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Old 12-25-2017, 12:06 AM   #16
PTTG
 
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Stephen Hawking once said that the only thing he's invented that hasn't been co-opted and mangled by science fiction authors is "imaginary time," or in other words, the concequences of building time in the complex plane.

Of course, we could use that as babble to justify straight infinite worlds, but that's not really the idea of this thread. Here's a different one:

Just as there are many possible futures going forward from this point, there are also many possible pasts. Most of them are lower-entropy (as the only thing that gives directionality to time is the progression of entropy), and of course all pasts that lead to our present are by definition possible versions of our own.

Now, build a time machine that works on two axis and search the infinite past for the one that might lead to your present but will likely lead to a desired one. This is more difficult than it seems; the only backwards changes possible are quantum-scale; you need to use butterfly effects to get anywhere. But it is possible to dig through the potentials and arrive somewhere very strange.

Last edited by PTTG; 12-25-2017 at 01:08 AM.
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