Most stories about time travel rely on the “butterfly effect,” the concept that making a minor and seemingly insignificant change in the past can have drastic consequences for the present and future. The problem with the butterfly effect is that it creates a paradox when the altered future removes the incentive or opportunity for the time traveler to go back in time in the first place.
There are two other theories on time travel that I find more plausible. The first is the concept that everything is happening at the same time, which does not allow for events to be changed. The best example of this is seen near the end of the third Harry Potter movie (Prisoner of Azkaban). This theory makes the most sense because it avoids paradoxes, yet introduces the new complication of “fate,” the concept we cannot alter our destinies.
The second theory allows for changing the past, but only in the most dramatic ways. I call this the“rut theory.” Picture time as a small stream travelling through a deep rut. Minor changes to the rut would have little effect on the stream: assassinating Gutenberg’s mother before he was conceived would only delay the printing press by a few years until someone else invented it. Rather, only the most severe modifications could impact the stream’s direction: England winning the American Revolution, the U.S. and Soviets launching nuclear attacks during the cold war, or Genghis Kahn conquering Europe.
There are two other theories on time travel that I find more plausible. The first is the concept that everything is happening at the same time, which does not allow for events to be changed. The best example of this is seen near the end of the third Harry Potter movie (Prisoner of Azkaban). This theory makes the most sense because it avoids paradoxes, yet introduces the new complication of “fate,” the concept we cannot alter our destinies.
The second theory allows for changing the past, but only in the most dramatic ways. I call this the“rut theory.” Picture time as a small stream travelling through a deep rut. Minor changes to the rut would have little effect on the stream: assassinating Gutenberg’s mother before he was conceived would only delay the printing press by a few years until someone else invented it. Rather, only the most severe modifications could impact the stream’s direction: England winning the American Revolution, the U.S. and Soviets launching nuclear attacks during the cold war, or Genghis Kahn conquering Europe.