facts. In this paper, we consider the fourth option which, at least in principle, is available to us: co-evolution of the universe and obsevers. Although conceptual roots of this approach could be found already in ancient stoicism, it is still the least investigated explanatory option for resolving the problem of empirical fine tunings. We offer two preliminary models along which the co-evolution hypothesis could be developed further. They are still on the level of speculative metaphysics, but there are opportunities along the way to generate predictions which are in principle testable, especially in the domain of large-scale numerical simulations.

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An unwelcome consequence of the Multiverse Thesis

Effingham

2010

Synthese

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The Multiverse Thesis is a proposed solution to the Grandfather Paradox. It is popular and well promulgated, found in fiction, philosophy and (most importantly) physics. I first offer a short explanation on behalf of its advocates as to why it qualifies as a theory of time travel (as opposed to mere 'universe hopping'). Then I argue that the thesis nevertheless has an unwelcome consequence: that extended objects cannot travel in time. Whilst this does not demonstrate that the Multiverse Thesis is false, the consequence should give pause for concern. Even if it does not lead one to reject the thesis, I briefly detail some reasons to think it is interesting nonetheless.

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Recent Work on Time Travel

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

The Close Possibility of Time Travel

The Close Possibility of Time Travel

Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Co-evolution of the Universe and Observers as an Explanatory Hypothesis

An unwelcome consequence of the Multiverse Thesis

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