Post by edify on Feb 12, 2010 12:30:11 GMT -6
You're probably right. We're just going to have to agree to disagree. We keep arguing in circles.
The problem is that time travel is all theoretical, anyway. If you're going to claim that changing history will erase a timeline, not creating a different, divergent timeline then you might as well claim that there are no parallel universes, and the mirror universe, as well as the alternate universes we saw in "Parallels," really don't exist. But parallel universes are part and parcel with the Multiple Worlds theory. That going back in time and changing things will cause another parallel universe to branch off, leaving the original one intact. There are no more flaws with that theory than with any other theory. You haven't been pointing out any flaws in that theory. All you've been doing is showing why you believe this is entirely an alternate unvierse rather than a divergent timeline, created by Nero prime when he changed the past. You can no more disprove the Multiple Worlds theory than I can prove it. This is all theoretical, anyway.
But for further understanding on it, I would recommend The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter. The time traveler from H.G. Wells' story even manages to cross from the new timeline he created in The Time Machine into his original timeline by the help of some kind of advanced race of beings. And again, I'd recommend listening to the commentary of the writers on the new film (I may have to try and locate the interviews where they talked about this, too), but they were going by the multiple worlds theory for this film. Nero and Spock were from the prime timeline and are now trapped in this new timeline created by Nero prime. The original goes on intact (other than the fact that Nero and Spock have been removed from it). It doesn't matter if there are flaws with the theory, because honestly a lot of Star Trek theory has flaws (an obvious example being the transporters).
And just so we're clear, I never claimed to be an expert in quantum mechanics, just that I understand the basic theory behind time travel. In fact, I believe that whoever came up with the Multiple Worlds theory did so as a result of the "grandfather paradox," which a single worlds theory would not be able to rectify. According to the single timeline theory (or whatever it would be called), if you killed your own grandfather, it would create a paradox because in that case you would not have been born and therefore you would not have been able to go back and kill your grandfather. But according to the multiple worlds theory, if you kill your own grandfather you would not cease to exist, but you would have created a diverging timeline, where the original goes on (and therefore, you will be born and be able to go back into time), and the new timeline you have just created (the one in which you have just killed your grandfather).