Time Travel

Dear Readers,

I feel like talking about time travel. To recap a little from my blog post Gravity, Science and the Spirit World, there are two main theories of time. First is the Newtonian theory that time is constant, always flowing in one direction at a steady speed that we all experience.

Einstein's B-theory of time states that time is actually relative, that people experience time differently, particularly if they are traveling at opposing speeds. This theory also says that direction of movement orients this relativity.

 For example in very simplistic terms: imagine that you are in a room with someone. That is the moment where you meet and are now in the same place in time. When your companion leaves, that person is moving away from you, placing them in your past, existing in your memories. Yet, if they start moving towards you again, then they are now in your future. They are not with you now, but if they keep moving towards you then in the future they will be with you again.

So, if time is both relative and linear, it implies that events that occur are fixed. For if the past exists, then the future does as well. Also, science has helped to prove Enstein's theory as object that grow closer to the speed of light, which is a constant speed, then time moves slower for them. This has inspired the theoretical particle called a Takyon which moves faster than the speed of light, and thus moves backwards through time. On top of that, we can see that choices make these events, which makes our choices already made, but we have to come to understand why we made them.

It was The Oracle from Matrix Revolutions that said, "No one can see past a choice that they don't understand." Which brings us into the theories of time travel: Fixed Timeline, Dynamic Timeline, and Multiverse Timeline.

Harry Potter saving himself from Dementors with a Patronus charm

The Fixed Timeline theory states that time is so completely set, that going back in time causes the same results. Good examples of this in cinema include Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, where Harry came to the epiphany "I knew I could do it all this time, because I'd already done it... Does that make sense?", and The Terminator, where John Conner was only conceived because a robot from the future was sent back in time to kill him before he was born.

Marty McFly ceasing to exist in Back to the Future

Next is the Dynamic Timeline where paradoxes and loops are created. A clear example of this is Back to the Future where Marty McFly begins erasing himself and his family due to his actions. Thus making a paradox, himself, that the universe begins to erase.

Another movie embraced this paradox idea, Donnie Darko. Now, I would consider Donnie Darko a closed loop. Here is a SPOILER ALERT! Before I continue, I should make clear that this is mostly just interesting ideas about what goes on when a time loop is created. To use some quotes from the fictional book Philosophy of Time Travel used and quoted in the movie, the "Tangent Universe" is this loop time pocket created by time folding back onto itself. "If a Tangent Universe occurs, it will be highly unstable, sustaining itself for no longer than several weeks. Eventually it will collapse upon itself, forming a black hole within the Primary Universe capable of destroying all existence." I would clarify here, that it only seems to collapse and destroy all existence trapped within the loop.

There are some interesting ideas from the movie, like the portal through time, or "Tangent Vortex" is compared to the medium of water, kind of like the event horizon of worm holes in the Stargate series. It also calls items that pass through this tangent vortex as "Artifact[s]". These objects are usually metal, and it seems as though if they pass into the primary universe and kill someone, then some of the main events within the loop or tangent universe revolve around what would happen if they lived instead.

Donnie Darko's liquid spear.

Thus making that individual the "Living Receiver" who, because they are the focus of this tangent universe, can even become capable of seeing the liquid spear, or spirits of people making choices and leading people within the tangent universe. Along with this, the living receiver is haunted by "The Manipulated Dead", who is someone who dies within the tangent universe and is tied to the living receiver.

In this movie, the manipulated dead is a giant bunny named Frank. This is clearly a reference to the movie Harvey where there is the question as to whether or not Harvey exists or if the only man who sees him is crazy. Alas, Schizophrenia is a subject for a distant future's post. Anyway, Frank becomes tied to Donnie, the living receiver, because Donnie killed him.

Despite all of these intriguing aspects of this tangent universe, all that is left when it collapses on itself is the artifact, in this case an engine from an airplane that crashed out of the sky, which manifests in the primary universe mysteriously. "Ancient myth tells us of the Mayan Warrior killed by an Arrowhead that had fallen from a cliff, where there was no Army, no enemy to be found. We are told of the Medieval Knight mysteriously impaled by sword he had not yet built. We are told that these things occur for a reason."

However, though these Donnie Darko ideas are fascinating, I know of only one such myths or artifact, and those are the stories about the Philadelphia Experiment (which was made into a movie by the same name) where supposedly there were experiments done to test a new method of sonar cloaking that resulted in the disappearance of several men, except for their metal buckles. Alas, as such stories a a matter of rumor, conspiracy, and hearsay, I cannot declare that I believe in them and leave it up to speculation as to whether or not these loops and paradoxes actually exist.

