Topics Time

Question In question 630 about the future, one answer was that "If it's true now that you will lose a finger next year, then you will lose a finger next year and zipping into the future isn't going to change that." What if the person cut his/her whole hand off? This would obviously show the loss of the finger, but with a new addition (or subtraction, ha ha!) to the picture: a missing hand. Wouldn't this prove that one could alter the future if it was seen?

Accepted:
September 9, 2006

Comments

The short answer is this: If it's true now that you're going to lose a finger next year, and if it's impossible to lose a finger unless you have a hand, then it is true now that you are not going to cut your hand off before next year. Or more simply: If it's true now that you are going to have a hand next year, then you are not going to cut off your hand before next year. Obviously, this poses a familiar question about free will: If it's true now that you are not going to cut your hand off before next year, isn't it also true that you do not now have a choice whether to cut off your hand? I think it's probably fair to say that most philosophers would answer "No" to this question: You do have a choice. But that's a somewhat different problem.

You might also look at Question 997 and other entries mentioned there.