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.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
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.
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