6:05 PM

Discussion of The Time Machine and There Will Be Time leads to discussion of time travel in general. I am continuing the general discussion on this blog because this is where I get more page views. I was recently involved in a confused conversation and will try to clarify the issues in this post.

Imagine:

It is 6:00 PM on Friday, 18 February, 2022 AD, in Timeline A. We do not know whether there are any other timelines but, in case there are, we will call ours A. This might or might not matter later.

I have either a Wellsian Time Machine or a Time Patrol timecycle. These are different kinds of temporal vehicles and, if the scenario becomes more complicated, then it might become necessary to be more specific. At 6:05, I will sit on the machine and set off to 6:05 PM, 18 February, 2002. I intend, on arrival, to perform some action that will have immediate consequences. Consequences of consequences might have continued until now.

We can make two definite statements about this scenario -

(i) Any immediate consequences of an action performed in 2002 came into effect immediately after that action was performed in 2002. Those consequences are not waiting to come into effect after my temporal vehicle has departed at 6:05.

(ii) At least in Timeline A, we know that no consequences of consequence have prevented me now either from possessing a temporal vehicle or from intending to depart on it at 6:05. As of now, we can merely speculate about any other timelines.