Doctor Who and Time Travel Essay

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The primary paradox “Blink,” the 2007 episode of Doctor Who, is based on is the knowledge paradox, or a bootstrap paradox (Steele, 2020). The events of the episode form a causal loop since it was the Doctor who gave himself the instructions to break out of being stuck in 1969 even though he would not have been able to send these instructions into the future if he did not have them in the first place. David Kyle Johnson describes this paradox and presents the transcript of the conversation the Doctor receives as a self-created object, of a jinnee. There is seemingly no cause for its existence since the Doctor leaving 17 secret video clips and Larry transcribing them are caused by each other. David Kyle Johnson resolves the paradox by pointing out that there is no causal origin for the Doctor and Sally’s conversation. He explains that causes mat not necessarily precede their effects, which makes time travel possible. However, what makes time travel impossible is the fact that jinn does not have a cause, or a stopping point, which makes their existence impossible.

Another paradox in the “Blink” episode is the grandfather paradox, which refers to Kathy Nightingale being left alone by Sally to see who is at the door. Thus, she is sent into the past by the weeping angels only for her grandson to ring the doorbell, which saves Sally and leaves Kathy all alone. David Kyle Johnson explains this paradox by pointing out that time is not just the past, the present, and the future arranged in a linear progression. Seemingly simultaneous events only relatively happen at the same time. Thus, the grandson ringing the doorbell happens in the future and the past at the same time for his grandma.

Reference

Steele, Z. (2020). The bootstrap paradox. Medium. Web.

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