DIPLOMARBEIT Titel der Diplomarbeit “Breaking the Time Barrier: Time Travel Paradoxes“ Band 1 von 1 Bänden Verfasserin Michaela Schober angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag.phil.) Wien, 2012 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 190 344 353 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: UF Englisch UF Spanisch Betreuerin: PD Dr. Susanne Reichl 2 To those who kept me studying, and to those who distracted me: thank you for all the encouraging, loving, diverting support. I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Susanne Reichl; without her this thesis would, in this form, not have been possible. 3 4 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................................................5 TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS..................................................................................................7 ABBREVIATIONS....................................................................................................................8 Primary literature ..............................................................................................................8 Technical terms ................................................................................................................8 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................13 PART 1: THEORETICAL ASPECTS.....................................................................................18 1.1 TIME ..............................................................................................................................18 1.1.1 “Wibbely-wobbely, timey-wimey… stuff”: What is time?........................................18 1.1.1.1 Physical time ................................................................................................................................ 19 1.1.1.2 Philosophical time......................................................................................................................... 22 1.1.1.3 Internal and external time ............................................................................................................. 25 1.1.1.4 Psychological time........................................................................................................................ 28 1.1.2 Neverwhere, nowhen and distimement: no words for time?..................................29 1.2 TIME TRAVEL..................................................................................................................33 1.2.1 Defining time travel................................................................................................33 1.2.1.1 What is time travel? ...................................................................................................................... 34 1.2.1.2 Arguments against time travel ...................................................................................................... 37 1.2.2 …but what about the laws of physics? ..................................................................39 1.2.2.1 Time machines ............................................................................................................................. 41 1.2.2.2 Backwards causation.................................................................................................................... 44 1.2.3 Fictional means of time travel................................................................................45 1.2.3.1 Pre-Wells ...................................................................................................................................... 45 1.2.3.2 Post-Wells .................................................................................................................................... 47 1.2.4 Moral dilemmas .....................................................................................................48 1.2.5 Determinism and free will ......................................................................................50 1.3 “IS IT OK IF I GET A HEADACHE?”: TIME TRAVEL PARADOXES .............................................52 1.3.1 What are paradoxes and how do they work? ........................................................52 1.3.2 Types and characteristics of time travel paradoxes ..............................................53 1.3.3 The second-time-around fallacy and changing the past........................................57 1.3.3.1 The second-time around fallacy ................................................................................................... 58 1.3.3.2 Affecting vs. changing the past..................................................................................................... 59 1.3.4 Why time travel could lead to a shortage in banana peels and upset PVC...........62 5 1.3.4.1 Of banana-peel-mechanisms and chronology protection conjectures.......................................... 62 1.3.4.2 The principle of V-correlation: PVC .............................................................................................. 64 1.3.5 The paradoxes that will be dealt with in this thesis................................................66 1.3.5.1 Causal loops and self-creation ..................................................................................................... 66 1.3.5.2 The auto-infanticide paradox ........................................................................................................ 69 1.3.5.3 The butterfly-effect........................................................................................................................ 71 PART 2: ANALYSIS ..............................................................................................................72 2.1 The six parameters of time travel .............................................................................72 2.1.1 Occurrence ...................................................................................................................................... 72 2.1.2 Time................................................................................................................................................. 73 2.1.3 Space .............................................................................................................................................. 75 2.1.4 Event horizon................................................................................................................................... 76 2.1.5 Travelling ......................................................................................................................................... 78 2.1.6 Effects on surroundings, body and mind ......................................................................................... 79 2.2 NARRATIVE CONTEXT .....................................................................................................80 2.2.1 Planting, pay-off and epiphany ..............................................................................81 2.2.2 Sub- and metastructure of the text as reinforcement of the paradox ....................85 2.2.3 Linguistic and visual choices for illustrating time travel and the paradox ..............87 2.3 TIME TRAVEL PARADOXES ...............................................................................................91 2.3.1 Causal loops and self-creation ..............................................................................91 2.3.1.1 Names, notebooks and an impossible dialogue ........................................................................... 91 2.3.1.2 Looping stories and a daughter who is her own parents .............................................................. 95 2.3.1.3 How The Doctor got out of the Pandorica .................................................................................... 96 2.3.2 The grandfather paradox .....................................................................................101 2.3.3 The butterfly-effect...............................................................................................104 CONCLUSION .....................................................................................................................107 LITERATURE.......................................................................................................................114 PRIMARY SOURCES............................................................................................................114 SECONDARY SOURCES.......................................................................................................116 SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIONS........................................................................................120 APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................121 APPENDIX A: TABLE OF EPISODES FROM DOCTOR WHO ......................................................121 APPENDIX B: ABSTRACT IN GERMAN ...................................................................................122 APPENDIX C: ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH ...................................................................................123 APPENDIX D: CURRICULUM VITAE .......................................................................................124 6 !"#$%&'(&)$$*+,-",.'/+& Illustration 1: Linear Time...........................................................................................18! Illustration 2: Meeting Oneself....................................................................................25!