(sci-fi take?) If time travel and time loops are possible, would this not be the (general sketch of the) scenario under which it comes into existence:
1. a lab figures out some candidate particles that could be sent back in time, build a detector for them and start scanning for them. suppose the particle has some binary state. if the particle is +1 (-1) the lab buys (shorts) stock futures and exits after 5 minutes
2. the trading strategy will turn out to be very accurate and the profits from the trading strategy will be utilized to fund the research required to build the time machine
3. at some arbitrary point in the future, eventually, the r&d and engineering efforts are successful. once the device is built, the lab starts sending information back in time to tip itself to future moves in stock futures (the very same particles it originally received). this closes the time loop and guarantees temporal consistency
Reasons why this might not happen:
time doesn’t work like this, or time travel / loops aren’t possible
civilization doesn’t survive long enough to build the device
the lab can’t commit to using its newfound riches to build the device, breaking the logic and preventing the whole thing from working in the first place
4. The lab sees milions of conflicting particles. Their plan was foiled by future spam. 5. The lab is killed by assasins, who’ve been waiting for the signal since the 12th century and get activated by the Time Control Authority.
(sci-fi take?) If time travel and time loops are possible, would this not be the (general sketch of the) scenario under which it comes into existence:
1. a lab figures out some candidate particles that could be sent back in time, build a detector for them and start scanning for them. suppose the particle has some binary state. if the particle is +1 (-1) the lab buys (shorts) stock futures and exits after 5 minutes
2. the trading strategy will turn out to be very accurate and the profits from the trading strategy will be utilized to fund the research required to build the time machine
3. at some arbitrary point in the future, eventually, the r&d and engineering efforts are successful. once the device is built, the lab starts sending information back in time to tip itself to future moves in stock futures (the very same particles it originally received). this closes the time loop and guarantees temporal consistency
Reasons why this might not happen:
time doesn’t work like this, or time travel / loops aren’t possible
civilization doesn’t survive long enough to build the device
the lab can’t commit to using its newfound riches to build the device, breaking the logic and preventing the whole thing from working in the first place
“DO NOT MESS WITH TIME”
4. The lab sees milions of conflicting particles. Their plan was foiled by future spam.
5. The lab is killed by assasins, who’ve been waiting for the signal since the 12th century and get activated by the Time Control Authority.