Chapter 1
Ancient riddles of motion and truth
Chapter 2
Mind-bending loops of mathematics and sets
Chapter 3
Physics and the mysteries of the cosmos
Chapter 4
Time travel and the rules of causality
Chapter 5
Everyday life and psychological traps
YOUR GOAL
Master of The world of paradoxes
Ch 4 · Time travel and the rules of causality
schopenhauer Time Travel Causality
Can't change the past, can't change the past / The future was already there.
schopenhauer Newcomb's paradox challenges free will by showing a choice between two boxes overseen by an omniscient predictor.
schopenhauer The bootstrap paradox occurs when an object or piece of information sent to the past has no origin.
BETA
schopenhauer Sort the tangled timelines to master the history of famous paradoxes.
Fun Fact
Sci-fi origins: The term 'bootstrap' in time travel comes from the phrase 'pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps,' popular in Robert Heinlein's 1941 story.
Glossary
grandfather paradox (noun)
A potential logical contradiction where a time traveler prevents their own birth by altering the past. René Barjavel explored this temporal inconsistency in his 1943 science fiction novel, Le Voyageur Imprudent.
A potential logical contradiction where a time traveler prevents their own birth by altering the past. René Barjavel explored this temporal inconsistency in his 1943 science fiction novel, Le Voyageur Imprudent.
Quiz
Which French author popularized the Grandfather Paradox in his 1943 science fiction novel?
Quiz
In Newcomb's Paradox, what is unique about the entity that places money in the boxes?
Quiz
Who formulated Newcomb's Paradox in 1960 before it was analyzed by philosopher Robert Nozick?
Quiz
What is another common name for the Bootstrap Paradox, where an object's origin is lost in time?
Quiz
Which science fiction author wrote the 1941 story 'By His Bootstraps', popularizing the concept of causal loops?
Quiz
In the Grandfather Paradox, what is the ultimate logical contradiction that occurs?
Quiz
In the ancient Crocodile Paradox, what does the parent guess the crocodile will do with the child?
Quiz
Which group of ancient Greek philosophers is most famous for studying logical traps like the Crocodile Paradox?