Time Travel Models

There are various ways that time-travel is described in stories and in physics.

  • Some of these differ in how paradoxes are (or are not) resolved.
  • Some differ in the physical limitations they impose.1

There are various meta-studies and attempted catalogs of the entire field.

The world of recorded videos are very comprehensive in their collection of possible systems of time travel, particularly when fandoms interpret their own favorite or adjacent ouvres.

Sources

Time travel fiction has been a recurring go-to for Hollywood films, from Avengers Endgame to Christopher Nolan's new film TENET. But which time travel movie gets it right? In this episode of #BigQuestion​, Erik Voss and Hector Navarro dive deep into time travel in movies, TV, and literature to outline the 8 TYPES of time travel, from alternate timelines and paradox loops, to consciousness displacement and "anything goes" comedies. This is your definitive breakdown of the time travel Back to the Future, Avengers Endgame, Bill and Ted Face the Music, Terminator, Harry Potter, X-Men Days of Future Past, LOST, Game of Thrones, Hot Tub Time Machine, Interstellar, Looper, Rick and Morty, Groundhog Day, and more! Which time travel story has the worst plot holes? And which time travel story is the most accurate with what theoretical physicists and mathematicians have recently discovered to be possible?

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Tries to answer the Big Question:

What are the different versions of time travel? And which version gets it the most right according to real world physics?

Which refers also to....


  1. forward only, backward only, laterally across multi-verses, no clothes, requires an aluminium sportscar. There's not limit to the possible and entirely arbitrary demands that can be imposed for the sake of a tensile plot. (Adding to my list of bad ideas: write a sci fi series about a time travelling backstage rider. Working Title: "that olive plate.")

 

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