From: Eugene.Leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de
Date: Sat May 19 2001 - 16:06:03 MDT
Randy Smith wrote:
> Well, the important thing, as I think John De Rivaz pointed out, (and that no one else
> has really brought out), is that the implication is that IF this thing is MINIMALLY
Of course I did bring that out. Big deal: just read "Thrice Upon a Time" by James
P. Hogan. Nihil nova, and stuff. It is all very obvious.
> Basically, a Bootstrap Scenario would ensue.
It is worse, you've got a loop of Final Cause (the Antipode of the First
Cause) keeping reaching back, and restructuring the timeline. Iteratively.
Not only is this bootstrap, this is autofeedback. The capabilities are nudged
backwards with each increment. The initial kinetics dynamics is limited,
but I have no idea how limited. Even if you're getting back "only"
information, you might be very surprised what you might be
getting back from scant few hours into the future. I don't know what a
Deity from the End of Time can accomplish with a current state of the
world, if given an hour (or a day, or a year, it doesn't really matter),
but it will be probably a lot. Good chance is that you won't like it.
If it looks like optical FastEthernet traffic coming out from the
Bose-Einstein condensate portal, do *not* hook it up to the network.
At least, have the good sense of only connecting this to a sacrificial
machine. I.e., do not use that machine for anything, ever.</eliezer-mode>
If the portal is traversable by matter, you're fucked, plain and simple.
As I said, Star Trek this ain't. Time travel is one of the
"indistinguishable from magic" technology candidates.
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