Okay.
So it has been quite some time since I have written anything to this blog. The main reason for the lack of writing was that, especially as the year 2015 rapidly approached, more and more Back to the Future references and memes and hidden Easter eggs and fan theories started getting around on the Internet. I found that most (if not all) of the theories found on this blog were not nearly as unique as I thought they were when I began formulating them and writing them down years ago. And mine weren't the ones being used as clickbait on Buzzfeed. In my own eyes, I was the unknown kid who came late to the party and looked like I just copied everyone else's style.
I haven't given it up entirely. Ask my coworkers and they will let you know I am still the go-to guy for Back to the Future knowledge. And some will even warn others to not get me started talking about it. A coworker asked me this week what I was going to do to celebrate "Back to the Future Day" and if I was going to dress up or anything. Sadly, I told her no.
And here's why: I think I'm mourning the loss of a future we never got.
As I write this, today is Wednesday, October 21, 2015. At 4:29pm, Marty McFly, his girlfriend Jennifer, and Doc Brown arrive in the DeLorean time machine above Hill Valley, California. In this future, flying cars are common as hover conversions are relatively affordable. This future also has hoverboards, magnetic shoe laces, holographic theater marquees, and self-drying/self-fitting clothing among a host of other futuristic things.
Some things from this future we do have in ours: wall-mounted flatscreen TVs with a ridiculous amount of channels, VR goggles like the Oculus Rift, camera enabled flying drones (although mostly personal - not necessarily used by news agencies for reporting), personal ID entry doors (Bluetooth enabled rather than fingerprint), videogames where you don't use your hands (Xbox Kinect and arcade games like Fruit Ninja), video phone calls like Skype and Face Time, Major League baseball teams in Florida (although neither is actually named Florida - the Florida Marlins became the Miami Marlins in 2011), this whole Cubs being in the World Series thing (that sets the up the plot with the Sports Almanac as the MacGuffin), and obviously their love of 1980s pop culture nostalgia. Oh, and bullying is still a problem.
Some things were inspired by this fictional future: Nike's Air Mags and Pepsi Perfect are actual items you can buy. And several companies are trying their hand at developing hoverboard technologies. But it's definitely not the same.
I remember the 1980s as a sad time. I had fun as a kid, don't get me wrong, but I knew there was a Cold War stalemate going on and the future was certainly unclear. In the '80s, movies depicting the future took inspiration from this uncertainty and were dark or scary. Blade Runner, The Road Warrior, The Running Man, Escape From New York, The Terminator - ones where governments either collapsed or took over completely and the Sun never shines unless you're in a nuclear wasteland. But there was one movie that was stupidly optimistic. Back to the Future II depicted a government that operates swiftly, but efficiently, and you know exactly when the rain will stop and the Sun will come out. It also, technically, had those horrifying, lawless, collapsed government, societal breakdown anarchy scenes, but that was in an alternate 1985 - their present - not their future.
It was something to look forward to. Exciting, in a way, even though it was completely made up in a fictional universe. A far more enlightening future than the dark, war torn futures of other movies of the time. And it was more realistic than a dark future, which was a breath of fresh air.
And I think that is why, aside from all the '80s nostalgia it invokes, this film is being celebrated today. Were people as excited anticipating Judgment Day on August 29, 1997 (later postponed until July 25, 2004 and then again later postponed until sometime in 2017) as revealed in the Terminator films? I don't believe so (we'll see about the last one in a couple years, but I doubt it.)
The 2015 of Part II was bright and sunny (after the rain stopped), technology moved society outward rather than withdrawn in, and people were seen having fun and acting (relatively) normal. As a child, I remember thinking this was actually kind of realistic. The people living in that 2015 were just like us living in 1989, but they had futuristic stuff - just like we did if someone was looking at us from the 1950s. People living in the 1950s also had the Cold War looming over their heads, but nothing drastic ever happened, just like us in the 1980s. Sure, our technology was far more advanced, our clothing style was unusual , our automobiles were oddly shaped, our TVs had color and more than three channels, and we had new kinds of Pepsi but we were still the same society as 30 years before. We still wore blue jeans and jackets, drove cars, rode boards of one kind or another, watched TV, drank Pepsi, got bullied, read news articles, and lived in the suburbs just like our 1955 (and 2015) counterparts did/will.
So maybe I shouldn't mourn a future we didn't get. After all, our current 2015 is a lot closer to the one from Part II than any other futures seen in movies from the 1980s. And that's something worth celebrating, however superficial and insignificant that may be. I mean, we're not being hunted by machines, living in concrete cubes, or fighting over water (except in California.)
So maybe I will celebrate today. I'm going to pull out the pockets of my pants. "All kids in the future wear their pants inside out."
Except I'm not a kid in this 2015...
And the kids today dress more like George McFly in 1955 than Marty McFly, Jr in 2015.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
The Realities of Traveling Through Time - Part One
At this very moment you are traveling through time and space. Even if you are sitting or lying down doing absolutely nothing but reading this, you are a currently moving object in space. Earth is spinning on its axis. The Earth is orbiting our Sun. Our Sun is orbiting the center of our galaxy. Our galaxy is moving through our visible universe. Our visible universe is moving inside a marble with which a giant alien child is playing. Probably.
You are also moving through time. You are speeding along at a rate of 60 seconds every 60 seconds. Welcome to the future! (Re-read that sentence over and over and it will still be true.) But traveling into the future at a pace equal to the pace at which time progresses when unaltered is hardly the exciting journey we expected. But it kind of is. At the smallest measure of time, your past, present, and future are all happening at once. Expand this outward and you have your journey through time. The events in the past affect both the outcomes of your present and your future. The events in your present affect both the outcomes of your past and your future. And, a little harder to grasp, the events of your future affect both the outcomes of your present and of your past.
