Time Travel, Coincidences and Counterfactuals

Theodore Sider

= Complete Essay =

What would happen if time travelers repeatedly went back in time with the intention of killing their former selves? Apparently, a long string of "coincidences" would ensue. Again and again, the time travelers would slip on banana peels, experience inexplicable pangs of remorse, mistakenly kill the wrong person, and so on. But is this plausible? While we think coincidences "might" occur, it is hard to believe that they "would" occur. Moreover, how can the string of coincidences be reconciled with the apparent freedom of the time travelers? There are several arguments in the vicinity against the possibility of time travel. I formulate these arguments, and argue that each fails. The case of repeated attempts at autoinfanticide presents no obstacle to time travel.