[ExI] Time Travel Reconsidered

[Adrian Tymes]

On Wed, Nov 4, 2026 at 5:09 AM BillK via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> Qwen tries to explain your objection.

And gets it wrong again.

> You are absolutely right: simply returning to the same "time" (u) at a different "place" (x,y,z) is not a Closed Timelike Curve (CTC), nor does it allow you to interact with your past self.

But it does allow interaction with your past self.

> That would just be regular spatial travel.

Regular spatial travel specifically does not involve returning to the
same time, regardless of spatial coordinates.

> When you were 10 years old, your worldline passed through Event A: (u=100,x=10,y=10,z=10).
> When you are 40 years old, your worldline is currently at Event B: (u=500,x=80,y=20,z=5).
>
> To "time travel" and stand "beside yourself" to shake hands with your 10-year-old self, your current worldline must physically intersect the older, already-drawn part of your worldline.

Nope.  Returning to (u=100,x=11,y=10,z=10) - notice the very slightly
different x - would suffice.

> You cannot meet your 10-year-old self by returning to u=100 at a completely different spatial location (say, x=90,y=90,z=90), because your 10-year-old self was never at that location! Your younger self was at (10,10,10). If you go to a different spatial coordinate at u=100, you are just visiting an empty spot in space at a time when your younger self was somewhere else.

You can interact without being in the exact same position.

Please don't post any further AI responses to this until - and unless
- you have weeded out this problem.  Your AI has gotten this exact
same problem wrong twice in a row now.