MovieChat Forums > Time After Time (1979) Discussion > H.G.'s glasses paradox

H.G.'s glasses paradox

posted 13 years ago by scribe1270
3 replies | jump to latest

If his first pair of glasses is broken when he goes into the future some 96 yrs does that mean his 2nd will be broken during the return trip? If so there is a nice little paradox in the offing. His 2nd pair were still in the drawer of his desk when he went into the future, and apparently he didn't change prescriptions between 1893 and when he died so if his 2nd pair breaks on the return trip he has a pair of glasses that might be both broken and unbroken at one and the same time. There was a similar paradox in Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home when Kirk sells his glasses for money in our present knowing that they will be a gift from Dr. McCoy in the future which is to him already the past.

[–] johnjohn7799 12 years ago

1st pair's "life" is no problem:
is made before 1893;
is used by H.G. routinely;
travels to 1979; breaks;
is stored in the drawer in the exibit.

2nd pair's "life":
is made sometime during HG's life in the 1800's
is stored in the drawer until 1979; picked up by HG
goes back to 1893 and...?

If the 2nd pair breaks or ends somewhere else, that's it. BUT if it is the same HG stores in the drawer before dying it will be in a closed loop and when HG picks it up in 1979 it can be new, 86 years, 86*1 billion years or infinitely old or all simultaneously *boom* Thanks, my head exploded.

[–] astimoli 11 years ago

There's no guarantee they are the same glasses. They maybe the same design but it may just be that H.G. Wells had a preference for certain design in glasses.

As the them being in the draw? Well, it was an exhibit of H.G. Wells personal effects and the location of his glasses (in the draw) could have been where he would store them when not used and as such it's reasonable to assume that that's where they would be placed by his estate for the exhibit.

[–] wetcamelfood 9 years ago

The OP is also assuming the 2nd pair break on the trip back which they may not have and even if they did, I think we can assume he got a new pair between the time when he got back and when he died and therefore an unbroken pair would be in the drawer.