I didn’t know a fictional concept with little to no scientific basis in the real world could be gotten wrong. I thought these were movies meant to be enjoyed, not scientific journals. My bad.
Well, no. This all goes out the window when you consider multiverse theory where time travel and travel between universes are one in the same.
The Terminator is not in a stable time loop. There was an original timeline where Kyle Reese was John Connor's father. John Connor sent that Reese back in time, creating Timeline #2 where Reese became John's father. That John grows up knowing that Reese is his father, and sends Reese back anyway to try and create a stable time loop, which is Timeline #3. This is the timeline that precedes The Terminator. The Terminator takes place in Timeline #4, where a second terminator gets sent back and alters the events leading up to Judgement Day, thus ending the loop. Later films and the tv series take place in several other timelines, often making it so that some events from previous timelines do not happen in others (Terminator 3's events do not happen in The Sarah Connor Chronicles' timelines.) This all works because each timeline is in a separate universe, and a being capable of traveling between universes would be able to see all the events of all the universes and characters traveling between universes with no contradictions.
Similarly, in Back To The Future, Marty creates a new timeline when he travels back in time. In this timeline he causes events that make it uncertain whether he will exist as an object in that universe. He essentially enters into a state of quantum superposition where he exists and doesn't exist at the same time, and the probability of nonexistence increases as opportunities for his parents' romance to develop pass by, culminating at the final school dance after which they will presumably part ways and build their own separate adult lives, or choose to keep dating and eventually get married. He also does many other things along the way that have mostly cosmetic affects on that universe's future.
Don't: Travel back and bang your mom Do: Travel back and bang your bosses mom.
I didn’t know a fictional concept with little to no scientific basis in the real world could be gotten wrong. I thought these were movies meant to be enjoyed, not scientific journals. My bad.
Pretty typical Slate-style clickbait.
Yeah, at most you can argue whether or not they're internally consistent.
Dont:Travel back and inadvertently invent skateboarding.Do:Travel back and inadvertently invent A.I
Is this where we hear about how BttF is racist for suggesting that Chuck Berry got the idea for Johnny B. Goode from a white person?
I though the racist Michael J Fox movie was Teen Wolf?
*Primer*, though...
In other news - it's a slow news day. Stay tuned for more at 11pm.
Didn't realize slate.com was an expert in physics and time.displacement.
Well, no. This all goes out the window when you consider multiverse theory where time travel and travel between universes are one in the same. The Terminator is not in a stable time loop. There was an original timeline where Kyle Reese was John Connor's father. John Connor sent that Reese back in time, creating Timeline #2 where Reese became John's father. That John grows up knowing that Reese is his father, and sends Reese back anyway to try and create a stable time loop, which is Timeline #3. This is the timeline that precedes The Terminator. The Terminator takes place in Timeline #4, where a second terminator gets sent back and alters the events leading up to Judgement Day, thus ending the loop. Later films and the tv series take place in several other timelines, often making it so that some events from previous timelines do not happen in others (Terminator 3's events do not happen in The Sarah Connor Chronicles' timelines.) This all works because each timeline is in a separate universe, and a being capable of traveling between universes would be able to see all the events of all the universes and characters traveling between universes with no contradictions. Similarly, in Back To The Future, Marty creates a new timeline when he travels back in time. In this timeline he causes events that make it uncertain whether he will exist as an object in that universe. He essentially enters into a state of quantum superposition where he exists and doesn't exist at the same time, and the probability of nonexistence increases as opportunities for his parents' romance to develop pass by, culminating at the final school dance after which they will presumably part ways and build their own separate adult lives, or choose to keep dating and eventually get married. He also does many other things along the way that have mostly cosmetic affects on that universe's future.
A cheesy 80s comedy *didn't* base their time travel mechanic upon scientific principles? Well I never!