Research Paper On The Grandfather Paradox
My essay will consist of a highly popular time travel paradox called “The Grandfather Paradox”, which essentially discuses how an individual can travel back in time to prevent a pre conditioned event from occurring. This paradox discus how an individual can travel back in time to kill their grandfather, therefore grandpa never meets grandma which leads to the individual to never to be born, he essential commits an accident suicide, meaning that the individual really never killed grandfather in the first place. Such paradox then leads to the controversy with time travel because many believe it is highly possible but this paradox shows how it can’t be possible. The reasoning being is because the individual essentially goes back in time when they
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didn’t exist but at the same time do exist at that present time in which they travelled to. Personally, I don’t think this is possible because the unexpected events can occur with the grandfather paradox like the individual killing their grandfather but essentially killing themselves too, or the uncertainty that the individual actually carries out the plan without any mistaking occurring
The Grandfather Paradox contains what we call backward causation. Backward causation consists of external time. There two kinds of time when it comes to time travel. Time travel is possible when there is an inconsistency between personal time and external time. Personal time references to time as we know such as the clock, on the other hand, external time reference to the past or future. This is crucial to know because backwards causation relies on external time. I personally believe that time travel is highly impossible because of backwards causation. Backwards causation means that an effect comes before external time, meaning that it’s essential effect before the cause (Lecture 6). That led me to believe that time travel is therefore impossible because of regularity theory which assumes the effect must be followed by a cause which deems to be irrational (Lecture 6). Let’s say the event B (effect) occurred, that it’s possible for an intervention to occur in the event therefore stopping event A (cause) from happening. An example of this would be me falling off my bike (event B) only to travel back in time and the cause being me having a sprained arm years later. Clearly there is an inconsistency here therefore backwards causation cannot exist. I can only had had my arm sprained if I had fallen off my bike first which led to me spraining my arm. Which means that causation can exist if event A occurs first leading to event B, then event B can not happen without event A. Another reason why I’m skeptical about this paradox is because it has casual loops. According to David Lewis, a casual loop is a closed chain of events heading in a normal direction and others are reversed. Meaning, that each event is considered the cause of the next but can be reversed. For example, if C Causes D and D also caused C, then C causes C (lecture 6). That being said, C has no start. An example of this is an individual stealing a time machine from a museum in order to make a trip to the past and then donates the time machine to the same museum at the end of the trip (Lecture 6). In that case, the machine itself is never built by anyone, therefore it just exists. This ties back to the Grandfather paradox because the individual does not have an origin because he essential kills himself by killing the grandfather, therefore it is irrational and not possible to for this paradox to exist. Nevertheless, I also believe that time travel can not occur because there is so much uncertainty about events occurring. Which ties back to the grandfather paradox because something can happen to the time traveler while he or she goes back to kill or stop an event. For example, the time traveler is ready to aim at the grandfather but somehow is stopped because he is spotted by someone. On the other hand, the time traveler could simply miss his shot and the grandfather is never killed. Not only that, since the time traveler is messing with the past before he is born, he can essentially alter not only his one family line but create or distort any possible events to ever occur, such as his own existence. This ties back to article David Lewis, “The Paradox of Time Travel” which he states, “To say something can happen means that its happening is compossible with certain facts.” (Lewis) However, to determine certain facts is sometimes determined and sometimes not determined well enough(Lewis). Per se that Jim goes back to the year 1945 to kill his Grandfather Bob, there has to be compossible facts about his rifle, skills, making sure he has bullets, etc. With such facts, Jim can kill his grandfather. However, killing his Grandfather is not compossible with another, more inclusive facts, like the main fact that Grandfather was never killed. Aside from that, there is a plausible solution to the Grandfather Paradox according to David Lewis’s Solution.
His solution is based on the context of the term “can”, which he states that the traveler who goes back to the past can and cannot kill grandfather. Lewis argues that the traveler can go back to the past and can kill grandfather. However, at the same time he cannot since grandfather is part of the present. Meaning by killing the grandfather, the past would be change, which we all know one can not change the past. When someone invokes that someone “can” we infer that they have the capacity to do so, meaning holding certain things fixed (lecture 6). To determine what things are fixed, it is all based on the context. This ties back to time travel because in order to travel backwards in time, the time traveler must keep in mind that he or she cannot change the past events but they can participate in the past (lecture 6). To continue off of David Lewis time traveler’s limitations, a time traveler can only do such much. Meaning, if time travel were possible then the time traveler can be present in the past but can not alter any events in the past that did not occur. Altering the past is not possible therefore if we tie this back to the Grandfather Paradox, Jim couldn’t have killed his grandpa in 1945 since his grandfather was still alive at that time. This means that a time traveler has very limited freedom of what actions he or she takes once they travel
backwards. In my personal conclusion, I do not believe the Grandfather paradox is possible therefore, I do not believe time travel is possible. I simply do not think that being at two places at once is possible because the person is still themselves so how can there be two of them in one place. People will argue that given the time in which they travel to, the individual is either older or younger than themselves given if they travelled to the past or future. To this I would say that it is correct, however, I would disagree because the individual still has the same mental capacity and emotion in the time they decide to travel to. Therefore, there can only be one individual existing at a given time.
