: Re: Creating a logical framework for the concept of "decisional causality" I'm working on a science fiction universe in which time travel exists, in a very limited form, but it's useless, at least

@LarsenBagley300

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So my solution to this problem was the rule that can be boiled down to the following: The Past is set in stone, the future is clay. The present is the kiln.

Basically, knowledge of a future event will automatically make anyone privy to that knowledge unable to change the past... those still ignorant of things to come may however change the past... and while very difficult, someone with knowledge of the future can lead those without on a course that will cement things differently. Essentially this led to a story where my time traveler, had to play the role of the villain and lead the heroes to discovering on their own the the cause of the troubled future and eliminating that threat without telling them. It's stressed that this is very difficult as his actions may only indirectly change the past... if there's a big red button that will destroy the world, he cannot destroy the button, no matter how hard he tries. He can only cause the button to activate... BUT it's perfectly legal for him to let the hero believe he will press the button and set up a situation where he is going to press the button, which the hero concludes is bad and destroys it before the time traveler has a chance to press it.

This also relies on a concept that time is somewhat aware of the violation of forward motion that is a time traveler and will become somewhat hostile to the traveler. This could be something that seems like a string of bad luck that gets progressively worse as the traveler gets near the decision point... this could also be just as simple as the traveler was there during the orignal event, and will always be there, but no matter what, is unable to stop the event... no matter how many times history plays out, it's always the same way. The traveler goes back, gets blocked by the crowd on the grassy knoll, causes a ruckas, the cops detain him, he is unable to get into the book depository, and Kennedy is shot. Always... every single time...

Then of course there is a comedy sketch I wrote where we learn that after about the third time a time traveler appears and tries to kill him, Hitler installs a guard who's job it is to stop time travelers from killing Hitler. He even sets up a number dispenser, has them all line up, and calls out "Number One... Number One..." until the traveler with the ticket steps forward... at which point he is shot and the guard begins calling for Number 2.

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