After an illuminating debate on the theoretical possibility on whether time travel into the past is possible, my mind has wandered into the murky waters of philosophical morality. What treasures could be had if one could indeed travel into their own physical past. Aside from the paradoxical nature such a journey would involve, would it be ethical?
If we imagine three states of time; the past, the present and the future, pardon the pun but at all times we would exist in the present, technically speaking it is not possible to exist in the past or the future, aside from these next very confusing sentences. If I were able to exist in the present which was yesterday, then, that yesterday [which we will call Thursday] would be my present, and the today [Friday] would be my future and as such would not exist (yet). The sheer fact that I have gone back in time means that by my presence in the past which is now my present means that on Friday, I would not have gone back in time to Thursday, because Friday does not yet exist and as such is not pre determined. To put it even more simply, I cannot exist in more than one point in space or time. Or, I cannot exist on Friday (tomorrow) if the day is Thursday (yesterday/today) and vice versa.
Where I am today is my present, regardless. That being said, if it were possible to travel back and time and alter my future (or my former present), then any events that I change, would create a new future meaning that the future that I left no longer exists (in fact it never existed) and I would have no knowledge of it at all.
So, if I were to process this my original question is automatically with out merit and in fact whether time travel into the past was ethical or not is null and void.
