a time traveler arriving from a prevented future is like a macroscopic quantum event;
causality can be violated not only by time travelers but also by quantum fluctuations;
the Patrol, counteracting both kinds of violations, holds time to a single course where life and freedom are possible.
That third point sounds like the Strong Anthropic Principle.
I cannot buy the similar-sounding argument in Biocentrism:
before consciousness, the universe was indeterminate;
consciousness determined that the previously existing universe was one that would generate consciousness.
But why did consciousness begin?
An influx of new books means an interruption to rereading old books but normal service will be resumed in the New Year.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Another complication is how you argued with Poul Anderson himself that allegedly aborted or snuffed out time lines did not cease to exist but simply became inaccessible to time travelers from the time line guarded by the Time Patrol. Arguments which PA was inclined to accept and would need to take account of if he had written any more Time Patrol stories after "Death And The Knight."
Sean
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