Lastly though, there is the third Multiverse Timeline as exhibited in the new 2009 Star Trek reboot where the timeline was changed in such a way as to create a second universe with a different series of events, making the new future uncertain and even more surprising. Another good representation of this is the Rick and Morty multiverse, however, there has been no evidence that those universes were created by time distortion, only the culmination of different choices. Wherefore, I will endeavor to use another example.

SPOILER ALERT for Fringe.

A main thread of the television series Fringe, includes the interaction between the Observers, and the main characters. First, there is a multiverse, represented by two main universes that interact with one another. Observers or "evolved" humans from the future are sent back in time to find the perfect place in human history so that they can bring back their civilization. This endeavor begins with a small scouting team were twelve observers, named after months of the year, are sent back to before the big bang, and thus before time moved forward, as displayed in the movie Mr. Nobody. From this outpost, they move forward through history.

September

One Observer, September, intervenes "accidentally" in the alternate universe, preventing Alternate Walter Bishop from giving Alternate Peter Bishop a life saving cure. This causes the main Walter Bishop to travel across the dimensions and take Peter away, mostly unwilling to watch his son Peter die a second time. After curing him, Walter finds that he cannot return Peter without causing devastating destruction to both universes. Thus Peter Bishop is raised in the main universe.

As the plot progresses, Peter falls in love with with a woman named Olivia and they have a child together. Then the Observers begin their invasion, moving directly from the future to the current location in time. Once the Observers are defeated and the timeline altered so that the Observers are never "evolved" or created in the first place, the universe returns to normal, with Peter and Olivia together with their daughter.

However, this ending bothered me greatly. For, if the Observers were erased from history, then they would not have intervened with Peter's cure, and thus Peter would still be in the Alternate Universe. Wherefore, here is my theory as to how and why Olivia and Peter remain together.

Because the Observer invasion went from the future, folding time over itself, to move to the past, they created a loop or tangent universe. Yet unlike the accidental one from Donnie Darko, this one was created and thus spanned tens, hundreds, or possibly thousands of years. Once the Observers were defeated the loop collapsed, erasing them and all events contained within the tangent universe.

September and Peter at the Outpost

Since September and the initial scouting party went before time, and thus outside of the loop, their actions exist, melding into the universe's history as a lasting paradox that created the multiverse timeline with a different history as to what would have transpired had they not gone back in time. Not only is the multiverse timeline changed for the main universe, but it is also changed for the alternate universe which now doesn't have Peter Bishop.

Wherefore, we see how Fringe incorporates both the dynamic timeline and the multiverse timeline. Yet, to add some metaphysics to the story, there is still the fixed timeline of the series itself, which we, as observers can watch and see all of the events that universe's history made and caused by the time traveling which always happens because it always occurred.

To conclude, I finally present my argument that there is the possibility that all three of the theories of time travel can exist, depending on how time is manipulated. Particularly, whether or not time is folded over itself, or if an individual is taken outside of time, and then placed back into it. Thus, the dynamic timeline and the multiverse timeline co-exist with the fixed timeline as a constant, having the dynamic and multiverse timelines flowing and interweaving around and through the fixed timeline like a brilliant tapestry of time which only God, the greatest of all, who knows all things for they are present before Him (Moroni 7:22, Doctrine and Covenants 38:2), can observe being as far outside of time as is possible. For the Father, alone, knows at least one thing relating to time, and that is when Christ will come again. In His own words, Christ said that He did not know, nor do the angels, but only His Father (Matthew 24:36). Though, I must confess, that this could have changed after Christ's resurrection. For in these latter days Christ has said again, "I, the Lord God, have spoken it; but the hour and the day no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor shall they know until he comes." (Doctrine and Covenants 49:7) Because of this, it might mean that Christ, like His Father, now knows when He will come again.

Thus, I commend all who read this to trust in the one true God who knows all things, omniscient, and omnipotent and to come unto His Only Begotten Son that you may be renewed and saved in the Celestial Kingdom. Amen.

Love,
Jacobugoth

Pokemon and Genealogy

Dear Readers,

Over the years I have noticed several subconscious social phenomena. One of the greatest in my youth was Pokemon. Though I never got very much involved with the card game other than collecting the cards, I did love the television show and to play the games on Nintendo Gameboy, Color, and Advanced. I stopped playing before DS because it seemed as though the creators lost sight of what made the games good, polluting their own world that they created with aspects and features including ridiculous Pokemon and mega evolutions that evolve and then regress. Though some of these features seem cool, and even look exciting and new, it has the air of being a vain copout.

