Whiya, third post incoming!
Like the title reference? I do too. That right there is a good show, Doctor Who is.Unfortunately, we’re not here to discuss Doctor Who, or even real time travel. Instead, I would like to discuss something more like time... travel. Without the traveling bit.
To rephrase: rewriting history.
I don’t know why I wonder about these sorts of things, but I do. Have some background information. Well, information information. Stuff. Just read.
So you have the present, a moment in time where stuff happens. The stuff happens in the present and then becomes the past, and the stuff that waits to be the present is the future. What happens in the past determines the present, and what happens in the present determines the future.
What I was wondering is this: if you could change one tiny thing in the present or past, how much would it change the future?
Say we have two situations: Present #1 and Present #2. There is only one difference between the two Presents: a breath of air has changed its course by, maybe, 5 degrees to the west. What happens then?
It may seem like an extremely minute, unimportant change, but if I’m correct, then this could be huge. Maybe that one speck of pollen that was destined to land on that flower in Present #1 didn’t in Present #2, and the flower died without ever reproducing, causing the entire species to die out, spreading famine throughout the globe, changing evolution forever. Maybe the wind was at just the right angle to push the baseball into the batter’s swing zone in Present #1, allowing the undefeated team to win again, but in Present #2 the batter swung wildly and the defending team won, altering sports history. Or maybe the wind blew on that worksheet just enough in Present #1 and it flew away, never to be seen again, while in Present #2 the owner of the paper kept his work and presented his findings to the world, suddenly revered as a genius.
Maybe in Present #1 someone slurred one of their words, making the other person in the conversation mishear and do something completely different from what the first person told them to do, causing that super-criminal to get away and live to commit new crimes, and in Present #2 the second person heard loud and clear and apprehended the dangerous man, putting a stop to his rampaging.
Maybe... well, I don’t feel like making up any more examples. I’m sure you get what I mean, though.
Maybe I'm just not smart, though, and this has been recognized by... everyone ever.
Did you think it was interesting? I hope so...
