Physics Challenge II: Questions/Comments

[corky]

Hi everybody,

Just thought I'd start a thread about Physics Challenge Problem II.  So if you've got any questions or comments, this might be a good place to start.

[Alemi]

Something we completely neglected to mention in the problem statement, but might come up is:  What kind of theory of time travel are we dealing with here?

If it is a Back to the Future future type situation, you might be seriously worried that your actions if too drastic might lead to yourself never existing.

If it is a Terminator future type situation, you are assured that if you haven't heard of your evidence being discovered before you went back, the best you could hope for would be for your evidence to be discovered after you left, i.e. in your original future.

Worth kicking around, perhaps.

[corky]

I think that is a bit beyond the scope of the problem.  How would you quantify the magnitude of the change you've made on the far future?  

Anyway, I'm a devout member of the Church of the Terminator Future.  So let's go with that, don't need to worry about messy initial conditions.

MORAL OF THE STORY:  You should not worry about destroying humanity.  You should not worry about keeping Marty McFly's parents together.  That is someone else's job.