Quantum Physics 123: Monday 31 October

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

[The Doctor's tie is orange today. If you could see them, his boxers are wee pumpkin print, but you can't, so there. He comes into class in his usual manner. That is to say, fairly manic.]

Right. In honour of the holiday, we're going to talk about everyone's favourite scary topic: paradox. Nasty stuff, that. In the purest of dictionary terms, paradox implies a contradiction in logic. The most famous of these are the words of Epimenides of Knossos on Crete: Cretans, always liars. If Epimenides is from Crete himself, then he must be lying. But if he is, then Cretans are not liars. And round we go.

The same concept is very true in regards to time travel. Encountering and touching oneself in the past, changing history so that you don't exist, either by events or technology...these cause paradox.

The effects of causing a paradox are varied in documentation...but they are all inherently destructive. [looks somber] Most notably to the time traveller him or herself. This is not to discourage any of you from travelling in time if you get the chance--far from it. It is merely a warning that to disturb certain things can create changes in timespace and in your own history.

[His eyes are sad...this is not exactly what he meant to do with this lecture.] Even if it's for the greater good.

[regaining composure] Any questions?

Comments

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

*Jack raises his hand* Is it possible to change the time line so much that you can have two different copies of the same person?

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

So, this implies that time is malleable, then? And time doesn't fit together like some happy jigsaw puzzle, even with all the time travellers?

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

*Sam raises her hand* If you were a time traveler, or were preparing someone to undergo time travel, what kind of precautions would you recommend they take to avoid creating these kinds of paradoxes?

[youngest-sister.livejournal.com]

*plops down in the nearest desk, not caring if anyone's already in it or not*

*waves her hand wildly in the air*

[bluemanoncampus.livejournal.com]

Hank rushes in, just before class begins. He hands his assigned paper to the Doctor. It's 5 pages, neatly typed and briefly covers the idea of what could have been had the mystery assailant from a few weeks ago (OOC: the psycho child-Immortal Kenny, timesharing Methos's account) had been more aggresive in his "pranks" from the beginning. The first part briefly goes over items such as how Professor Cregg could have suffered major head trauma, Hank could have suffered massive 3rd-degree burns, the cleanup crew on the roof could have been deafened, etc. The second part hypothesizes on how all these injured or incapacitated students and staff would have impacted the rest of the school, leading to a manhunt for and "accidental" lynching of the assailant.

After turning in the paper, Hank sits back and listens to the rest of the class.

[soniabelmont.livejournal.com]

Sonia is furiously taking notes, then pauses and raises her head to look at the Doctor, and lifts her hand tentavely.

"Vot, if any, are some of the psychological effects that might come from an individual who encounters a paradox? Has such a thing been documented?"