didn’t exist but at the same time do exist at that present time in which they travelled to. Personally, I don’t think this is possible because the unexpected events can occur with the grandfather paradox like the individual killing their grandfather but essentially killing themselves too, or the uncertainty that the individual actually carries out the plan without any mistaking occurring
The Grandfather Paradox contains what we call backward causation. Backward causation consists of external time. There two kinds of time when it comes to time travel. Time travel is possible when there is an inconsistency between personal time and external time. Personal time references to time as we know such as the clock, on the other hand, external time reference to the past or future. This is crucial to know because backwards causation relies on external time. I personally believe that time travel is highly impossible because of backwards causation. Backwards causation means that an effect comes before external time, meaning that it’s essential effect before the cause (Lecture 6). That led me to believe that time travel is therefore impossible because of regularity theory which assumes the effect must be followed by a cause which deems to be irrational (Lecture 6). Let’s say the event B (effect) occurred, that it’s possible for an intervention to occur in the event therefore stopping event A (cause) from happening. An example of this would be me falling off my bike (event B) only to travel back in time and the cause being me having a sprained arm years later. Clearly there is an inconsistency here therefore backwards causation cannot exist. I can only had had my arm sprained if I had fallen off my bike first which led to me spraining my arm. Which means that causation can exist if event A occurs first leading to event B, then event B can not happen without event A. Another reason why I’m skeptical about this paradox is because it has casual loops. According to David Lewis, a casual loop is a closed chain of events heading in a normal direction and others are reversed. Meaning, that each event is considered the cause of the next but can be reversed. For example, if C Causes D and D also caused C, then C causes C (lecture 6). That being said, C has no start. An example of this is an individual stealing a time machine from a museum in order to make a trip to the past and then donates the time machine to the same museum at the end of the trip (Lecture 6). In that case, the machine itself is never built by anyone, therefore it just exists. This ties back to the Grandfather paradox because the individual does not have an origin because he essential kills himself by killing the grandfather, therefore it is irrational and not possible to for this paradox to exist. Nevertheless, I also believe that time travel can not occur because there is so much uncertainty about events occurring. Which ties back to the grandfather paradox because something can happen to the time traveler while he or she goes back to kill or stop an event. For example, the time traveler is ready to aim at the grandfather but somehow is stopped because he is spotted by someone. On the other hand, the time traveler could simply miss his shot and the grandfather is never killed. Not only that, since the time traveler is messing with the past before he is born, he can essentially alter not only his one family line but create or distort any possible events to ever occur, such as his own existence. This ties back to article David Lewis, “The Paradox of Time Travel” which he states, “To say something can happen means that its happening is compossible with certain facts.” (Lewis) However, to determine certain facts is sometimes determined and sometimes not determined well enough(Lewis). Per se that Jim goes back to the year 1945 to kill his Grandfather Bob, there has to be compossible facts about his rifle, skills, making sure he has bullets, etc. With such facts, Jim can kill his grandfather. However, killing his Grandfather is not compossible with another, more inclusive facts, like the main fact that Grandfather was never killed. Aside from that, there is a plausible solution to the Grandfather Paradox according to David Lewis’s Solution.
His solution is based on the context of the term “can”, which he states that the traveler who goes back to the past can and cannot kill grandfather. Lewis argues that the traveler can go back to the past and can kill grandfather. However, at the same time he cannot since grandfather is part of the present. Meaning by killing the grandfather, the past would be change, which we all know one can not change the past. When someone invokes that someone “can” we infer that they have the capacity to do so, meaning holding certain things fixed (lecture 6). To determine what things are fixed, it is all based on the context. This ties back to time travel because in order to travel backwards in time, the time traveler must keep in mind that he or she cannot change the past events but they can participate in the past (lecture 6). To continue off of David Lewis time traveler’s limitations, a time traveler can only do such much. Meaning, if time travel were possible then the time traveler can be present in the past but can not alter any events in the past that did not occur. Altering the past is not possible therefore if we tie this back to the Grandfather Paradox, Jim couldn’t have killed his grandpa in 1945 since his grandfather was still alive at that time. This means that a time traveler has very limited freedom of what actions he or she takes once they travel
backwards. In my personal conclusion, I do not believe the Grandfather paradox is possible therefore, I do not believe time travel is possible. I simply do not think that being at two places at once is possible because the person is still themselves so how can there be two of them in one place. People will argue that given the time in which they travel to, the individual is either older or younger than themselves given if they travelled to the past or future. To this I would say that it is correct, however, I would disagree because the individual still has the same mental capacity and emotion in the time they decide to travel to. Therefore, there can only be one individual existing at a given time.