I was watching Heroes last night and a very interesting paradox was introduced. If you do not watch the TV show Heroes than some parts of this discussion may not have any meaning to you.
A common theme in Science Fiction is that of the time paradox. If you go back in time and kill your grandfather, do you cease to exist? Does your ceasing to exist then cancel out the act of killing your grandfather? Do you then end up in a perpetual time loop paradox? Last night’s Heroes episode introduced a question along those lines.
In an early episode in season one Peter Petrelli was visited by “future” Hiro with a message:
“Save the cheerleader, save the world.”
Peter used this information to save the cheerleader, Claire Bennet, from the evil Sylar.
Sylar is the evil man on the show who steals the powers of other heroes by cutting their heads open and doing something with their brains.
Recently, on the show, “present” Hiro and Ando arrived in the future and met up with “future” Hiro, who explained that he had tried to kill Sylar in the past but failed. His failure was due to Sylar having gotten to the cheerleader and possessing her powers of regeneration. “Future” Hiro went to explain how he went back in time to warn Peter Petrelli about the cheerleader.
At this point “present” Hiro tells “future” Hiro that the cheerleader was saved.
About this time everything still makes some amount of sense. It breaks down later on when we find out that the cheerleader is still alive in this timeline where “future” Hiro failed to kill Sylar.
The key problem here is that if, when “future” Hiro tried to kill Sylar, Sylar did have the cheerleader’s powers then he should still have those powers and Claire should be dead in this time line. It’s one thing to tell the audience that this future is an alternate time line, making it so Claire is alive makes it part of the true time line and causes our paradox.
If Claire is alive, why did Sylar not die when Hiro attacked him?
One possible reason for the paradox is that “present” Hiro has not yet attempted to kill Sylar. Because of this those actions are currently in a state of flux. It may be that, because of his time-shifting/travel powers Hiro (future and present) is somehow an entity that lives outside of the time-stream continuum.
Another interesting point is that of the comic book that shows Hiro in the future and the good doctor killing the Haitian. This leads me to believe that Hiro was supposed to go in the future and see the world that happens when he fails, to give him the impetus to actually kill Sylar.
With that said, we encounter the problem of “future” Hiro being surprised by the appearance of “present” Hiro. If these two people were one and the same then “future” Hiro would already know that his past self would appear in the future and that they would meet.
So, we have a big fat paradox with a few loose ropes (not strings) hanging around. All of this leads me to believe that “future” Hiro’s meddling in the past has pushed him outside of the time line at hand. Because of this he does not remember the actions that “present” Hiro is taking because he never took them! In fact, “future” Hiro could be said to be a visitor from an alternate dimension, a dimension where Claire dies at the hands of Sylar.
Hiro's time paradox problems were also evident went he attempted to go back in time to save the waitress Charlie from begin killed by Sylar.
We know Hiro went back in time and met her on her birthday because Ando found the photograph. We also know that Hiro and Charlie spent a lot of time together yet... Why did she not recognize him when he and Ando showed up in the Dinner?
We will have to wait until the last few episodes conclude to see just what happens. I’ll be watching, will you?
Interesting thoughts. I also watched the episode last night, but hadn’t thought out the whole time/space continuum paradox too deeply. I definitely think that the show is interesting, even if it seems to have been done mimicking a lot of another favorite (X-men).
X-Men is right!
Do you think Linderman is Prof. X or Megneto?
I’ve gotta go with Magneto on that one. He’s behind a lot of evil, and there’s no way the Professor X that I know would be party to such crimes.
I was going to write a whole bunch of stuff, but basically future Hiro would not remember changes that he caused to happen, otherwise his brain would burst from the sudden change in memories.
What about Charlie then?
Heck, I don’t know. You made my brain hurt.
I didn’t even ask how Parkman (reads mind) and the Haitian (stops Hero powers) didn’t know that Sylar was the president!
The possibilities make my hairballs spin. Hell of a lot more interesting that watching Troubles with Tribbles.
Let’s see if I can explain this. When “future” Hiro says he tried to kill Sylar but was unable to because he regenerated, he was talking about a timeline in which no one was there to save Claire at Homecoming. But, since he went back and told Peter to save her and he did, Claire is now able to be alive five years in the future.
When “future” Hiro is surprised that “present” Hiro is there is because he is actually the future version of Hiro from the timeline where Claire is not saved. He must have gone back in time to before the events leading up to the explosion began then gone forward in time again to be able to be around in the current timeline. You say he pushed himself out of the current timeline. I think it’s more like he is from an alternate timeline and he pushed himself into this one.
Concerning Charlie, again it’s because he goes back in time that he changes the timeline. The Charlie that they meet at first is essentially not the same Charlie that he goes back in time to save.
Charlie didn’t remember because she had a messed up head and was dying of cancer, which supposedly caused her memory loss.
[...] has a great write-up on Hiro’s current time travel predicament on, well, Heroes. Yeah, I already went through the same struggle next [...]
The many chances Sylar has had to escape death are starting to piss me off and stretch credulity even of a comic book inspired story line to the breaking point. I am tired of seeing that weird face and frankly the character makes me want to wretch, it is sick and perverted and it has dodged the death bullet one time too many for my taste. Lots of other characters with interesting plot lines to follow and play with, end Sylar’s NOW!
This goes back to the age old paradox questions raised by the antics of Doc Brown in the Back to the Future films where the 2015 Doctor gets stuck back in 1885 when his mision to 1955 goes wrong. The 1885 doc writes a letter to Marty to be delivered in 1955 moments after he disappeared specifically asking him not to come back to 1885 to help. However, hours later, Marty seeks the help of the 1955 Doc to get back to 1885 to help the 2015 doc stuck in 1855. In other words, come 2015, the Doc would already remember that he had helped Marty to save himself back in 1955/1855 and wouldnt bother writing the letter… But also, why would he let himself be sent back to 1855 by accident if he knew he wasnt supposed to go there…? Too many questions
What i am trying to say is that if Hiro and co’s actions in the present, that resulted from his jump to 2012 and meeting himself in a future where Sylar isnt dead and the bomb went off, have altered the future so that the bomb didnt go off (but sylar is still alive) - would future Hiro and co and the resulting events that happen in a second alternate future (with no bomb) be enough to make Hiro come back and still do the same things he did in the final episode? Or would that change things to a third alternate future and thus a perpetual loop of alternate outcomes and ever changing futures?
You know what, its only a TV programme.