End Of Eternity And Time Travel

In alt.books.isaac-asimov dwight.thieme DeleteThis @gmail.com <dwight.thieme DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:

:> : What would happen if Eternity built a time kettle to travel back in
:> : Eternity's physiotime to an earlier physiotime?

:> According to the novel, that's not possible -- Eternity exists outside
:> of the passage of time in the regular universe, but physiotime is not
:> reversible.

: At one point, Harlan almost encounters a later version of himself (and
: of course, he later on almost encounters an earlier version.) Suppose
: they step into into Eternity together at the same time; where will
: they go? Either one will end up in an earlier physiotime, or one will
: end up in a later physiotime.

No, each will end up in Eternity at the physiotime appropriate to the
physiotime he is currently experiencing. If they were to meet and then
leave Time simultaneously, they would no longer be together when they
got into Eternity. It's like two people waiting at a bank of elevators.
If they get into two different elevators simultaneously, they will end up
on different floors even though each one got on his elevator at the same
time as the other. This is why I have said that _The End of Eternity_ makes
my brain hurt.

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Richard Schultz schultr DeleteThis @mail.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Opinions expressed are mine alone, and not those of Bar-Ilan University
-----
"Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell bad."

Richard Schultz wrote:

> In alt.books.isaac-asimov dwight.thieme RemoveThis @gmail.com <dwight.thieme RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote:
>
> :> : What would happen if Eternity built a time kettle to travel back in
> :> : Eternity's physiotime to an earlier physiotime?
>
> :> According to the novel, that's not possible -- Eternity exists outside
> :> of the passage of time in the regular universe, but physiotime is not
> :> reversible.
>
> : At one point, Harlan almost encounters a later version of himself (and
> : of course, he later on almost encounters an earlier version.) Suppose
> : they step into into Eternity together at the same time; where will
> : they go? Either one will end up in an earlier physiotime, or one will
> : end up in a later physiotime.
>
> No, each will end up in Eternity at the physiotime appropriate to the
> physiotime he is currently experiencing. If they were to meet and then
> leave Time simultaneously, they would no longer be together when they
> got into Eternity. It's like two people waiting at a bank of elevators.
> If they get into two different elevators simultaneously, they will end up
> on different floors even though each one got on his elevator at the same
> time as the other. This is why I have said that _The End of Eternity_ makes
> my brain hurt.

What if the earlier Harlan grabs hold of the later Harlan and then activates the
"return to Eternity" device?