From: lahaye@reg.triumf.ca (RAYMOND GABIN , TRIUMF OPERATIONS)
Subject: Re: Time's Arrow Paradox [spoilers] You have it all wrong! *The
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Organization: TRIUMF: Tri-University Meson Facility
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 23:36:00 GMT

In article <rsvanc00.717959224@mik.uky.edu>, rsvanc00@mik.uky.edu (Randolph S. Vance) writes...
>In <92273.57746.CHOFACK@avm.cc.fsu.edu> CHOFACK@avm.cc.fsu.edu (Charlie Hofacker) writes:
> 
> 
>>In article <1992Sep27.030335.26463@sol.UVic.CA> jcowling@ophelia.UVic.CA (Scowli
> 
>>>I just thought of something:  Twain's watch should not exist in the 24th Centur
>>>as it would be infinitely old.  Think about it.  He picks up his watch in
>>>the future, where it is 500 years old, then leaves it in the cave.  Therefore,
>>>in the future it must be 1000 years old, then 1500 etc etc.  It's caught in
>>>a time loop where it has no existence after the 24th century, but must
>>>logically have infinite age at all points in its existence directly after
>>>Clemens' time-travel.
>>>
>>>In any case, it's a paradox without solution, and they screwed up.  What do
>>>y'all think?
> 
>>Time travel inevitably implies paradox.  There is a wonderful scifi book
>>by Silverberg called Up The Line that involves much thought and fun
>>dealing with time travel and the resulting paradoxes.
> 
>>                      __o                                          _    -
>>Charlie              -\<,                                   _
>>Hofacker_ _ _ _ _ _  O/ O  _ _  _   _    _     _     -
> 
>No, no no no! You Eeediot! You Feelthy Wurm! You fat bloated sacks of
>Protoplasm!
> 
>Anyway, Capt. Ren Hoek aside, Twain did NOT, I repeat, DID NOT create
>a paradox from occuring with the watch. If you will recall, he found
>his 500 year old watch inside Geordi's workroom, (why he did not recover
>the Colt .45 found from Time's Arrow I, I do not know) so he has his
>original watch back left 500 years previous from the cavern. When he
>was with the paramedics and getting Guinan to a hospital, he found the
>original watch left to be left behind. He was ABOUT to pocket it, but
>he realized he would be severly altering future history by not making
>sure that it was left behind so that he COULD recover it 500 years later.
> 
>Like Data's head, his original watch is behind in the cave, to be
>found 500 years later.
> 
>And the watch he has currently, and might get to work with a little
>coaxing from a friendly watch repairman is the 500 year old watch found
>by Data's head and recovered by him, aboard the Enterprise.
> 
>A little note. When I saw Guinan meet Picard for the first time,
>what went through my mind the most was the soft incidential background
>music from "Back to the Future", y'know, where Marty meets all of his
>future relatives in 1955. :) I had thought that Time's Arrow II was
>a remarkably told story with just that bit of Trek humor! :)
> 
>Responses are welcomed, flames will be forwarded to /dev/null ;)
> 
	Actually the watch episode makes no sense.  Follow me on that one:
Twain finds his 'lost' watch on the enterprise.  He pockets it and return to
his own time zone.  Now he decides to leave it there to be found in the future. 
Wow! Wait a second! How did he lose his watch in the first place? Although time
travel is a funny concept, time kept going forward for each participant:  Twain
did not go back to his past: he only went to the future and returned to the
cave at a time after his departure from the past.  So when did he first
 lose his watch? HE NEVER HAD A WATCH IN THE FIRST PLACE.  The man STOLE it
 from the Enterprise, and in a fit of honesty ( Yea, right!) he LEFT it behind
 in the cave.  I hope someone out there followed me!! Cheers
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