what is a "time paradox," and while we're at it, whats a paradox?

A paradox is a type of conflict where there is no viable answer or solution that satisfies both sides of the conflict. Example already given: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? No matter which you choose the evidence suggests that it is not possible. Thus, a paradox. Here is a website that addresses paradoxes in sci/fi, maybe it will help.

http://www.exaflop.org/docs/th_sci/paradox.html

A time paradox would occur if someone changed the past in such a way that it would turn out that they did NOT change the past, e.g. if I went back in time and did something that prevented my own birth, then in the new timeline I would not exist to travel back in time, and thus there would be nothing to prevent my birth. Thus, a paradox is a self-contradiction. For this reason, some philosophers argue that time travel to change the past is not possible because it involves logical contradiction.

Another example of a paradox would be if time travel began by someone in the future travelling to the present and giving the inventor the plans for the world's first time machinem making future time travel possible. This involves circular causation and seems paradoxical because causes of things don't just appear out of nothing, but depend on prior causes.

A time paradox is for example that a time machine goes to the past to even before the time machine was invented. A paradox is a complex question with no answer, but does teach a lesson.

The "Twins Paradox" of Einstein's Special Relativity Theory, is a good example. His equation for time dilation implies that an observer at rest and an observer in motion will BOTH observe the other's clock [time] to get behind.

BUT both CANNOT be true. The assertion is self contradictory.

One solution put forth is that there are multiple realities.

A paradox is a self contradicting assertion.

If Einstein's be true, then certainly, reality IS stranger than fiction.

[BTW, there were eggs long before there were chickens.]

A paradox can be summed up with "Which came first, the chicken ot the egg?"

A time paradox sounds like a sci-fi thingie where someboby goes back in time and does something that makes the future impossible.

A paradox is often self-referential. "Why came first?" IS a good example.

A temporal paradox -- the classic is going back in time and preventing your parents from meeting, so that you no longer exist. Which means you can't go back....but if you don't go back, things don't change, so....

Unless you believe in multi-verses. In that case, you would create two seperate universes: one in which you didn't go back, and are still there. And another where you did go back - if you went back to the future in that reality, you would be a person who did not exist. No identity, no records; if you were less than honest, that could have real advantages.

Hopefully I have confused you even more about temporal mechanics.

The time paradox, as I understand it, is why a time machine cannot exist.

You cannot go back in time and kill someone who affects your future, because the reality in which you came from would not exist in the first place.

A paradox is a statement that seems contrary to common sense, but is perhaps true.

kind of time machine .

gp