The Bootstrap Paradox

 Hello guys!! Today, I will be writing on "The Bootstrap Paradox". Now, let's go about this the way we always do. First, we try understanding what a bootstrap paradox is.

Definition- The Bootstrap Paradox is a theoretical paradox of time travel that occurs when an object or piece of information sent back in time becomes trapped within an infinite cause-effect loop in which the item no longer has a discernible point of origin, and is said to be "uncaused" or "self-created".

Very confusing? In these words, yes. Let me make another attempt. I am gonna narrate a story.

So there's this man. He has a time machine. He travels through time, getting into scrapes. Another thing he has a passion for is the works of Ludwig Van Beethoven. One day he thinks- "What's the point of having a time machine if you can't meet your heroes?" Off he goes to 18th century Germany. But what's this? He can't find Beethoven anywhere! No one's heard of him. Not even his family knows who the time traveler is talking about. Beethoven literally DIDN'T EXIST. The time traveler can't bear the thought of a world without the music of Beethoven. Luckily he'd brought along all of his Beethoven music for Beethoven to sign. So HE copies out all the concertos, and the symphonies, and HE gets them published. But here's my question. WHO COMPOSED BEETHOVEN'S FIFTH?

And THAT is a bootstrap paradox. If you still didn't get it, I will explain it once more. A bootstrap paradox is a time travel paradox in which the time traveler from the future is responsible for the events of the past, just like how the time traveler BECAME Beethoven. This is a paradox since without the existence of time travel, those events wouldn't be possible. If the time traveler never went to 18th century Germany, how would Beethoven have existed? And even if he HAD gone to 18th century Germany, if he hadn't written those concertos and symphonies, WHAT REASON would he have to go there at all? This is a never-ending loop, and therefore, a paradox.

This is one of the most fascinating and famous time travel paradoxes in the world, apart from the grandfather paradox (wait for my next post). 

Now comes the million-dollar question :- CAN IT HAPPEN?

According to me, NO, because time travel isn't possible, and even if it was, there would certainly be some natural laws that would prevent any paradox-creating events. In any case, nothing is self-creating or "uncaused", which makes this paradox IMPOSSIBLE.

Thank you, and I hope this was a very interesting post, since I certainly enjoyed writing it.

Signing off, this is THE BIG V.