For example, you are going to buy a 2015 Ford Taurus in the future. Sorry, but you are not buying the hover model. At our present, that is the future. At the present time you are buying the car, you having bought the car is the future. At the present time you have bought the car, you buying the car is in the past and owning the car is the future. At the present time you are owning the car, you having bought the car and buying the car are both in the past. Yet, at the smallest measurement of time, all three of those events happened at once. You are currently in the past, the present, and the future at one moment and that is time travel.
But, once again, that isn't that exciting. And neither is the next form of time travel because your brain is too slow. Your eyes are lying to you. Light, traveling at the speed of light, allows your eyes to receive images. The receptors receiving those images, relaying the signal through nerves to your brain, and your brain decoding those signals into something you are able to understand is a very fast process. But is isn't anywhere near as fast as the speed of light. What your eyes, and the rest of your senses for that matter, are telling your brain to perceive as the present is actually the past. And it has been for some time now. You are living in the future, perceiving it as the present, but it is actually the past. How fun is that?
However, if you were able to run faster than the speed of light, you could beat yourself in a foot race. You would be able to cross the finish line and turn around to see yourself leave the starting line. You could do this because the light absorbing you at the starting line hasn't caught up to the light absorbing you at the finish line. For example, if there are aliens in the Alpha Centauri solar system 4 light years away, and they had a powerful enough telescope to view the events on Earth, they would be viewing events that happened four years ago as they unfolded. The light now reaching their eyes, traveling at the speed of light, has taken four years to get there. But they would see it in real time as every second passed. If you held up a sign for them to see right now, they would see it in four years. This is because of Relativity. Time is relative to the observer. What is the present for them is actually the past, as well as the future, for us.
Think about it: 70 light years away, someone may be watching battles of World War II being fought in real time. 2000 light years away, someone may be watching Jesus perform miracles in the streets of Jerusalem. 65 million light years away, someone may watching the dinosaurs die. All right now in real time. Our present's past is our future's present is our past's future. Because time is relative.
You are also moving through time. You are speeding along at a rate of 60 seconds every 60 seconds. Welcome to the future! (Re-read that sentence over and over and it will still be true.) But traveling into the future at a pace equal to the pace at which time progresses when unaltered is hardly the exciting journey we expected. But it kind of is. At the smallest measure of time, your past, present, and future are all happening at once. Expand this outward and you have your journey through time. The events in the past affect both the outcomes of your present and your future. The events in your present affect both the outcomes of your past and your future. And, a little harder to grasp, the events of your future affect both the outcomes of your present and of your past.
For example, you are going to buy a 2015 Ford Taurus in the future. Sorry, but you are not buying the hover model. At our present, that is the future. At the present time you are buying the car, you having bought the car is the future. At the present time you have bought the car, you buying the car is in the past and owning the car is the future. At the present time you are owning the car, you having bought the car and buying the car are both in the past. Yet, at the smallest measurement of time, all three of those events happened at once. You are currently in the past, the present, and the future at one moment and that is time travel.
But, once again, that isn't that exciting. And neither is the next form of time travel because your brain is too slow. Your eyes are lying to you. Light, traveling at the speed of light, allows your eyes to receive images. The receptors receiving those images, relaying the signal through nerves to your brain, and your brain decoding those signals into something you are able to understand is a very fast process. But is isn't anywhere near as fast as the speed of light. What your eyes, and the rest of your senses for that matter, are telling your brain to perceive as the present is actually the past. And it has been for some time now. You are living in the future, perceiving it as the present, but it is actually the past. How fun is that?
However, if you were able to run faster than the speed of light, you could beat yourself in a foot race. You would be able to cross the finish line and turn around to see yourself leave the starting line. You could do this because the light absorbing you at the starting line hasn't caught up to the light absorbing you at the finish line. For example, if there are aliens in the Alpha Centauri solar system 4 light years away, and they had a powerful enough telescope to view the events on Earth, they would be viewing events that happened four years ago as they unfolded. The light now reaching their eyes, traveling at the speed of light, has taken four years to get there. But they would see it in real time as every second passed. If you held up a sign for them to see right now, they would see it in four years. This is because of Relativity. Time is relative to the observer. What is the present for them is actually the past, as well as the future, for us.
Think about it: 70 light years away, someone may be watching battles of World War II being fought in real time. 2000 light years away, someone may be watching Jesus perform miracles in the streets of Jerusalem. 65 million light years away, someone may watching the dinosaurs die. All right now in real time. Our present's past is our future's present is our past's future. Because time is relative.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
On the Origins of Stricklands
Principal Strickland seems to really hate his students. It could be due to his general attitude towards people who lack discipline or potentially due to a paradox as the result of time travel.
Strickland doesn't like McFlys because no McFly has ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley. George McFly has no confidence and allows others to walk all over him. Thirty years later, his son Marty has no respect for the rules. He doesn't like Biff Tannen because he's a bully and his ancestor killed his grandfather. Maybe.
In 1885, at the end of the gunfight between Marty and Buford Tannen, "Mad Dog" is arrested for robbing the Pine City stagecoach. He was arrested by the Deputy Marshall. But haven't you ever wondered where Marshall Strickland was? Why wouldn't the Marshall be there to make the arrest himself? Well, it's not in the final film, but there is a deleted scene from Part Three where Buford Tannen shoots Marshall Strickland in the back.
The scene was removed because it was deemed too dark for a comedy. It was also removed because the filmmakers thought that the murder of a lawman would most likely result in Buford's execution. If Buford Tannen was executed, he wouldn't produce any offspring and therefore no future Biffs would be born. In a single universe/single timeline, his arrest for the robbery would stand to correct any error in timeline continuity.
But it is part of the story. It just wasn't featured. There was only one witness, that being Marshall Strickland's son. Quite possibly word had not yet reached the Deputy Marshall in Hill Valley. This justifies the reasoning for the Deputy Marshall making the arrest and the charge being the robbery of the stagecoach.
