Perceived time versus reality. In theory, everyone is subject to their own reality, this in effect creates a time paradox that is unique to every individual. That being said, there are a couple of main points when it comes to thinking about the perception of time. First, time doesn’t ever slow down or speed up. It can’t. It would violate many laws of physics, not to mention create unknown paradoxes within the universe. You can’t slow time, and you can’t skip time, the only thing you can do is change your perception of time.
When someone states that time went slow or something is taking longer than expected, that means that their personal perception of time is altered to the point that they can no longer accurately track time within their own minds. Many factors can contribute to this. Time appears to slow down when one stops to notice the time passing. There is a saying that goes, “you’re older than you’ve ever been… and now you’re even older… and now you’re even older…” and so on. This implies that time is of course, continuous. Therefore, the only way that time would be slow is to perceive it as such. This is usually obtained by being stagnant or not having anything to do. If your brain is not focused on a task or tasks, time seems to move slow. It is when time is forgotten that time moves quickly in the perceived notion of time.
In that, the machines that decided that John Connor was a threat forgot something about the passing of time. Besides the Butterfly Effect (not the one with Ashton Kutcher) they have no personal perception of the passing of time, because they are machines. Therefore, because of their constant linear view of the passing of time, they made a grievous error (that will eventually doom them) in their quest to destroy John Connor — he will always exist no matter how they alter or manipulate time.
Follow me here.
John Connor is immortal. Not only that, but I think he is basically Jesus. Immaculate conception and all that jazz. No, you say, he did have a father! Yes, his father was Kyle Reese, who was sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor so that John Connor could be born. However, John Connor hadn’t been conceived yet. So essentially, that’s a paradox right there. Since the man sent to protect John created John, and wouldn’t have been sent to protect him had John not been created, that means that in effect, in order for Kyle Reese to come back, John Connor would have been born regardless of Kyle getting it on with Sarah Connor and terminating her ovulation cycle. Ok, bad pun. So John Connor would be an immaculate birth.
That being said, he’s also an immortal. You see, the Terminators are sent back to kill John Connor. However, if they succeed, then John Connor will cease to exist in the future and the timeline will change. The Machines will have no reason to go back to the past to kill John Connor. So therefore, if they kill him, he will then re-exist since they wouldn’t have gone back to kill him since he’d be dead. You see, no matter what — the past forms the future. So the future is subject to change, essentially because it hasn’t happened yet. However, this is also why we cannot go back into the past without dire consequences. Even though this is the present, if we go back into the past and something changes then the future — based on that present — will change which could create a time paradox that would destroy the world. Didn’t you see that movie A Sound of Thunder with Edward Burns? Terrible movie, but right concept. A little thing, crushing a butterfly in the distant past, changed the whole course of mankind. So even if the Machines succeed in killing John Connor, they fail since he will continue to live. John Connor, is Jesus.
To further complicate things, the machines first try to kill both John Connor and Kyle Reese chronologically before Reese is sent back in time by John Connor to become John Connor’s father, which is a paradox in itself. While the story hasn’t reached that apex yet, it appears no matter what the machines try to do (as they’ve already sealed their fate with messing with the time/space continuum already) John Connor will destroy them. The question is; which coming of John Connor? Theoretically the machines have created a timeline in which they have no perception of the effect of their actions! Sending a machine back to kill Sarah Connor was the catalyst for the creation of John Connor!
Or maybe I’m over thinking this.
This article has been written Curtis Silver, and copied with his permission. Follow Curtis on twitter: @cebsilver
See also the Grandfather Paradox analysed here.
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