Back to The Future (SPOILER)
Daniel....@cmu-cs-spice.arpa
***SPOILER***
The one thing that bothered me about Back to the Future wasn't that it
made use of parallel universes but that it seemed to use them wrong. Marty
changed both universes. The changes to the universe he returned to
were obvious: his parents had dfferent personalities, he had a new truck,
etc... However, he also changed the universe he left. He invented
rock and roll (essentially). While he is playing Jonny B Goode at the
dance (in 1955), the guitarist with the broken arm (whose name was
something Berry) calls his brother "Chuck" to tell him about this great new
style of music that Marty is playing. This means that universe 1 (where
Marty started) shouldn't have had any rock music in it because Marty wasn't
around in 1955 to let Chuck know about it. Of course, it did because
otherwise Marty wouldn't have known the song (or have been in a rock
band).
Dan (djz@cmu-cs-spice)
Chris Andersen
Huh? Where in the movie is there a mention of parallel universes. Marty
doesn't change two universes. He changes the original universe into another
one. Perhaps in the original Universe Chuck Berry did discover the new sound
on his own. But in the changed universe, he had some help from Marty.
Where's the problem?
Chris Andersen
--
"Roads? Where we're going we don't need any roads!"
Ray Lubinsky
--
Nah, Marty I going back in time is actually Marty I going to the 1950's in
the-universe-in-which-Marty-I-goes-to-the-50's (ie, universe II). This is the
same universe that will contain the ``Lone Pine Mall'', etc. In universe II,
Marty I is the inventor of rock. Back in universe I, in its own 1950's,
events proceeded as we know them.
My question is, what happens to Marty II when he takes off in the DeLorean
for the ``past?'' Does he go to the 1950's of universe I -- or somewhen else
entirely? Off hand, I'd have to vote for the latter; a closed loop in the
multiverse seems to be a pretty nasty violation of causality in the system.
--
Ray Lubinsky University of Virginia, Dept. of Computer Science
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