The new features, especially the mega evolutions, bring it closer to being like Digimon, which surprisingly grew from Japan around the same time but was not backed by such a powerful company as Nintendo. I can see why Digimon didn't do as well beyond the support of the gaming industry. As similar as Pokemon meaning Pocket Monsters and Digimon meaning Digital Monsters they both evolve and progress. Despite the better detail and quality of the monsters in Digimon, they were also more complicated. Though they could digivolve into higher forms, usually they would regress and either return to their normal state or even revert further back, making it feel like no matter how hard you try to progress, you can always slide down back further down that slippery slope.

Though this sense of fleeting power and progression is an impressive metaphor for how we too can make forward progress as we try to become better people, and yet fall by indulging in sin and slide backwards, often leaving us worse off than we were, it is not a message that appeals to the innocence of youth.  As children, we often look to adults either as examples of what to be, or what not to be as we grow up.

Mewtwo evolutions image link

Thus in this sense, it is almost poetic how these mega-evolutions of pokemon are able to regress down, but only to the point of "adulthood". In that way, showing kids that they can improve, and become something more, up to a point. After that point, there is the uphill climb as to what kind of adult you will be.

All of this being said, and though I prefer the simplicity and encouragement of early Pokemon, my examples of adults included my mother. She is a genealogist, meaning that she searches and studies family history, especially lineage and family lines. It is a way to look back at where we came from so we can focus on where we want to go as individuals and as a society.

Yet, the only parts of family history work I found interesting were the stories of my ancestors. Everything from Philemon Merrill who was a body guard and dear friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. To my third great uncle the Texas outlaw Bill Langley who killed over 30 people and was hanged twice. Their stories have fascinated me. However, it wasn't until my monsterology (study of monsters) days that I realized that my mother and I were more similar than I thought.

For Pokemon, it has been easy enough to link the lines of evolution: Charmander becomes Charmeleon, then Charmeleon becomes Charizard. Three generations, just as we are encouraged to know: our parents, grand parents and great grand parents. This is part of the simplicity that has been lost. However, it was with the incredibly complicated and convoluted digivolutions in Digimon that I really began to realize that I was engaging in monster family history work.

Let's take one line of digimon ancestry. The cute little "baby" digimon Botamon. It digivolves into the "in training" Koromon, which then digivolves into "rookie" Agumon. Thus far it has been a fairly straight line, again three generations like with pokemon, however, it starts to get complicated.

In the original series, Agumon became "champion" Greymon. Yet with the more recent Digimon Data Squad, Agumon digivolves into Geogreymon. Thus splitting the branch into two different lines.

Geogreymon continues into Risegreymon then Shinegreymon.

On the other side, Greymon's line splits again, this time between good and evil (vaccine and virus). Leading to Metalgreymon or Blackmetalgreymon each as the "ultimate". Blackmetalgreymon continues one step further into Skullgreymon, the "mega" ,while Metalgreymon can split again, either into Wargreymon or Blackwargreymon. Though, there some possibility that Blackwargreymon, being a virus type digimon, could be Blackmetalgreymon's alternative to Skullgreymon.

Alas, because of how convoluted and in precise the Digimon world is, it is difficult to determine the truth of the digivolution lines. Just as the truth behind evolution is so confusing, especially when scientist cannot agree on what a species even is let alone adhere to its definition, as I talked about in my Creation blog post. Not only that, but our own human history is stuffed full of rumor, myth, legends, hearsay and plain old missing or incorrect records that it can be difficult to find the truth.

(Left to right columns) Baby, In Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, Mega

Nevertheless, as I persisted and held onto only those lines that I knew to be true, the pieces began coming together and I realized that I had begun making my own genealogical charts, or family group sheets. My own passion for monsters awakened in me a special love for family history.

(Left to right columns) Child, Parents, Grandparents, Great Grandparents (Vertex 42 Family Tree Chart)

Though I am not as active in family history as I should be, I dabble in my own ways. From the small and simple roots of Pokemon, onto Digimon and then into the real world, I know that knowing where we come from can lead us into the future. I encourage all who read this to get or make a three generational pedigree of their families. It may seem daunting at first, so you can always start with making one for your favorite Pokemon. Good luck and God be with you as you begin your journey into this marvelous work.

Love,
Jacobugoth