First, let me state that my understanding of time travel and physics is rudimentary, at best. I understand most physics (theoretical and Newtonian) and I understand some of the more simple equations behind them though I'm only beginning to understand the more intermediate/advanced physics behind the theory of time-travel. So basically, if you go further than closed timelike curves, world lines, grandfather paradoxes, causality, many worlds theory, etc., I might ask for conceptual explanations.
Second, there are some assumptions to make. We'll create a fictional time traveler. Next, let's assume that the time-machine/device actually exists and can take the traveler into the past, as well as the future.
My theory (or question) is this:
If one were to time-travel, into the past, he would find that:
His consciousness instantly changes and he gains the knowledge of everywhere (and when) he has gone and everything he has done and, consequently, the world around him has changed as a result of his travels. Considering that this is his first jump back through time, he has it all to do over again or change as he sees fit. In essence, his mind is immortal and his knowledge is infinite (or at least as finite as mankind's knowledge would allow either through technological or biological means). Also, he can never go back to a time before he didn't have the ability to travel through time, thereby closing the loop.
I came up with this idea after reading a novel, one of the Xeelee Sequence novels, by Stephen Baxter. Actually, I think Baxter explained it though I cannot remember (it's been awhile since I read the novels), I'll assume Baxter explained it and it's not really my initial idea. In the Xeelee Sequence novels, the Xeelee are a time-traveling, hyper-advanced race of beings that are the 'baryonic lords' of the universe. When the Xeelee first traveled back in time, to a time shortly after the big bang, they found that they were already there and that they had reached the pinnacle of technological and biological advancement - they could not go back to a time when they were not the 'baryonic lords' nor could they witness their own species' evolution. They were in a closed timelike loop that began shortly after the big bang and ended when the universe was in it's death throes. Consequentially, their history, as a race, was infinite the moment they went back into time. I simply asked myself if this could be applied to a single person and what would happen to his consciousness - a question Baxter never answered.
Understandably, the radical transformation of our time-travelers consciousness is dramatic and, quite frankly, wild. However, consider the causality effects that occur in the movie Back to the Future. In Back to the Future, Marty McFly finds himself becoming incorporeal when his mother falls in love with him before he was even born. This is the grandfather paradox, in action. While the movie fails to breach the subject of consciousness or memory, consider the effect of everyones memory had Marty failed in his goal of uniting his parents; would their memory not change as a result of Martys disappearance? If Marty had never been born, he had never gone back in time and had never met his teenage mother and father (or Doc Brown, for that matter) - surely, their memories would reflect the absence of Marty McFly.
My other theory (or question) is this:
If one were to time-travel, into the past, he would find:
His emergence from the future coincides with countless versions of himself from countless alternate realities.
I was watching an episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles when an interesting time-travel conundrum was given by Derek Reese (one of the characters of said show). Derek posited that he and Jesse, his girlfriend (who is also from the future), could very well be from alternate realities. How this came about was the result of a disagreement over who was actually tortured by an agent of Skynet, each believing the other was tortured. I asked myself, What happened to her Derek Reese? It can be assumed that the Derek Reese from Jesses timeline also went back in time. Where is he? Furthermore, where are the other versions of Derek Reese from the near-infinite alternate realities? Would not all other versions of Derek Reese converge upon the point of emergence?
Second, there are some assumptions to make. We'll create a fictional time traveler. Next, let's assume that the time-machine/device actually exists and can take the traveler into the past, as well as the future.
My theory (or question) is this:
If one were to time-travel, into the past, he would find that:
His consciousness instantly changes and he gains the knowledge of everywhere (and when) he has gone and everything he has done and, consequently, the world around him has changed as a result of his travels. Considering that this is his first jump back through time, he has it all to do over again or change as he sees fit. In essence, his mind is immortal and his knowledge is infinite (or at least as finite as mankind's knowledge would allow either through technological or biological means). Also, he can never go back to a time before he didn't have the ability to travel through time, thereby closing the loop.
I came up with this idea after reading a novel, one of the Xeelee Sequence novels, by Stephen Baxter. Actually, I think Baxter explained it though I cannot remember (it's been awhile since I read the novels), I'll assume Baxter explained it and it's not really my initial idea. In the Xeelee Sequence novels, the Xeelee are a time-traveling, hyper-advanced race of beings that are the 'baryonic lords' of the universe. When the Xeelee first traveled back in time, to a time shortly after the big bang, they found that they were already there and that they had reached the pinnacle of technological and biological advancement - they could not go back to a time when they were not the 'baryonic lords' nor could they witness their own species' evolution. They were in a closed timelike loop that began shortly after the big bang and ended when the universe was in it's death throes. Consequentially, their history, as a race, was infinite the moment they went back into time. I simply asked myself if this could be applied to a single person and what would happen to his consciousness - a question Baxter never answered.
Understandably, the radical transformation of our time-travelers consciousness is dramatic and, quite frankly, wild. However, consider the causality effects that occur in the movie Back to the Future. In Back to the Future, Marty McFly finds himself becoming incorporeal when his mother falls in love with him before he was even born. This is the grandfather paradox, in action. While the movie fails to breach the subject of consciousness or memory, consider the effect of everyones memory had Marty failed in his goal of uniting his parents; would their memory not change as a result of Martys disappearance? If Marty had never been born, he had never gone back in time and had never met his teenage mother and father (or Doc Brown, for that matter) - surely, their memories would reflect the absence of Marty McFly.
My other theory (or question) is this:
If one were to time-travel, into the past, he would find:
His emergence from the future coincides with countless versions of himself from countless alternate realities.
I was watching an episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles when an interesting time-travel conundrum was given by Derek Reese (one of the characters of said show). Derek posited that he and Jesse, his girlfriend (who is also from the future), could very well be from alternate realities. How this came about was the result of a disagreement over who was actually tortured by an agent of Skynet, each believing the other was tortured. I asked myself, What happened to her Derek Reese? It can be assumed that the Derek Reese from Jesses timeline also went back in time. Where is he? Furthermore, where are the other versions of Derek Reese from the near-infinite alternate realities? Would not all other versions of Derek Reese converge upon the point of emergence?