However, this is the third 1885. The first being the original, unaltered 1885. The second was altered by the existence of Doc Brown. The third 1885 was altered by Marty and the Doc. As far as we can know, the murder of Marshall Strickland by Buford Tannen never occurred in the first two universes. The only reason Tannen was on his way in to town that day was to shoot Marty in the gunfight. The only reason the Marshall rode out to meet Tannen was to stop him from having a gunfight with Marty.
Marty McFly is the reason Strickland's ancestor was murdered. In the original 1885, he may have been just a stagecoach robber and town menace. In the second 1885, he murders Doc Brown over a matter of $80. Because of Marty's existence in the third 1885, Tannen murders a lawman. Because of this, he may have been executed. The filmmaker's explanation for the omitted scene is irrelevant. There are no future Biffs.
Once Marty finishes his time travel to his final 1985, the third created and the fourth overall, we never see another Biff. We never explore this 1985 very far, but it is very possible there are no Biffs. Needle's there, sure. Potentially two Martys, two Jennifers, and another Doc and DeLorean. And potentially a Biff if Buford was able to procreate before his death.
We know Marshall Strickland had a son. So Principal Strickland might be around, too. He just might really dislike Clint Eastwood movies.
Strickland doesn't like McFlys because no McFly has ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley. George McFly has no confidence and allows others to walk all over him. Thirty years later, his son Marty has no respect for the rules. He doesn't like Biff Tannen because he's a bully and his ancestor killed his grandfather. Maybe.
In 1885, at the end of the gunfight between Marty and Buford Tannen, "Mad Dog" is arrested for robbing the Pine City stagecoach. He was arrested by the Deputy Marshall. But haven't you ever wondered where Marshall Strickland was? Why wouldn't the Marshall be there to make the arrest himself? Well, it's not in the final film, but there is a deleted scene from Part Three where Buford Tannen shoots Marshall Strickland in the back.
The scene was removed because it was deemed too dark for a comedy. It was also removed because the filmmakers thought that the murder of a lawman would most likely result in Buford's execution. If Buford Tannen was executed, he wouldn't produce any offspring and therefore no future Biffs would be born. In a single universe/single timeline, his arrest for the robbery would stand to correct any error in timeline continuity.
But it is part of the story. It just wasn't featured. There was only one witness, that being Marshall Strickland's son. Quite possibly word had not yet reached the Deputy Marshall in Hill Valley. This justifies the reasoning for the Deputy Marshall making the arrest and the charge being the robbery of the stagecoach.
However, this is the third 1885. The first being the original, unaltered 1885. The second was altered by the existence of Doc Brown. The third 1885 was altered by Marty and the Doc. As far as we can know, the murder of Marshall Strickland by Buford Tannen never occurred in the first two universes. The only reason Tannen was on his way in to town that day was to shoot Marty in the gunfight. The only reason the Marshall rode out to meet Tannen was to stop him from having a gunfight with Marty.
Marty McFly is the reason Strickland's ancestor was murdered. In the original 1885, he may have been just a stagecoach robber and town menace. In the second 1885, he murders Doc Brown over a matter of $80. Because of Marty's existence in the third 1885, Tannen murders a lawman. Because of this, he may have been executed. The filmmaker's explanation for the omitted scene is irrelevant. There are no future Biffs.
Once Marty finishes his time travel to his final 1985, the third created and the fourth overall, we never see another Biff. We never explore this 1985 very far, but it is very possible there are no Biffs. Needle's there, sure. Potentially two Martys, two Jennifers, and another Doc and DeLorean. And potentially a Biff if Buford was able to procreate before his death.
We know Marshall Strickland had a son. So Principal Strickland might be around, too. He just might really dislike Clint Eastwood movies.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Just Where Do (or Did) We End Up?
Often times the journey is more exciting than the final destination. The opposite is probably more true when it comes to time travel. The blink of an eye, maybe some lightning, and you're there. Although some might be able to argue that the actual journey through time begins upon your arrival. But what is the final destination of most travelers? Home, I suspect. Even the time traveler wants to go home at some point. The ultimate rest stop is the one most familiar.
But having not just traveled through time, but also through the multiverse, Marty is at no point ever going to be able to return home. As far as the film series is concerned, Marty and Jennifer (also Doc and Clara) all have a happy ending. I don't think it is that simple. The universe he finds himself in at the end of Part 3 is never fully explored, but there is reason to believe that it is going to be really difficult to live in.
First of all, we are led to believe that Marty returns to the altered version of 1985. He does, in a way, but not the one we have seen. We would think that it is the universe he left at the end of Part 1 and the beginning of Part 2. This is Jennifer and Doc's home universe. But Marty and Doc changed things in 1885 enough so that this has created a new 1985. Therefore, this cannot be the original 1985, the altered 1985, and not the Bifftopia 1985. It is a new 1985 universe. This means that somewhere there is the possibility that there is another Marty, another Jennifer, as well as another Doc in this universe. We just haven't met them. Yet.
We know that changes in past events can affect future outcomes from what they might have otherwise been. Doc changed the future of 1885, Marty changed it again, and the both of them changed it yet again. Eastwood Ravine never existed until this last time jump made by the DeLorean off the unfinished bridge to the year 1985. In this 1985, Eastwood Ravine has existed for 100 years or so. It is not the universe were Marty grew up. The stories he remembers from his childhood of a teacher falling into Clayton Ravine do not exist here. They are stories from another universe.
But having not just traveled through time, but also through the multiverse, Marty is at no point ever going to be able to return home. As far as the film series is concerned, Marty and Jennifer (also Doc and Clara) all have a happy ending. I don't think it is that simple. The universe he finds himself in at the end of Part 3 is never fully explored, but there is reason to believe that it is going to be really difficult to live in.
