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Article: How to murder your grandfather and still get born. (time travel)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- January 20, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE TERMINATOR", a science-fiction film released in 1984, tells a story of the struggle between virtue and vice. In it, two time travellers vie to shape the future, from which they have returned, by imposing their wishes on the present. One, a muscular cyborg, seeks to eliminate a future enemy by killing the man's mother before she has borne him. The other strives to save the woman, and in the process fathers the child who will eventually grow up to become his commander and send him on his mission back in time.
Tampering with the past so as to re-route the present "the grandfather paradox" because it has often been expressed in the question: "What would happen if you ...