Re: 1st Season Terminator: TSCC - Heavy Metal - 5 star poll - SPOILERS AHOY !

David Johnston wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:00:48 GMT, Beowulf Bolt <abd.al-hazred@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> wrote:
> 
> >David Johnston wrote:
> >>
> >> On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:43:45 GMT, Beowulf Bolt
<abd.al-hazred@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> >> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >  And thus it is a paradox.  John's existance is dependant upon
> >> > actions *he* makes in the future.  I'm not sure why this is so 
> >> > hard for you to see.
> >>
> >> Because that isn't a paradox.  It's a weird thing that happens for 
> >> no good reason, but it does not contradict itself.
> >
> >  What definition do you then give for what constitutes a paradox?
> >Wikipedia gave this definition for a tem****al paradox;
> >
> >* A paradoxical situation in which a time traveler interferes with 
> >* the time line involved in his own existence.
> >
> >  Fits to a 'T', afaics.
> 
> A paradox is when you go back in time and _prevent_ yourself from
> being born.  "Causing" the exact same events to occur isn't a paradox
> and isn't interfering.

  By my (somewhat dim) recollection, the concept of tem****al paradoxes
were popularized in science fiction by Heinlein's stories "By His
Bootstraps" and "All You Zombies".  According to you, then, neither of
these stories present tem****al paradoxes?

  Why do you have to *prevent* your birth to be a paradox?  Is it not
equally logically inconsistent to *enable* your own birth?

  Biff

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