First of all, we are led to believe that Marty returns to the altered version of 1985. He does, in a way, but not the one we have seen. We would think that it is the universe he left at the end of Part 1 and the beginning of Part 2. This is Jennifer and Doc's home universe. But Marty and Doc changed things in 1885 enough so that this has created a new 1985. Therefore, this cannot be the original 1985, the altered 1985, and not the Bifftopia 1985. It is a new 1985 universe. This means that somewhere there is the possibility that there is another Marty, another Jennifer, as well as another Doc in this universe. We just haven't met them. Yet.
We know that changes in past events can affect future outcomes from what they might have otherwise been. Doc changed the future of 1885, Marty changed it again, and the both of them changed it yet again. Eastwood Ravine never existed until this last time jump made by the DeLorean off the unfinished bridge to the year 1985. In this 1985, Eastwood Ravine has existed for 100 years or so. It is not the universe were Marty grew up. The stories he remembers from his childhood of a teacher falling into Clayton Ravine do not exist here. They are stories from another universe.
So where does Marty finally end up? Well, except for Jennifer (who actually barely knows him) he is going to find himself in pretty dire straights. The parents he knows are long gone. The parents he usurped from another Marty are also long gone. The parents he will find in this universe already have a Marty. So at 17, he has no where to live. He has no identity as his driver's license, social security number belong to someone else now. Jennifer is in the same boat as there is most likely another Jennifer in this universe as well. She is soon going to find out that this Marty does not remember much of their previous relationship. It's kind of a downer, but at least he didn't hit that Rolls Royce.
His only hope to escape this universe is to either wait for Doc to fly the time train by to visit, and take his chances somewhere else, or seek out this universe's Doc Brown and hope he's had the same epiphany about the flux capacitor 30 years ago and is in a similar state of production on his DeLorean. Of course, if this is the same, then it is possible that this universe's Marty may be past somewhere changing his future. Then Marty can assume this guy's identity like he did the other Marty's. What's the worst that could happen?
Two identical girlfriends from separate universes.
Aw, snap!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
The Grandfather Paradox and other Paradoxen
There is a thing in time travel theory called the Grandfather Paradox. It goes like this: A time traveler goes back in time and kills his grandfather as a baby. Killing his grandfather means that his father will never be born meaning the time traveler will never be born. The paradox being that if he wasn't born, then he couldn't go back in time and kill his grandfather? Thus, a paradox arises of if he couldn't be, then how could he?
But I don't think it's a paradox. It's just a jerk thing to do to a baby. The time traveler merely created another universe where he will never exist. That's okay because he was a jerk anyway. There's an infinite number of those universes. The time traveler's universe, where he was born, must still exist as the time traveler also exists. But still a jerk thing to do to a baby.
If Retrospective Determinism has an evil twin, it's the Grandfather Paradox. Retrospective Determinism states that because it happened, it was always going to happen. The Grandfather Paradox states how did it happen if it was never going to happen? Both are very confusing and also found a lot in the Back to the Future film series. The creators merely glazed over such occurrences (or used them out of context) to weave their story. All this does is half open and half shut doors on the space/time continuum.
In fact, the entire first part of the series is one big Grandfather Paradox. Marty must get his parents together so that he has a future. Marty, obviously the time traveler, has metaphorically killed the event that leads to his conception and birth. Therefore he will cease to exist. But if he ceases to exist, how will he be able to go back in time to stop the event? But he did. What? Boom! Paradox in yo face!
Then, in Part 2 of the series, Old Biff goes back in time to give Biff the almanac. The Grandfather Paradox here being: how can Old Biff still be Old Biff if giving young Biff the almanac changes the future? Young Biff now lives in a universe where he gains rapid wealth and power. There is, at the least, a 1985 in this universe that Old Biff creates. Assuming there is also a 2015, this is where Old Biff would arrive when he time traveled to this year. But...this means that there is no longer an originating 2015 from whence Old Biff had original access to the DeLorean and the almanac. Only the alternative 2015 (2015A) is the current year now. Any point in the past is the history of this universe. One point in the past is Old Biff getting in the DeLorean, but that doesn't happen in this universe. So neither would Old Biff giving the young Biff the almanac. Thus it wouldn't create this universe. But it did. What? Boom! Paradox in yo face again!
Doc Brown describes the strange solutions of such paradoxes as a "ripple effect." The effect of actions made creates a ripple of changes through time. Doc doesn't seem to believe or acknowledge the existence of the multiverse. He seems to believe that it is one universe with different timelines. If an event is altered, it creates a new timeline. It does not create a new universe. Some things, like Marty's birth in Part 1, simply do not happen. That timeline no longer exists. The physics of this hypothesis are experienced by Marty as he begins to disappear while playing guitar. Other affects of altered pasts lead me to believe in the multiverse. Too many paradoxes result from a single universe/multiple timelines logic. Most paradoxes in Back to the Future can be solved with the multiple universe/single timeline logic.
Aside from the two mentioned above, here are a couple more paradoxes the Back to the Future film series leaves in its wake:
In Part 2, Doc and Marty go to the year 2015 to stop Marty Jr. from going to jail. Having accomplished this task, there would be no reason for Doc to go back in time to get Marty to stop his son, Marty Jr., from going to jail. But if Doc never brings Marty to 2015, how could they stop the events that lead to Marty Jr.'s arrest?
In Part 2, Jennifer goes to the home of Old Marty and Old Jennifer. They seem to have no idea that they once traveled forward in time to this day in this year (October 21, 2015.) Wouldn't Old Jennifer remember all the memories that young Jennifer is making?
In Part 3, Marty goes back in time to 1885 to stop Doc from getting shot. He prevents Doc from getting shot, meaning there should be no reason for Marty to go back in time if Doc never gets shot. But if Marty doesn't go to 1885 to stop Doc's shooting, Doc gets shot anyway.
It's also worth noting that on November 12, 1955, young Doc and old Doc meet briefly. Old Doc offers to correct young Doc with a 3/4 wrench instead of a 5/8. Although not a paradox, there was a pair o' Doc's.
