[ QUOTE ]
Free will doesn't really enter into it, although in retrospect my analysis made it seem like it did. On the quantum level, there are a large number of possibilities, but as we, the observers, "observe" the actual outcomes of quantum events, we shrink the number of possibilities down to zero. The idea is that if you travelled back, the possibilities have already shrunk to zero, because you have already observed them so there would be no alternatives.
Now, say you were to go into absolute isolation, observing virtually nothing but the inside of a darkened room. If you then went back, there would, in theory, be a large number of possibilities once again, because you would have observed none of the outcomes.
[/ QUOTE ]
Incorrect. It doesn't matter what you have personally observed. According to the theory, once the past has occured, it is deterministic, it cannot be changed.
[ QUOTE ]
The view that is presented in the first post of this thread is flawed, IMHO. It is avoidable completely if you subscribe to many-worlds hypothesis.
[/ QUOTE ]
No, it isn't. From
the paper. :
"The model also has consequences concerning the many-worlds interpretation of quantum theory. The world may appear to keep splitting so far as the future is concerned. However, once a measurement is made, only those histories consistent with that measurement are possible. In other words, with time travel, other alternative worlds do not exist, as once a measurement has been made confirming the world we live in, the other worlds would be impossible to reach from the original one."
The paper also states, "Of course, there is an equally likely explanation, namely that going backward in time is impossible. This also solves the paradox byavoiding it," which is my preffered explaination.
-Travas