November 17

The time machine seems to be useless. Time is a line. If Jim travels back one day, he becomes Jim Henle-of-November-16, not Jim Henle-of-November-17-who-is-visiting-November-16. The problem is pointed out to the engineers, who make some adjustments so that when the button is pushed the contents of the time machine do not change, just the world around it. In this way, no memory is lost.

Now Jim wants to investigate the paradox of time travel. The standard question is, What if you went back in time and killed your grandfather before your father was conceived? Jim doesn't plan anything so hostile or drastic. He decides to go back one day and give the Jim he finds there a haircut. What will happen? Will his own hair be affected? It should, because he is altering his own past. On the other hand, it shouldn't, because that would seem to violate the laws of physics. Either way, something very interesting will happen!

Tom thinks this is a bad idea, but he doesn't know why. If you agree with Tom, Click here.

If you want to see Jim cut Jim's hair, Click here.