Thank you.
But I don't think it's a paradox. It's just a jerk thing to do to a baby. The time traveler merely created another universe where he will never exist. That's okay because he was a jerk anyway. There's an infinite number of those universes. The time traveler's universe, where he was born, must still exist as the time traveler also exists. But still a jerk thing to do to a baby.
If Retrospective Determinism has an evil twin, it's the Grandfather Paradox. Retrospective Determinism states that because it happened, it was always going to happen. The Grandfather Paradox states how did it happen if it was never going to happen? Both are very confusing and also found a lot in the Back to the Future film series. The creators merely glazed over such occurrences (or used them out of context) to weave their story. All this does is half open and half shut doors on the space/time continuum.
In fact, the entire first part of the series is one big Grandfather Paradox. Marty must get his parents together so that he has a future. Marty, obviously the time traveler, has metaphorically killed the event that leads to his conception and birth. Therefore he will cease to exist. But if he ceases to exist, how will he be able to go back in time to stop the event? But he did. What? Boom! Paradox in yo face!
Then, in Part 2 of the series, Old Biff goes back in time to give Biff the almanac. The Grandfather Paradox here being: how can Old Biff still be Old Biff if giving young Biff the almanac changes the future? Young Biff now lives in a universe where he gains rapid wealth and power. There is, at the least, a 1985 in this universe that Old Biff creates. Assuming there is also a 2015, this is where Old Biff would arrive when he time traveled to this year. But...this means that there is no longer an originating 2015 from whence Old Biff had original access to the DeLorean and the almanac. Only the alternative 2015 (2015A) is the current year now. Any point in the past is the history of this universe. One point in the past is Old Biff getting in the DeLorean, but that doesn't happen in this universe. So neither would Old Biff giving the young Biff the almanac. Thus it wouldn't create this universe. But it did. What? Boom! Paradox in yo face again!
Doc Brown describes the strange solutions of such paradoxes as a "ripple effect." The effect of actions made creates a ripple of changes through time. Doc doesn't seem to believe or acknowledge the existence of the multiverse. He seems to believe that it is one universe with different timelines. If an event is altered, it creates a new timeline. It does not create a new universe. Some things, like Marty's birth in Part 1, simply do not happen. That timeline no longer exists. The physics of this hypothesis are experienced by Marty as he begins to disappear while playing guitar. Other affects of altered pasts lead me to believe in the multiverse. Too many paradoxes result from a single universe/multiple timelines logic. Most paradoxes in Back to the Future can be solved with the multiple universe/single timeline logic.
Aside from the two mentioned above, here are a couple more paradoxes the Back to the Future film series leaves in its wake:
In Part 2, Doc and Marty go to the year 2015 to stop Marty Jr. from going to jail. Having accomplished this task, there would be no reason for Doc to go back in time to get Marty to stop his son, Marty Jr., from going to jail. But if Doc never brings Marty to 2015, how could they stop the events that lead to Marty Jr.'s arrest?
In Part 2, Jennifer goes to the home of Old Marty and Old Jennifer. They seem to have no idea that they once traveled forward in time to this day in this year (October 21, 2015.) Wouldn't Old Jennifer remember all the memories that young Jennifer is making?
In Part 3, Marty goes back in time to 1885 to stop Doc from getting shot. He prevents Doc from getting shot, meaning there should be no reason for Marty to go back in time if Doc never gets shot. But if Marty doesn't go to 1885 to stop Doc's shooting, Doc gets shot anyway.
It's also worth noting that on November 12, 1955, young Doc and old Doc meet briefly. Old Doc offers to correct young Doc with a 3/4 wrench instead of a 5/8. Although not a paradox, there was a pair o' Doc's.
Thank you.
Monday, December 26, 2011
The Act of Universal Transcendence
Part 2 of the Back to the Future series seems to be a lot of people's favorites. Probably because of the hoverboards. I just find it frustrating. Probably because of all the gaps in logic.
Now here's the thing we have learned about time travel: changing past events affects the future. Doc knows this. In Part 1, his 1955 counterpart wants to maintain the status quo as best he can. He doesn't even want to hear about his own death and how to prevent it. "No man should know too much about his own destiny," he said. Let the future be what it is. In Part 3, he has remorse for ever creating that "infernal machine" after learning that he wasn't supposed to save Clara from falling into the ravine. In the beginning of Part 2, he is knocks out Jennifer as she was asking too many questions about her future. The rest of the time he's all about just throwing that book out the window and does what ever he wants regardless of how it may affect history and/or futurestory(?).
In Part 2, Doc visits the future year of 2015 and beyond (off camera.) He spends an unknown amount of time there getting a hover conversion and a Mr. Fusion added to the DeLorean. He learns that Marty's son, Marty Jr., is bullied into aiding a robbery and sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2015. His daughter, Marlene, attempts to break out her brother and gets caught. She is sentenced to 20 years in jail. He goes even further into the future to discover that this event ruins the McFly family from then on. Once again going against his original thoughts of not knowing your own destiny, he goes back to 1985 and picks up Marty and Jennifer and brings them to 2015 to save their kids.
But even the knowledge of this event is enough to change the future. The future that they should have traveled to wouldn't be the one that was unaltered. They should have traveled to a future where Marty and Jennifer have been to the future. But instead they go a future where they apparently haven't. In fact, they seem absolutely clueless to the fact that they were there that day. Marty may all no-big-deal-about time travel, but Jennifer is fairly new to it. And their future selves should have the memories of doing so.
Marty should have the memories of impersonating his son. Jennifer should have the memories of being at her future home and she's about to see herself....NOW! They should both have the memories of being here on this date in the future. But they don't seem to. Even if Marty knows to keep it secret, Jennifer is a time traveler, too. Heck, even Biff knows.
