(ORDO NEWS) — It is commonly believed that travel to the past is impossible, if only because of the “grandfather paradox” – a hypothetical situation in which a time traveler goes back in time and kills his grandfather, resulting in the traveler not being born.
However, scientist Tim Maudlin believes that the “grandfather paradox” only creates restrictions for temporary travelers, but does not exclude the possibility of such travel in itself.
Classic sci-fi plot – someone travels to the past and does something there that has disastrous consequences for the present. The grandfather paradox is one example of such a plot.
Tim Maudlin, philosopher of science, researcher of the metaphysical foundations of physics and logic, tried to understand the “grandfather paradox”, and to understand whether this idea interferes with time travel to the past.
“The argument goes like this: if you could ‘go back in time,’ then you could go back to a time when your grandfather had no children and kill him,” explains Tim Maudlin, a philosopher of science who explores the metaphysical foundations of physics. and logic.
“But if this happened, then one of your parents would not have been born, which means you would not have been born, so there would be no you to return to the past. A contradiction.”
“The grandfather paradox is usually presented as a reductio ad absurdum, or refutation of the claim that time travel is possible,” Maudlin says. “So the hypothesis must be impossible because of the grandfather paradox; time travel – or reverse causality – is impossible.”
Time travel, as the scientist added, contradicts the fundamental idea of causality, if considered only in the context of the “grandfather’s paradox”. However, Maudlin believes that the paradox itself still does not prevent travel into the past.
The “grandfather paradox” doesn’t prove that you can’t go back in time, only that you can’t go back and kill your grandfather,” he says.
“There is nothing logically wrong with going back in time and, say, saying “Hi” to your grandfather.”
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