In article <1203214846.722159@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Michael Ash <mike@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Doc O'Leary <droleary.usenet@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > In article <1203133165.303653@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
> > Michael Ash <mike@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >
> >> Any thoughts on the above?
> >
> > I don't think it has anything to do with a lottery. It really sounds
> > like that's just a plucked example from the position that time travel
> > *must* change the past.
>
> I don't know if you're describing my motivations or just trying to
> generalize it, but I said exactly where I got the question from in my
> introduction to the post.
I'm aware of the original thread, and I've avoided it because it seemed
like pointless nitpicking. Yes, I'm going for a general principle since
that is the only scientific approach to something as "impossible" as
time travel.
> > From a plot device standpoint, the question is
> > whether it changes history like a pebble in a stream, or more like a
dam.
>
> I disagree. There is nothing that says that a time traveler's effects
must
> be of similar magnitude on a micro and macro scale.
There's nothing that says *anything*. That is why you have to establish
a scientific hypothesis in the first place. So the author has to decide
early on how things work and stick to it or risk ruining the story.
> Personally I believe that history is probably a "cannonball balanced
> occasionally on its tip", in that it usually will carry on roughly the
> same no matter what, but that there are occasional im****tant junctures
> where a small force can produce a major outcome. But any interpretation
of
> history is compatible with any interpretation of the effects on the
> lottery drawing.
You can attempt to use that as a plot outline, but how well it works is
up to the reader. Another oversight of yours is claiming to know what
is "im****tant" to an anthropomorphic history. Just because the time
traveller goes back to stop a nuclear war doesn't mean that event is
significant. You assume that the big stuff is stable and the chaotic
stuff has a tipping point, but it may be a better story to display the
exact opposite behavior.
--
My personal UDP list: 127.0.0.1, 4ax.com, buzzardnews.com,
googlegroups.com,
heapnode.com, localhost, ntli.net, teranews.com, vif.com, x-privat.org
|