In 1985, Biff saw the DeLorean take off in flight and vanish into time. He has lived with this memory for 30 years. So it happened and he remembers it. So then should Marty and Jennifer. But then comes the huge jump in logic when Old Biff steals the DeLorean to give his much younger self the sports almanac in 1955. After he does so, he returns to 2015 and returns the DeLorean where he found it. After Mission Accomplished and they retrieve Jennifer, Doc and Marty go back to 1985 only to find that it is the altered 1985 (1985A or Bifftopia.) Marty suggests they go back to 2015 and stop Old Biff from stealing the time machine. Doc then states that they would only be traveling to the future of 1985A. Not the previous 2015 that they were just in.
The problem here is that Old Biff should have traveled to the future of 1985A in the first place. He set in motion events that would produce a future (we have seen the 1985 part) that is in it's own universe. There is a 2015 in this universe and that is where Old Biff should have arrived when he returned. Doc, Marty, and Jennifer should be stuck in another universe's version 2015 without a DeLorean.
The weird part is that Jennifer was able to transfer universes without a DeLorean. She was placed on a porch in 1985A and was still on the porch (as herself) in the final 1985. She isn't a prime as she comes from the second universe created from the effect of time travel. Neither is Doc, as he also comes from the second universe created. Marty is a prime as his original universe he was born in was unaffected until he became a time traveler. Even so, as shown by the abilities of Jennifer, these three should have instantly transferred universes once the change was made. This doesn't really make any sense and just shouldn't be, but it evidently can happen.
Maybe it only happens when you're unconscious.
But Jennifer was unconscious in 2015, too.
Alright. Then I don't know how it happened.
The universe they would have traveled to, 2015A perhaps, may or may not have had a DeLorean in it. I would say that it would as Old Biff just arrived there and they are still in the neighborhood (assuming Hilldale exists in this new universe.) Assuming it is the future of 1985A, where the Vietnam War was still going on, it could be a war zone, a nuclear wasteland, or any number of things unfriendly to the human body. Also assuming Old Biff would return it where he found it. It really makes no sense to do so as it is another universe and obvious to Doc and Marty that something has changed.
One would assume that universes don't change to the outsider until time displacement occurs with the DeLorean, right? That's why they didn't know about Biff's time travel until they arrived in 1985A and found it altered. Marty didn't know about the altered 1985 at the end of Part 1 until he traveled there. Likewise, Eastwood Ravine isn't named such until after the 1885C timeline. But Jennifer didn't use a DeLorean and it bothers me.
Here's why it bothers me. Doc and Jennifer are more or less on the same plane of existence. They both originated in the same universe. Marty is from another universe. Jennifer's ability to transcend universal boundaries means that Marty and Doc (and Jennifer and Einstein) should have also transcended the universal boundary when Old Biff changed the future. If it simply changes around them, like Doc said in Part 2 about Jennifer in 1985A, then that should have happened to them in 2015 as well.
But it didn't. Why? I don't know.
Now here's the thing we have learned about time travel: changing past events affects the future. Doc knows this. In Part 1, his 1955 counterpart wants to maintain the status quo as best he can. He doesn't even want to hear about his own death and how to prevent it. "No man should know too much about his own destiny," he said. Let the future be what it is. In Part 3, he has remorse for ever creating that "infernal machine" after learning that he wasn't supposed to save Clara from falling into the ravine. In the beginning of Part 2, he is knocks out Jennifer as she was asking too many questions about her future. The rest of the time he's all about just throwing that book out the window and does what ever he wants regardless of how it may affect history and/or futurestory(?).
In Part 2, Doc visits the future year of 2015 and beyond (off camera.) He spends an unknown amount of time there getting a hover conversion and a Mr. Fusion added to the DeLorean. He learns that Marty's son, Marty Jr., is bullied into aiding a robbery and sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2015. His daughter, Marlene, attempts to break out her brother and gets caught. She is sentenced to 20 years in jail. He goes even further into the future to discover that this event ruins the McFly family from then on. Once again going against his original thoughts of not knowing your own destiny, he goes back to 1985 and picks up Marty and Jennifer and brings them to 2015 to save their kids.
But even the knowledge of this event is enough to change the future. The future that they should have traveled to wouldn't be the one that was unaltered. They should have traveled to a future where Marty and Jennifer have been to the future. But instead they go a future where they apparently haven't. In fact, they seem absolutely clueless to the fact that they were there that day. Marty may all no-big-deal-about time travel, but Jennifer is fairly new to it. And their future selves should have the memories of doing so.
Marty should have the memories of impersonating his son. Jennifer should have the memories of being at her future home and she's about to see herself....NOW! They should both have the memories of being here on this date in the future. But they don't seem to. Even if Marty knows to keep it secret, Jennifer is a time traveler, too. Heck, even Biff knows.
In 1985, Biff saw the DeLorean take off in flight and vanish into time. He has lived with this memory for 30 years. So it happened and he remembers it. So then should Marty and Jennifer. But then comes the huge jump in logic when Old Biff steals the DeLorean to give his much younger self the sports almanac in 1955. After he does so, he returns to 2015 and returns the DeLorean where he found it. After Mission Accomplished and they retrieve Jennifer, Doc and Marty go back to 1985 only to find that it is the altered 1985 (1985A or Bifftopia.) Marty suggests they go back to 2015 and stop Old Biff from stealing the time machine. Doc then states that they would only be traveling to the future of 1985A. Not the previous 2015 that they were just in.
The problem here is that Old Biff should have traveled to the future of 1985A in the first place. He set in motion events that would produce a future (we have seen the 1985 part) that is in it's own universe. There is a 2015 in this universe and that is where Old Biff should have arrived when he returned. Doc, Marty, and Jennifer should be stuck in another universe's version 2015 without a DeLorean.
