The Novikov self-consistency principle, also known as the Novikov self-consistency conjecture, is a principle developed by Russian physicist Igor Dmitriyevich Novikov in the mid-1980s to solve the problem of paradoxes in time travel, which is theoretically permitted in certain solutions of general relativity (solutions containing what are known as closed timelike curves). Stated simply, the Novikov consistency principle asserts that if an event exists that would give rise to a paradox, or to any "change" to the past whatsoever, then the probability of that event is zero. In short, it says that it is impossible to create time paradoxes.
Read more about Novikov Self-consistency Principle: History of The Principle, Potential Implications For Paradoxes, Assumptions of The Novikov Self-consistency Principle, Time Loop Logic, Pre-Novikov Examples, Fictional Usage
Famous quotes containing the word principle:
“It were as wise to cast a violet into a crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its colour and odour, as seek to transfuse from one language into another the creations of a poet. The plant must spring again from its seed, or it will bear no flowerand this is the burthen of the curse of Babel.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (17921822)