Novikov vs Heinlein (Destiny)

by Blackt1g3r , Login is from an untrusted domain in MN, Monday, April 13, 2015, 19:02 (3318 days ago) @ Durandal

I hadn't heard of the Novikov self consistency principle but it sounds very similar to a concept Heinlein hinted at in the Door into Summer. In that book the character finds out about a time travel device that someone created, with the twist that when you use the device you don't know if you will be moved into the future or into the past. At the conclusion of the book, the narrator wonders whether you could even use the time travel device to create a paradox or if the seemingly random direction of the time travel is the universe's way of protecting itself from a paradox. I always thought that was a very interesting way of looking at time travel.