Kirk's infinitly old glasses
- Thread starter apenpaap
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The only real problem with the glasses being a part of an infinite loop is that eventually they will break down and deteriorate into nothing...unless by some time-travel magic they "revert to an earlier stage of development" every time they go back to 1985 (anti-time? anyone?) 
Ah, the classic "Grandfather's Glasses Conundrum"!
But then they're not the same glasses anymore, if the lenses and the frame are different...
Um, the type of lenses a pair of glasses uses isn't restricted to when the glasses were made.
I didn't mean to suggest they were. However, others have mentioned how, apparently, silly it was that the glasses had glass lenses (given in the future, transparent aluminum will apparently replace everything), so I am giving a suggestion on why that might be: Perhaps McCoy got a pair of old school glasses because Kirk likes old things.
It still seems silly the lenses would be made of glass. Even if McCoy came across 400 year-old glasses with 400-year-old lenses in them that doesn't mean the prescription in those lenses will match Kirk's. So the prescroption to those lenses would have to be made and it seems odd that even in the 1980s when the movie were made glasses lenses were made of plastic. Glass should be an antiquated idea to people in the 23rd C.
I mean, even people who "like old things" today don't make mirrors out of polished bronze.
When Bones gave the glasses to Kirk in TWOK he said, "You don't find many with the lenses still intact."
Indeed, the implication is that the lenses are original, or at the very least were made before McCoy obtained the glasses.
OMG, why is this so hard for some folks to understand?!
McCoy is not an expert on antiquities. He said the lenses were intact, but they are obviously not the original lenses. They can't be, if these have been altered to fit Kirk's prescription. This suggests to me that McCoy bought them after somebody had replaced the cracked lenses.
And there is still only ONE PAIR OF GLASSES!
McCoy is not an expert on antiquities. He said the lenses were intact, but they are obviously not the original lenses. They can't be, if these have been altered to fit Kirk's prescription. This suggests to me that McCoy bought them after somebody had replaced the cracked lenses.
And there is still only ONE PAIR OF GLASSES!
Yes, see my post above. I acknowledged that at the very least, the lenses may have been replaced before McCoy got ahold of them.
OTOH, he knew of Kirk's fondness for antiques, so it would behoove him to do all he could to ensure the authenticity of said antique, which was to be a gift for a dear friend. Surely McCoy, though not an expert, would have means at his disposal to verify this.
Also, I don't believe that the glasses were caught in some kind of strange loop. It's an interesting thought, but highly improbable. And debating it is fruitless, as it only sends one talking in circles.
Pun intended.
I think you're proceeding from a false assumption. No one is saying the glasses age an extra 300 years ad infintum on the trip back in time. They're saying they age an extra 300 years ad infinitum during the 300 years they sit around waiting to be bought again.No, NO, NO!!!
The glasses do NOT age an extra 300 years ad infinitum until they crumble into dust. Do Kirk and the others age an extra 300 years? Do they drop dead from old age?
No, they do not. The reason is the difference between OBJECTIVE TIME and SUBJECTIVE TIME.
That's if you buy the theory that the glasses are in a loop of course.
10 McCoy buys glasses in 23rd century
20 McCoy gives glasses to Kirk
30 Kirk and McCoy take glasses back in time to 20th century
40 Kirk sells glasses in 20th century
50 Kirk and co. travel back to 23rd century leaving glasses behind in 20th
60 glasses kick around Earth for 300 years until they naturally arrive in the 23rd century
70 goto 10
It's in line 60 that they get the 300 years added over and over again, not in line 30. Kirk and crew don't age, die, and turn to dust because they only took a few minutes to get back to the 23rd century. The glasses supposedly took 300 years to get there.
It's also possible that McCoy had new glass lenses manufactured to fit the glasses and Kirk's eyes out of a desire for ultimate authenticity. He may have told Kirk "you don't find many with the lenses still intact" to kid Kirk.
Or, he was speaking the truth and had the original glass lenses adjusted to Kirk's prescription. We can do this today if the original glass is thick enough to accommodate the additional grinding.
That's exactly it. That's what this thread is talking about 'infinitely old glasses'.
It seems unlikely to me, too, that the glasses weren't bought in the intervening 300 years or that this hole-in-the-wall antique shop in SanFran would be operating in 300 years. The glasses likely had been bought and sold many times over those 300 years.
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