The weird part is that Jennifer was able to transfer universes without a DeLorean. She was placed on a porch in 1985A and was still on the porch (as herself) in the final 1985. She isn't a prime as she comes from the second universe created from the effect of time travel. Neither is Doc, as he also comes from the second universe created. Marty is a prime as his original universe he was born in was unaffected until he became a time traveler. Even so, as shown by the abilities of Jennifer, these three should have instantly transferred universes once the change was made. This doesn't really make any sense and just shouldn't be, but it evidently can happen.
Maybe it only happens when you're unconscious.
But Jennifer was unconscious in 2015, too.
Alright. Then I don't know how it happened.
The universe they would have traveled to, 2015A perhaps, may or may not have had a DeLorean in it. I would say that it would as Old Biff just arrived there and they are still in the neighborhood (assuming Hilldale exists in this new universe.) Assuming it is the future of 1985A, where the Vietnam War was still going on, it could be a war zone, a nuclear wasteland, or any number of things unfriendly to the human body. Also assuming Old Biff would return it where he found it. It really makes no sense to do so as it is another universe and obvious to Doc and Marty that something has changed.
One would assume that universes don't change to the outsider until time displacement occurs with the DeLorean, right? That's why they didn't know about Biff's time travel until they arrived in 1985A and found it altered. Marty didn't know about the altered 1985 at the end of Part 1 until he traveled there. Likewise, Eastwood Ravine isn't named such until after the 1885C timeline. But Jennifer didn't use a DeLorean and it bothers me.
Here's why it bothers me. Doc and Jennifer are more or less on the same plane of existence. They both originated in the same universe. Marty is from another universe. Jennifer's ability to transcend universal boundaries means that Marty and Doc (and Jennifer and Einstein) should have also transcended the universal boundary when Old Biff changed the future. If it simply changes around them, like Doc said in Part 2 about Jennifer in 1985A, then that should have happened to them in 2015 as well.
But it didn't. Why? I don't know.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
A Tale of Two Martys
At the end of Part 1, Marty returns to 1985 altered by his existence in 1955. Everyone recognizes him as their Marty and his life is better off than in his prime universe. In this universe there should be two Martys. But there isn't.
Switching universes does not automatically delete your doppelganger in that universe (assuming you also exist in that universe.) Case in point: In Part 2 of the series, Doc and Marty travel back in time from 2015 to 1985A, also known as Hell Valley or Bifftopia. But in this universe, Marty is away at boarding school overseas and Doc is locked in a mental institution. They do not assume the identities of this universe's Doc and Marty. When they arrive in the DeLorean, Marty is not transported overseas and Doc is not locked in a padded cell. We are left to assume that this universe's Doc and Marty are left to be just that and stay in their respective locations and states of mind. They have no knowledge of what another universe's Doc and Marty are doing in their own. We are left to deduct that the series treats our Doc and Marty (also Jennifer) as primes. They are the originals that can come, go, and alter things for better or for worse.
And yet Marty Prime assumes the Marty identity of the new 1985 timeline. Where is this universe's Marty? All others in this universe know him. They have the same wants and desires (4x4 Toyotas and Jennifer) and they occupy the same time and place. But there should be two. Marty should have woken up (in that awkward pose) next to his doppelganger. When there were two Martys in 1955, he did not assume his own identity. Likewise, though it is never shown, Jennifer may have existed twice in the 1985A universe. She was left on the porch of a house in this universe and is found on the same porch in another universe. Doc states that she will be transferred, suggesting she is a Prime. But she can't be as she is not the Jennifer from the original, unaltered universe. A different actress, sure, but the same person. She transferred universes without a DeLorean...? How?
So this altered 1985 universe has a Marty exactly like Marty Prime. We know this because we saw him. Briefly, but we saw him. Marty Prime decides to go back a few minutes earlier to warn Doc about the Libyans. Well, the wrecks the DeLorean and it refuses to start again. So he runs to the Lone Pine Mall just in time to see Doc get shot by the Libyans. But someone yells "No!" It's this universe's Marty! We then see him out run the terrorists and at 88mph, he vanishes somewhere in time.
What year he arrives is not known. Now, we know the Doc of this universe is familiar with time travel. He knew about the DeLorean and Marty and getting shot and killed on this night. Being a friend of this universe's Marty, he must also know how different George and Lorraine's life is. And by association, this Marty does not have the same problems as Marty Prime, whom this Doc befriended 30 years earlier for a week. He has been aware of this night for 30 years (he even saw part of it on video.) We would assume that he would have to send this Marty back in time in order to complete the logic. If Doc didn't send him back, then he couldn't come back. But he didn't have to do that since this is a different Marty that arrives back to the future anyway.
Here I figure Doc may have done one of two things:
1. Prepare this universe's Marty with the knowledge of how to get his parents together exactly the way the Marty Prime did so as not to affect the way this universe turns out. But here's the problem with this scenario: There would be two Martys in 1955 and that would further mess things up as they would be from different universes. This would probably freak out Marty Prime (who at this moment is unaware of the multiverse.) The other Marty may have this knowledge from Doc and just stayed out of the way. Doc packs extra plutonium rods and Marty comes back to 1985 having affected nothing and stays out of history's way. But then there would be two Martys in 1985. Marty Prime (more or less an alien) and this Marty calling it home. One does not belong here and it's Marty Prime. Doc must know this, so check this out:
2. Doc sacrifices this altered universe's Marty to time! Where or when he goes is completely unknown except by this Doc (who goes through the rest of series apparently unconcerned with the Marty he left to fend for himself in somewhere in time.) That Marty is just gone. What ever date he typed in is where that Marty went to. Suppose he went to December 25, 0000 to witness the birth of Christ? Or see the signing of the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence? Those are two dates Doc Prime typed in before settling on November 5, 1955. Or he does get sent back to 1955 and alters things another way so as to affect another outcome resulting in his return to another future in a different universe. It's hard to say. We have no idea what happened to that Marty.
