Speakeasy forum: There will be one and only one future.

and just because we can't change the past

by Roger NC - 12/15/12 9:33 AM

In Reply to: If there is only one "past" by James Denison

yet,

does that prove it can't be changed?

Is NOW the only time that actually exists or not?

The past begins the smallest fraction of time you can imagine passing.

Before you finish a breath, the beginning is the past.

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I think it's possible

by James Denison - 12/15/12 1:22 PM

In Reply to: and just because we can't change the past by Roger NC

that such a change in the past wouldn't affect our timeline, but just split off into another one, like splitting a thread in half on a tapestry being woven. Could the two then be twisted back together at some point in the future? Maybe. Consider the conflicting stories we already have from the past, who is to say it's not the result of two timelines merging slowly back to the one original? It could be like files merging, in which parts that are the same stay that way, but elements from both which don't match up merge into the whole and become future conflicts of reporting, of history, or cancel each other out, or even like genetics, one takes precedence, is dominant and becomes the accepted story of the past.

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In that case, you're talking about multipe futures too

by Roger NC - 12/15/12 2:02 PM

In Reply to: I think it's possible by James Denison

one for every major different decisons, some may rejoin, so may not.

Of course that multiple timelines is a huge favorite of Scifi&Fanasty writers, since it lets them set up an Earth of any condition they like to set their story within.

And that was the explanation in the lastest incarnation of Star Trek in the newest movie. The time travelling Romulans had split the timeline off from the original ST one so drastically that there was no resolving a paradox or undoing an action to change it back. That was the explanation why everyone could be so much different from their original characters.

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It's becoming a favorite of

by Diana - 12/17/12 12:40 PM

In Reply to: In that case, you're talking about multipe futures too by Roger NC

Mathematicians and Physicists as well

Diana

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Prove it

by Roger NC - 12/14/12 3:17 PM

In Reply to: There will be one and only one future. by crowsfoot

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Yes, but that doesn't mean that it is predetermined.

by Ziks511 - 12/14/12 10:37 PM

In Reply to: There will be one and only one future. by crowsfoot

The course of the Future is only perceptible in retrospect, meaning after we have lived through it.

Then again, mathematically it is possible to prove the opposite though it is not possible to find evidence for it.

Rob

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(NT) We are living in someone's future right now.

by James Denison - 12/15/12 1:23 PM

In Reply to: Yes, but that doesn't mean that it is predetermined. by Ziks511

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Maybe not, the past may not exist

by Roger NC - 12/15/12 2:05 PM

In Reply to: (NT) We are living in someone's future right now. by James Denison

something similar to that King story, Langoliers?

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The past is with us

by James Denison - 12/15/12 2:37 PM

In Reply to: Maybe not, the past may not exist by Roger NC

Ever sat down to a supper cooked in the past, then went back for seconds? If you found it there still, the past caught up with you. Just because something was done in the past doesn't mean it ceased to exist.

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But retrospect is perceived individually

by Roger NC - 12/15/12 2:03 PM

In Reply to: Yes, but that doesn't mean that it is predetermined. by Ziks511

people don't agree as to what the past is, so do we all live in slightly different, partially overlapping, realities?

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The past is written by the winners.

by Diana - 12/17/12 12:42 PM

In Reply to: But retrospect is perceived individually by Roger NC

How different would the story be if the Axis had won?

Diana

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This forum proves that to be so

by James Denison - 12/17/12 1:20 PM

In Reply to: But retrospect is perceived individually by Roger NC

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