What Obligation Does a Person Have to Parallel World Lines?

[Einstein]

This thread seems to have gone off the rails again.

But, a new and interesting question has now emerged.

What safeguards could be put in place to ensure that the time travel technology is used responsibly?​

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It may be slightly off topic. But people are taking part in the discussion. I know time travel is my favorite topic. But I believe if everyone had a time machine, the technology would regulate itself. By the fact that you wouldn't have any kind of advantage over anyone else. The moral majority would predominate. If you do something that isn't morally acceptable, then your fellow man may intervene and reverse what you have done. I love it. It's like everyone is forced to get along with each other. Freedom is maintained. But it would be a freedom constrained by moral limits. I know the criminally inclined might disagree. But they are not the majority.

 

[Einstein]

IF, and it's a very big IF, parallel worlds do exist, why would you treat it any differently than a neighbor you discover living next door to you or the City you discover exists surrounding your home or the State you discover your City exists in or the Country your State exists in or the Country next to yours that you discover? Why would anyone think they have any right to do as they please to any other "anything" that we discover?

I wouldn't treat it any differently, and I would expect others would feel the same about that. Only the greedy and power hungry would feel differently, in my opinion.

 

[temporal recon]

This thread seems to have gone off the rails again.

But, a new and interesting question has now emerged.

What safeguards could be put in place to ensure that the time travel technology is used responsibly?​

​

​

​

It may be slightly off topic. But people are taking part in the discussion. I know time travel is my favorite topic. But I believe if everyone had a time machine, the technology would regulate itself. By the fact that you wouldn't have any kind of advantage over anyone else. The moral majority would predominate. If you do something that isn't morally acceptable, then your fellow man may intervene and reverse what you have done. I love it. It's like everyone is forced to get along with each other. Freedom is maintained. But it would be a freedom constrained by moral limits. I know the criminally inclined might disagree. But they are not the majority.

Thank you for your thoughtful response, Einstein.

Interestingly, your answer circles around to my first question. You claim that, if everyone had a time machine, it would self regulate. I tend to agree with your hypothetical.

But, what obligation would (now) everyone (in your hypothetical) now have to not change the past? Or similarly, what obligation would everyone else have to change history back to the way it "should" be after someone went back and won the lottery for himself?

 

[Einstein]

temporal recon

Everyone could win the lottery. But split up a million ways wouldn't really be much to win. The real trick would be to find a way to get rich and keep it a secret. I don't really see my fellow man as being a threat to me if he does get rich. I do see a time machine as being the ultimate security device. Police would no longer be needed. A time machine is like having the ability to see and know all. That's why I mentioned the Tower of Babel. So now we relearn an ability that we may have once possessed. I don't believe changing the past would be an obligation to anyone unless there was an accidental loss of life, that could be reversed. A lot of things would change. We might even all grow closer together because of this all seeing effect a time machine would have. Perhaps there would no longer be a need for governments. That's the New World order I would like to have.

 

[temporal recon]

I don't believe changing the past would be an obligation to anyone unless there was an accidental loss of life, that could be reversed.

I wonder, Einstein:

How would you/we be able to judge a death as "accidental" or "meant to be?"

 

[Einstein]

temporal recon

How would you/we be able to judge a death as "accidental" or "meant to be?"

I don't believe in fate. As you may have observed from previous posts. Being run over by a car is obviously much different than a heart attack. With a time machine or even a time scope, one would be able to know beforehand what was looming as a possible future. An accidental cause is easily reversed, whereas a heart attack may give you time to prepare. I'll admit knowing that moment of finality might not be something one wishes to know. But it is a moment in time we all will eventually experience. Perhaps surrounding oneself with friends and family during that moment of finality will make that moment one that will be more easy to accept.

 

[temporal recon]

Einstein,

I believe you may have missed the point of my question regarding how to determine if an 'accidental' death was in fact accidental.

You infer that a death could be accidental if it were unanticipated (i.e. not happening on a closely div'd WL).

My point in my question above was that all actions and events must be mirrored between the respective world lines. What this means is that any death on a given worldline is exactly mirrored on any closely div'd WL "next" to it. So, then, how can anyone define accidental as unanticipated?

But I think we are going off on a tangent here.

Turning back to my original question, do we have any obligation to "allow" history to unfold as we "know it" to have unfolded on our original (home) worldline? If we knew a terrorist attack was going to happen, does the time traveler have any obligation to warn the attack's victims?

 

[Einstein]

temporal recon

I guess it really depends on a time travelers moral convictions. If it's a time traveling society, then I would hope societies morals would allow the innocent victims to have warning. Now if your talking 911, well there are just too many anomalies to give a single straight answer. I still remember seeing a video of what appeared to be someone being teleported out of harm's way. So who has beaming technology to do something like that? It's like 911 was a convergence zone for multiple organizations, each taking there turn at a piece of the action.

 

[temporal recon]

temporal recon

I guess it really depends on a time travelers moral convictions. If it's a time traveling society, then I would hope societies morals would allow the innocent victims to have warning. Now if your talking 911, well there are just too many anomalies to give a single straight answer. I still remember seeing a video of what appeared to be someone being teleported out of harm's way. So who has beaming technology to do something like that? It's like 911 was a convergence zone for multiple organizations, each taking there turn at a piece of the action.

Einstein,
If all world lines mirror eachother exactly, that means that there are no accidents. Every terrorist attack, every car crash, every Y2K event that happened on one world line happened on every other (divergence notwithstanding).
You state that you would hope that a "moralistic" society would warn the "innocent victims." This again circles back to my original question.

 

[titorite]

delete is an option.