Doc may. But he doesn't seem to be worried about it. He doesn't seem to be concerned that there is another DeLorean time machine that he created traveling through the multiverse potentially disrupting future events and interacting with the multiverse's doppelgangers. How do we know that the 2015 they travel to in Part 2 of the series isn't the result of the affects of this altered 1985 Marty's time travel?
Maybe that is why that year is only a mere three years away (alright, almost 4) and they are so much more technologically advanced. The DeLorean or some component thereof was discovered in the past and exploited and retro-engineered to lead the way to the technological benefit of the future. Our universe currently has no ambition for hoverboards, flying capability (or conversion) for our cars, or even tiny pizzas that become big pizzas in a second. What's up, our universe?
Worst case scenario, of course, is that the altered 1985 Marty comes to realize that his Doc sacrificed him to the expanse of time for the sake of a Marty he barely knew. That this Marty would become jaded, and therefore evil, and set about destroying every Doc in the multiverse after using his intelligence to enhance his own. With an army of Martys he has recruited from the multiverse to aide his cause in an effort to find Marty Prime and take his place.
There can be only one.
Switching universes does not automatically delete your doppelganger in that universe (assuming you also exist in that universe.) Case in point: In Part 2 of the series, Doc and Marty travel back in time from 2015 to 1985A, also known as Hell Valley or Bifftopia. But in this universe, Marty is away at boarding school overseas and Doc is locked in a mental institution. They do not assume the identities of this universe's Doc and Marty. When they arrive in the DeLorean, Marty is not transported overseas and Doc is not locked in a padded cell. We are left to assume that this universe's Doc and Marty are left to be just that and stay in their respective locations and states of mind. They have no knowledge of what another universe's Doc and Marty are doing in their own. We are left to deduct that the series treats our Doc and Marty (also Jennifer) as primes. They are the originals that can come, go, and alter things for better or for worse.
And yet Marty Prime assumes the Marty identity of the new 1985 timeline. Where is this universe's Marty? All others in this universe know him. They have the same wants and desires (4x4 Toyotas and Jennifer) and they occupy the same time and place. But there should be two. Marty should have woken up (in that awkward pose) next to his doppelganger. When there were two Martys in 1955, he did not assume his own identity. Likewise, though it is never shown, Jennifer may have existed twice in the 1985A universe. She was left on the porch of a house in this universe and is found on the same porch in another universe. Doc states that she will be transferred, suggesting she is a Prime. But she can't be as she is not the Jennifer from the original, unaltered universe. A different actress, sure, but the same person. She transferred universes without a DeLorean...? How?
So this altered 1985 universe has a Marty exactly like Marty Prime. We know this because we saw him. Briefly, but we saw him. Marty Prime decides to go back a few minutes earlier to warn Doc about the Libyans. Well, the wrecks the DeLorean and it refuses to start again. So he runs to the Lone Pine Mall just in time to see Doc get shot by the Libyans. But someone yells "No!" It's this universe's Marty! We then see him out run the terrorists and at 88mph, he vanishes somewhere in time.
What year he arrives is not known. Now, we know the Doc of this universe is familiar with time travel. He knew about the DeLorean and Marty and getting shot and killed on this night. Being a friend of this universe's Marty, he must also know how different George and Lorraine's life is. And by association, this Marty does not have the same problems as Marty Prime, whom this Doc befriended 30 years earlier for a week. He has been aware of this night for 30 years (he even saw part of it on video.) We would assume that he would have to send this Marty back in time in order to complete the logic. If Doc didn't send him back, then he couldn't come back. But he didn't have to do that since this is a different Marty that arrives back to the future anyway.
Here I figure Doc may have done one of two things:
1. Prepare this universe's Marty with the knowledge of how to get his parents together exactly the way the Marty Prime did so as not to affect the way this universe turns out. But here's the problem with this scenario: There would be two Martys in 1955 and that would further mess things up as they would be from different universes. This would probably freak out Marty Prime (who at this moment is unaware of the multiverse.) The other Marty may have this knowledge from Doc and just stayed out of the way. Doc packs extra plutonium rods and Marty comes back to 1985 having affected nothing and stays out of history's way. But then there would be two Martys in 1985. Marty Prime (more or less an alien) and this Marty calling it home. One does not belong here and it's Marty Prime. Doc must know this, so check this out:
2. Doc sacrifices this altered universe's Marty to time! Where or when he goes is completely unknown except by this Doc (who goes through the rest of series apparently unconcerned with the Marty he left to fend for himself in somewhere in time.) That Marty is just gone. What ever date he typed in is where that Marty went to. Suppose he went to December 25, 0000 to witness the birth of Christ? Or see the signing of the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence? Those are two dates Doc Prime typed in before settling on November 5, 1955. Or he does get sent back to 1955 and alters things another way so as to affect another outcome resulting in his return to another future in a different universe. It's hard to say. We have no idea what happened to that Marty.
Doc may. But he doesn't seem to be worried about it. He doesn't seem to be concerned that there is another DeLorean time machine that he created traveling through the multiverse potentially disrupting future events and interacting with the multiverse's doppelgangers. How do we know that the 2015 they travel to in Part 2 of the series isn't the result of the affects of this altered 1985 Marty's time travel?
Maybe that is why that year is only a mere three years away (alright, almost 4) and they are so much more technologically advanced. The DeLorean or some component thereof was discovered in the past and exploited and retro-engineered to lead the way to the technological benefit of the future. Our universe currently has no ambition for hoverboards, flying capability (or conversion) for our cars, or even tiny pizzas that become big pizzas in a second. What's up, our universe?
Worst case scenario, of course, is that the altered 1985 Marty comes to realize that his Doc sacrificed him to the expanse of time for the sake of a Marty he barely knew. That this Marty would become jaded, and therefore evil, and set about destroying every Doc in the multiverse after using his intelligence to enhance his own. With an army of Martys he has recruited from the multiverse to aide his cause in an effort to find Marty Prime and take his place.
There can be only one.
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