The Bootstrap Paradox!

Here comes something that haunts existence. It not only violates the second law of thermodynamics but also violates the natural law of existence. In my opinion, any concept becomes a paradox whenever it violates any established natural law. 

Well, as it is said, laws are meant to be broken. Or is said for rules? Who cares? We've got bigger things to worry about than linguistic perfection. So now that we are all set for breaking the laws, it's time to get back to the topic, the Bootstrap Paradox!

It can be best explained by giving an example. One day you wake up to the sound of your doorbell. You go to your doorstep but there's nobody there. Just when you're about to turn back, thinking that some kid did a prank on you, your eyes catch a glimpse of a notebook on your porch. You pick it up and take it inside to examine. Upon opening, you see the title - "A comprehensive guide to building a time machine!"

You brush it off as just some silly thing but once you start turning pages, you realise that it's the real deal. You devote your life to this book. The dream of making a fully functional time machine is yours to conquer now. 20 years later, your dream is finally realised. Voila! You are the inventor of time travel (keep this thought in mind because we'll get back to this). Now that you can travel back in time, you can figure out who left the book at your doorstep in the first place? So you do exactly that. You hop into your magnificent creation and travel 20 years back in time. So many things are going on in your mind. Who is the author of the notebook? What will you say to the person upon meeting him? Why did he choose you to achieve this wonderful feat of a lifetime? You can't wait now. You are getting eager to meet the one who wrote the best-seller instructional guide of all time (pun intended). 10 hours straight, you're hiding in the bushes, waiting for someone to arrive.

Okay, enough is enough. You're tired of waiting for someone to show up and it's getting hot outside. So you decide to wait under the shadow of your porch, right in front of your door. Just when you climb the first step, you trip, the notebook falls and your hand accidentally rings the doorbell. You hear the sound of your young self coming to answer the door, so you leave in a hurry and forget the notebook. Your young self picks it up, and our time loop of destiny is complete. Did you get it? You are not the author of the book, because you found it. But you are the author of the book because you left it there to be found. So if you are the author, and you are also not the author, then who the hell wrote the book? Where did it come from? And are you the true inventor of time travel? You can't wrap your mind around it. Because it's a paradox, more specifically, the Bootstrap Paradox! A chink in the armour of existence, a brutal slap to origination.

Our linear understanding of the flow of time compels us to arrive at a causal relationship among events.

A ---> B ---> C

A leads to B which leads to C. But what if, C is leading back to A?

That is not a linear progression. If A causes B and B causes C then how can C cause the happening of A?

One solution for this crack in reality is to assume that the universe is not just a universe but a part of a bigger multiverse. This allows for inter-universal time travel where the leading event in one universe can be the cause of its precedent in another. 

So maybe, you wrote the book while making the time machine at A, travelled back in time at B, and left it there at C. But this C is not from your universe, but a copy of it. So this C can act as a causal event i.e. A, for this particular universe. And this sequence repeats itself everytime a version of yours travels to alternate realities, up to infinity. So we solved the paradox... right?

Wrong! We managed to get past the cause and effect relationship of the flow of time. But we never touched upon its violation of the second law of thermodynamics. Simply put, it argues that an object should deteriorate with time. So our time travellers' guide should also deteriorate up to the point where it becomes illegible and can no longer be used to build a time machine. But from which point in time should we start counting its days of existence? 

I am 26 years old. Because I was born in the year 1996. I've grown with time. I no longer look like what I used to back in 1997. But what if my year of birth was non-finite?  But that doesn't mean that I should always be 1 year old. How could we even make that distinction if I never aged? But I did, even though my year of birth was not unknown but infinite. So our book should've also aged. But we established that the book shall last till infinity. How can it? One way to make it possible is to imagine that its entropy is reversed everytime it travels back in time, which in turn reverts it to its original form. Hence, it never ages and lasts even beyond the universe's cold demise.

Are you thinking what I am thinking? How can we simply imagine something as crucial as an object's entropy to run backwards? Well, who's stopping us? We've already imagined so much. And if I didn't draw a line while travelling back in time, I ain't drawing a line here. So as far as I am concerned, the Bootsrap paradox is finally brought into the realm of understanding... I think. 

I am aware that it's the holy grail of alternate realities that saves us all the time. Any paradox there is, alternate reality appears out of nowhere to smack it down. I am certain that there are other solutions beyond our comprehension. "Why," you ask? Well because a brilliant scientist once said, "the universe is under no obligation to make sense to us."

So let's just leave it at that. Until next time... Keep reading NotionWave!

I am also glad to tell you that my book "Everything and Darren Grimes: The Cosmic Consciousness & the Afterlife" is now live on Amazon, in paperback and e-book formats. Your support would mean a lot to me. I am also planning a signing event soon. The details will be shared in the subsequent episodes. If you're still reading, I'd like to really express my gratitude. It's the readers of this blog, who inspired me to take a leap toward monetizing my creativity. And that has been one of the best decisions of my life. So, thank you.

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I hope it was a good read.