Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
There seem to be two schools of philosphical thought about just what "the future" is:
1. That the future is fixed and "pre-ordained" and that the whole of time is "there" - we just cannot perceive it yet.
2. The so-called "multiverse" theory which says that any time any decision is made, the universe "branches" and two entirely new universes go forward, one in which the decision went one way, and one in which it went the other.
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If Theory 1 is correct then this means that there is no such thing as "Freewill" because all of your actions are pre-ordained and there is nothing you can do to change them. From the time the dinasaurs exited it was already known that you would exist and what decisions you would make right up until the time you no longer existed.
Furthermore, if Theory 1 is true and I travel 10 minutes back in time and my future self kills my past self then I get into an ugly paradox. But, if Theory 2 is correct then my future self can kill a past self that exists in one of these multiverses and no paradox.
As I was thinking about this it also occurred to me that Theory 2 doesn't preclude the simultaneous existence of Theory 1. E.g. it is pre-ordained that "one" of my future selves must travel back in time and kill one of my past selves.