Department of Temporal Investigations: Time Travel Paradox Case Studies

Department of Temporal Investigations: Time Travel Paradox Case Studies

Time paradoxes.  One of the main units of study in Temporal Mechanics 102 at Starfleet Academy.  Any Starfleet officer who finds themself in a situation involving time travel is trained to avoid creating paradoxes.  Temporal paradoxes are generally placed into one of four categories: the Grandfather Paradox, in which travel back in time to affect a change in the past alters the future such that the future from which the time traveler originated (and thus the time traveler) no longer exists, the Predestination Paradox (or causal loop), in which the time travel event becomes part of the "proper" timeline and thus was "supposed" to happen, the Pogo Paradox, a variation of the Predestination Paradox or causal loop in which time travel to the past to prevent an even actually causes said event, and the Ontological Paradox, in which an item being displaced in time results in the item being discovered/invented before its creation, thus the time displaced item leading to its own existence (i.e. the item was never 'created', it  'always existed' within the paradox loop).

As these are obviously highly abstract concepts it is best to look at real life examples of each paradox and study them in detail.  Below are four temporal paradoxes encountered by various Starfleet crews and the effects of those paradoxes.  As of 2402 these four are used as the case studies in Starfleet Academy's Temporal Mechanics 102 curriculum.

Grandfather Paradox: Janeway

In 2378 USS Voyager encountered a Starfleet shuttlecraft piloted by an Admiral Kathryn Janeway from an alternate future in which Voyager took 23 years to return home instead of 7.  This Admiral Janeway from 2404 of an alternate timeline gave Voyager in 2378 technology (advanced armor, weapons) from the future, to get past the Borg and return home through a Borg Transwarp Hub in a nearby nebula, cutting 16 years off the original trip.  Voyager's return home in 2378 instead of 2394 caused the original timeline from which Admiral Janeway originated to cease to exist, therefore Admiral Janeway ceased to exist.  However, the changes to the timeline as a result of her incursion (Voyager's return to Earth in 2378, the destruction of the Borg Transwarp Hub and the crippling of the Borg Collective, and the potential prevention of the deaths of several Voyager crewmembers) persist.  A classic Grandfather Paradox.

Predestination Paradox: Data's Head

In 2368 the USS Enterprise-D was recalled to Earth after an archaeological dig discovered Lt. Cmdr. Data's head in a cavern a mile beneath San Francisco.  It had been in the cavern for about 400 years.  The subsequent investigation led the Enterprise to Devidia II where they discovered the Devidians using time travel to collect neural energy from humans of Earth in the 1890s.  During the investigation Data was transported back to the late 19th century.  The Enterprise senior officers then travelled back in time to the 19th century to retrieve Data and stop the Devidians.  These events resulted in the Enterprise officers confronting the Devidians (in human form) in the cavern where data's head would later be found, during which Data's head was severed from his body.  Most of the Enterprise crew returned to the 24th century (Captain Picard was temporarily stranded), where Lt. Cmdr. LaForge was able to attach Data's head (recovered from the cavern) to his body.  Picard in the past used Data's head (which would stay in the cave for 4 centuries) to send a message to the future, telling the Enterprise crew how to properly destroy the Devidians time travel capability.  Predestination: Data (and the Enterprise-D crew) were supposed to travel back in time to 19th century earth, Data's head was supposed to be left in the cavern where it would be found four centuries hence, causing the Enterprise crew to investigate and go to Devidia II and subsequently travel back in time to 19th century earth.  Causal loop complete.

Pogo Paradox: First Contact

In 2373 following the Battle of sector 001 the Borg cube just prior to its destruction launched a sphere which travelled back in time to 2063 to prevent first contact between humanity and Vulcans (and assimilate Earth in the past).  The USS Enterprise-E followed the borg sphere back in time and prevented the borg from altering the timeline, in the process convincing Zephram Cochrane to go through with the warp flight as scheduled.  In a Pogo Paradox, in addition to predestination, interference to prevent an event actually causes the event.  Cochrane's warp flight would lead to first contact with the Vulcans, eventually the Federation would form nearly 100 years later, and some 290 years after first contact the Battle of Sector 001 would occur, ending with the Borg Sphere and the USS Enterprise-E travelling back in time.  Causal loop complete.  In this case, the interference by the Borg to prevent human first contact actually led to first contact happening.

Ontological Paradox: The Mobile Holoemitter

In 2373 USS Voyager obtained the mobile holoemitter during an encounter with an individual from the 29th century.  They used the device for the rest of the time in the Delta Quadrant to allow their EMH to leave sickbay and even the ship.  Upon returning to Earth in 2378 the device was studied, scanned, and examined in detail.  The data was used to create more rudimentary version in use by 2401.  That same rudimentary technology would (logically) be developed and refined over the next 400-500 years to become the mobile emitter that Voyager obtained and brought back the Alpha Quadrant in 2378.  Question: when was the mobile emitter technology first developed?  Answer: It wasn't.  It always existed.  Hence the ontological paradox (and possibly a bit of predestination as well).