Re:DIA Study: Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and Manipulation of E...
by sls on Monday July 09, 2018 @04:07PM
(#17493036)
Back in his collection All the Myriad Ways, Larry Niven wrote a brief essay called "The Theory and Practice of Time Travel" that explored ideas like these. One excerpt:
> GIVEN: That the universe of discourse permits both time travel and the changing of the past.
> THEN: A time machine will not be invented in that universe.
> For, if a time machine is invented in that universe, somebody will change the past of that universe. There is just too much future subsequent to the invention of a time machine: too many people with too many good motives for meddling with too many events occurring in too much of the past.
thus
> Niven's Law: If the universe of discourse permits the possibility of time travel and of changing the past, then no time machine will be invented in that universe.
> GIVEN: That the universe of discourse permits both time travel and the changing of the past.
> THEN: A time machine will not be invented in that universe.
> For, if a time machine is invented in that universe, somebody will change the past of that universe. There is just too much future subsequent to the invention of a time machine: too many people with too many good motives for meddling with too many events occurring in too much of the past.
thus
> Niven's Law: If the universe of discourse permits the possibility of time travel and of changing the past, then no time machine will be invented in that universe.