
Why You Can’t Travel Back in Time and Kill Hitler  - belowlightsblue
http://io9.com/why-you-can-t-travel-back-in-time-and-kill-hitler-1267520777
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tjaerv
"One of the bylaws of the International Association of Time Travelers states
that you can't kill Hitler. The problem is, everybody kills Hitler on their
first trip. This leaves more experienced time travelers the onerous task of
undoing the historical edits of n00bs."

[http://www.tor.com/stories/2011/08/wikihistory](http://www.tor.com/stories/2011/08/wikihistory)

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afterburner
That's hilarious, but the justification they give for not killing Hitler is
unfortunately pretty weak:

"no Hitler means no Third Reich, no World War II, no rocketry programs, no
electronics, no computers, no time travel."

But still worth a read!

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aaronbrethorst
Doesn't it stand to reason that if it were _ever_ possible to travel back in
time and kill Hitler that this would've already happened?

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twiceaday
What if by killing Hitler all future timelines ended a lot worse than this
one? If it were ever possible to travel back in time, then we are living on
the most optimal timeline according to some metric.

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lutusp
> What if by killing Hitler all future timelines ended a lot worse than this
> one?

I always like to hear from at least one optimist. :)

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autodidakto
As always, tvtropes already has the answer:

[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HitlersTimeTravel...](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct)

See also:

[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TimeTravelTropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TimeTravelTropes)

Warning:

[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TVTropesWillRuinY...](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife)

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bane
If you subscribe to the multi-verse theory, then you can. Except when you
"return" to your own time, you are forced to travel to a present where you did
kill Hitler. Your own original time, where you didn't hill Hitler continues on
as it was except you can no longer travel there.

Killer Hitler is like throwing a railroad switch and changing tracks, once
entropy send you down the new track, there's no hopping back across. And even
if you _could_ you'd just be going to a present time where you failed to kill
Hitler.

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brokenparser
The true reason is probably much simpler than any of those considering war has
a profound impact wherever it strikes. WW1&2 were triggered by a long chain of
events and itself sparked another chain of ongoing events, affecting great
many lives dead or not (including myself). If it all possible, you may have to
mate with an ancestor to get your own life back.

~~~
Houshalter
That's true for everything, with the whole butterfly effect. Just opening the
door to the time machine and walking outside is enough to change history
completely. Imagine someone has sex in a different position or at a slightly
different time. A different sperm reaches the egg, a different person is born.
Not only will that affect all their descendants (which is pretty much the
entire human race after a few centuries), but all the people they would have
known or interacted with.

~~~
afterburner
It's the opposite of the butterfly effect, he's more likely arguing that WW2
was built on the frustrations and ideologies thrust forth as a result of WW1,
so merely killing one angry officer isn't necessarily going to avoid one or
another catastrophe involving war and genocide. WW2 might in fact have been
unavoidable (not sure whether this is true or not, but it might be). Some
other racist charismatic dude might just take his place, ready to harness
whatever ill will there was around him/her. (Well, probably "him".)

~~~
brokenparser
Not sure if my attempted humour is that bad, or so advanced it wooshed
straight over your heads.

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afterburner
Changing the past while at the same time vanishing yourself from existence is
still changing the past... but I will consider your proposed remedy when it
comes up.

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dingaling
On a slight tangent, this story sent me off researching the alleged German
time-manipulation project ( Die Glocke ) which led to a report about Mr
Hitler's last surviving bodyguard, who died last week:

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-
europe-23989454](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23989454)

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Houshalter
I hate explanations like "you can't change history". It's a self-fulfilling
prophecy. You don't kill Hitler because you didn't kill Hitler.

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sentenza
This whole issue leads to a dark place (intellectually). Would you be alive
today without WW2 or without the Holocaust?

I wouldn't. How am I supposed to feel about that?

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vukmir
It appears that only Hitler can kill Hitler, and perhaps, Chuck Norris.

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brokenparser
Evidence suggests Chuck Norris didn't manage to kill Hitler.

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vukmir
Then, we are screwed.

