Topic: Are there any limits?

[Matthew]

This is where the multiple realities thing comes in, which is, AFAIK, the generally accepted theory as an answer to paradoxes.

[NUMBERZero]

Scyphi, in response to your paradox paragraph.

I don't think that any event like that would cause catastrophic consequences. I'm REALLY thinking now that time travel has got to be just dimensional travel. If I just happen to see my future self now, nobody would be effected. If he didn't have that event happen to him in the past, then it didn't happen to him. Period. This would be where the change is between dimensions.

He is making his own trail and that trail stays permanently behind him. He can walk on or ahead of everyone else's trail.

[Scyphi]

I actually agree with that, most likely time travel will work either with jumping realities (dimensions is actually kind of a poor word for it) or as WillyP described it, in which you'd time travel, but not really affect things. No big bang paradoxes, probably. But I brought it up anyway because while we might not have strong evidence to support it, we don't really have strong evidence to deny it, so the possibility, albeit quite slim, is still there, at least until somebody actually tries it and proves it wrong.

Besides, when watching complicated time-travel episodes on shows like, say, Star Trek, when they get REALLY complicated with time travel and end up with massive paradoxes and all of that, I can't help but think that SOME kind of harm is being done to the space-time continuum.

But again, I only brought it up, because it is still a possibility that should probably be considered, even if the odds don't support it.

It's kind of like flying in an airplane. Statistically speaking, it's (still) the safest way to travel, but that doesn't mean there isn't still a chance you'll crash. You won't really know until you do it and find out is what I'm saying, I guess.