I have a question.

[conuly]

Let's suppose that there are an infinite number of alternate timelines running right now, for every little teeny tiny difference possible in the universe.

Now, we all know about the trousers of time and all, or of flipping a coin - but if you add time travel into the mix, would it make sense that all the futures are still "real" even if they haven't happened yet? So there's an infinite number of worlds that are exactly the same as this one, in every detail but what will happen next? (Or in a million years, or whenever?)

I mean, if this weren't all a house of very flimsy cards, would that make sense?

And on another note, for some reason this is making me think of the exhibits in the Natural History Museum, which we went to today. (See? I'm a good aunt!) In the Hall of Asian Peoples they have a few dioramas of ancient cities, for different time periods. And in one of them, they really have a miniature person on a flying carpet above it :P

Comments

[malantha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that's exactly true for that theory.

I tried to ask my husband, since he's studied a lot of different types(?) of physics and consequently knows about theories and schools of thought like this. But he said he refuses to think about it because it's gibberish and there's no way to ever prove it so it's not worth thinking about. Sometimes scientific types have no imagination at all. :P

[conuly]

On the other hand, they probably save themselves a lot of headaches.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

Gareth and I had a debate going right up until [someone with long brown hair] appeared as to whether "Heroes" was going that route (and consequently, whether 2011!Hiro's world was the same as it had been before he went back, or whether it had changed). I was voting for "his going back changed it, but he just doesn't know it"; Gareth was voting for "they're showing an alternate universe that won't be the actual future for the characters now that events were changed in 2006." (And I was right.)

[conuly]

Do you read the comics? They settled the issue of whether it's the same universe or not, but if you don't read them, I don't want to ruin your speculation.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

I have been, but I actually missed the comic where that was cleared up? You mean last week's?

[conuly]

*shrugs* Dunno for sure which week.

In it, FutureHiro explains that he shot Sylar several times, but he kept regenerating. When he came back, everything seemed to be the same - he was trying to figure it out when PastHiro appeared.

Since in this universe, Peter is the one who blew up, and since in that universe PastHiro *clearly* hadn't met his future self, or else he'd've remembered (unless the Haitian is involved, of course), it's pretty likely a different timeline already.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

I was reading it as "Future!Hiro's knowledge of what happened is only what he remembers, but the rest of the world may know different." For example, Future!Hiro remembers that Claire died, but nonetheless she is actually alive and hiding in Midland. So it is just as possible that Future!Hiro remembers having stabbed Sylar and Sylar regenerating, but it never actually happened like that (because Sylar couldn't have regenerated, because Claire is still alive) so Sylar must be alive for some other reason, like in the "revised" (sans-dead-cheerleader) timeline, Hiro never stabbed him. Or maybe (in the "revised" timeline) Hiro *did* stab him but Linderman healed him.

In any case, my best interpretation of the way the timelines work together is that there are multiple Hiros, but only one timeline, and any changes made in the past affect the current timeline, but not the current Hiro.

[conuly]

Ah, wait, missed your final sentence there. Nevermind.

[malantha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that's exactly true for that theory.

I tried to ask my husband, since he's studied a lot of different types(?) of physics and consequently knows about theories and schools of thought like this. But he said he refuses to think about it because it's gibberish and there's no way to ever prove it so it's not worth thinking about. Sometimes scientific types have no imagination at all. :P

[conuly]

On the other hand, they probably save themselves a lot of headaches.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

Gareth and I had a debate going right up until [someone with long brown hair] appeared as to whether "Heroes" was going that route (and consequently, whether 2011!Hiro's world was the same as it had been before he went back, or whether it had changed). I was voting for "his going back changed it, but he just doesn't know it"; Gareth was voting for "they're showing an alternate universe that won't be the actual future for the characters now that events were changed in 2006." (And I was right.)

[conuly]

Do you read the comics? They settled the issue of whether it's the same universe or not, but if you don't read them, I don't want to ruin your speculation.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

I have been, but I actually missed the comic where that was cleared up? You mean last week's?

[conuly]

*shrugs* Dunno for sure which week.

In it, FutureHiro explains that he shot Sylar several times, but he kept regenerating. When he came back, everything seemed to be the same - he was trying to figure it out when PastHiro appeared.

Since in this universe, Peter is the one who blew up, and since in that universe PastHiro *clearly* hadn't met his future self, or else he'd've remembered (unless the Haitian is involved, of course), it's pretty likely a different timeline already.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

I was reading it as "Future!Hiro's knowledge of what happened is only what he remembers, but the rest of the world may know different." For example, Future!Hiro remembers that Claire died, but nonetheless she is actually alive and hiding in Midland. So it is just as possible that Future!Hiro remembers having stabbed Sylar and Sylar regenerating, but it never actually happened like that (because Sylar couldn't have regenerated, because Claire is still alive) so Sylar must be alive for some other reason, like in the "revised" (sans-dead-cheerleader) timeline, Hiro never stabbed him. Or maybe (in the "revised" timeline) Hiro *did* stab him but Linderman healed him.

In any case, my best interpretation of the way the timelines work together is that there are multiple Hiros, but only one timeline, and any changes made in the past affect the current timeline, but not the current Hiro.

[conuly]

Ah, wait, missed your final sentence there. Nevermind.