Why You Can’t Travel Back in Time and Kill Hitler

#1

Post by belowlightsblue » Sun, Sep 08, 2013, 6:48 PM UTC

Why You Can’t Travel Back in Time and Kill Hitler
io9.com

Re: Why You Can’t Travel Back in Time and Kill Hitler

#2

Post by vukmir » Sun, Sep 08, 2013, 7:39 PM UTC

It appears that only Hitler can kill Hitler, and perhaps, Chuck Norris.

Re: Why You Can’t Travel Back in Time and Kill Hitler

#3

Post by dingaling » Sun, Sep 08, 2013, 7:46 PM UTC

On a slight tangent, this story sent me off researching the alleged German time-manipulation project ( Die Glocke ) which led to a report about Mr Hitler's last surviving bodyguard, who died last week:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23989454

Re: Why You Can’t Travel Back in Time and Kill Hitler

#4

Post by aaronbrethorst » Sun, Sep 08, 2013, 7:49 PM UTC

Doesn't it stand to reason that if it were ever possible to travel back in time and kill Hitler that this would've already happened?

Re: Why You Can’t Travel Back in Time and Kill Hitler

#5

Post by twiceaday » Sun, Sep 08, 2013, 7:52 PM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #4

Doesn't it stand to reason that if it were ever possible to travel back in time and kill Hitler that this would've already happened?

What if by killing Hitler all future timelines ended a lot worse than this one? If it were ever possible to travel back in time, then we are living on the most optimal timeline according to some metric.

Re: Why You Can’t Travel Back in Time and Kill Hitler

#6

Post by pearjuice » Sun, Sep 08, 2013, 7:53 PM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #4

Doesn't it stand to reason that if it were ever possible to travel back in time and kill Hitler that this would've already happened?

This so much. If time travel would ever become reality, wouldn't we already know?

Re: Why You Can’t Travel Back in Time and Kill Hitler

#7

Post by praptak » Sun, Sep 08, 2013, 7:54 PM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #4

Doesn't it stand to reason that if it were ever possible to travel back in time and kill Hitler that this would've already happened?

Maybe it happened, sort of. I mean our timeline being the result of killing Megahitler and replacing him with the Hitler we know and find him totally evil only because we can't compare him to Megahitler.

Re: Why You Can’t Travel Back in Time and Kill Hitler

#8

Post by tjaerv » Sun, Sep 08, 2013, 8:01 PM UTC

"One of the bylaws of the International Association of Time Travelers states that you can't kill Hitler. The problem is, everybody kills Hitler on their first trip. This leaves more experienced time travelers the onerous task of undoing the historical edits of n00bs."

http://www.tor.com/stories/2011/08/wikihistory

Re: Why You Can’t Travel Back in Time and Kill Hitler

#9

Post by 1123581321 » Sun, Sep 08, 2013, 8:01 PM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #4

Doesn't it stand to reason that if it were ever possible to travel back in time and kill Hitler that this would've already happened?

It does not necessarily, though it is possible.

1. If it is possible to go back in time to kill Hitler, it is possible to go back in time to defend Hitler. There may be a stalemate.

2. We may be living in a timeline that is the result of killing another evil person. Hitler may be an acceptable result of that.

3. We may be at the forefront of time, i.e., there may be no future ahead of us to have already invented the time machine. Similarly, time travel may branch time so create a Hitler-less timeline for copies of ourselves (i.e. no causality.)

Re: Why You Can’t Travel Back in Time and Kill Hitler

#10

Post by infogulch » Sun, Sep 08, 2013, 8:03 PM UTC

twiceaday wrote: post #5

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #4

Doesn't it stand to reason that if it were ever possible to travel back in time and kill Hitler that this would've already happened?

What if by killing Hitler all future timelines ended a lot worse than this one? If it were ever possible to travel back in time, then we are living on the most optimal timeline according to some metric.

Exactly!