I viewed that episode as an absolutely closed loop, like the original Terminator. There was no 'original' timeline.
Is Data's head still under San Francisco?
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I viewed that episode as an absolutely closed loop, like the original Terminator. There was no 'original' timeline.
You may be right in more than one timeline - in an infinite multiverse maybe there are some with Trek laws of physics!
I think the closed loop theory does exist and travelling back to an alternate reality theory is the many worlds 1 theory. People advocating original Data Prime's head being in NuTrek seem to be advocating branching theory where the alternate timeline does not exist and is actually generated by the time travel event only from the moment of arrival so that both timelines share the same past prior to that moment. It's possible that they are saying that ONLY time travel events create alternate timelines otherwise mundane events would be creating near infinite timelines every second.
I haven't been able to locate any scientific support for the third theory but even if there is, I suspect that even those scientists would view the branching option as incompatible with time travel theory because it could create a time travel bottleneck. I have yet to see any theory to explain how a universe can be created without the energy of a big bang and what that would mean for gravity if it is indeed shared across dimensions. Pre-existing plurality makes more sense.
Putting aside those conerns, if the new timeline is duplicating everybody and everthing in the entire universe somehow, that would include Data Prime's head. Since the head is not found in the prime universe until after the split, the head can be duplicated along with everybody else. I can see how a logical progression can lead you there and dodgy science has been used in Trek from day one. If in the Trek Universe a warp speed supernova and a singularity can defy the laws of physics (allowing communications and light to escape its event horizon) why not screw with time travel too - those are far less categorical theories that some of the laws of physics that have been molested!
I stand by my original statement though. Many worlds theory sucks. Branching theory sucks worse. Give me a nice, neat predestination paradox any day.
This is exactly why Time travel in Hollywood does not work because of all the endless paradoxes
In sicence it works very much differently then the Sci-Fi shows like Star Trek which always gets it wrong
but good question though, is Data's head still there well the answer is YES & NO or better way of saying it = Infinity
In sicence it works very much differently then the Sci-Fi shows like Star Trek which always gets it wrong
but good question though, is Data's head still there well the answer is YES & NO or better way of saying it = Infinity
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So is it Schrodinger's Head?
It kind of makes you wonder how the whole thing came to be. Could we say it was due to the meddling of certain powerful beings or aliens with control of time?
Pauln6 said:
It is conceivable that some would view a situation without paradox as being superior to a paradox; in other words, paradoxes suck ( though they seem to lend themselves to time travel drama ). Other unhelpful things about single-timeline include the "Schrodinger's Cat" effect, or in other words, why should Picard be relegated to a quantum state of existence when he observes someone else going back in time?
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No. That's the whole point of a predestination paradox: it created itself.
How?
It's just the latest thing to nitpick about.
Next week it'll be the color of the toilet paper in Scotty's bathroom.
What the heck is he eating? (please don't answer.)
I daresay the potential screen reappearance of one of Trek's most beloved characters ranks a good bit higher in importance (insofar as anything about a fictional series of stories is "important") than something that never entered canon in the first place. Besides, they're in the future - they don't need toilet paper because they use the three seashells, remember?
No it's not in the cave. There is only one timeline. The head they find in the cave is the same head they left in the cave it's just older.
According to the writers, the Abramsverse is a branching timeline. According to STO, the Prime timeline goes on after the destruction of Romulus and the departure of Spock and Nero. However, even if there were "only one timeline", it wouldn't matter. Data's head would still be there. Assuming there is "only one timeline", the Prime timeline had Data's head there between 1893 and 2368, which includes 2233, so when Nero goes back to 2233, the head is there.
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