What would be the least impactful way of using time travel? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago by JonsJava@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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Started as a shower thought (literally in the shower), but decided to make it more open-ended.

My answer to this would be "watch future seasons of anime that I am waiting on".

I don't see how that could cause a huge ripple through time.

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[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

You can't change the future (...of your original universe)

That die had already been cast, that wave function had already collapsed. The very act of traveling backwards immediately creates a new timeline no matter what.

Any change you make any step you take, is all affecting that new universe while your original universe keeps on keeping on the way that it was, except now without you in it.

So from your perspective, if you were to travel forward again, things would be different, yes. But only because you're no longer in your original universe. The people in your original universe would see no changes because in that universe, the wave function had already collapsed, the die had already been cast.

There is no chance to EVER get back to your original timeline no matter what. Every jump backwards instantly creates a new universe (one in which the wave function collapses to reveal that you have traveled through time) and every jump forward is in THAT new timeline.

Essentially, you can't go home again.

this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2024

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