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3/21/12:
There are, of course, multiple sets of rules that appear in time travel fiction. Some have "paradox blockers" that prevent changes to the time stream that would cause a paradox, others cause the universe to blow up if a paradox forms, still others form alternate realities from changes, Back to the Future erases problems from existence, Bill and
Ted has constantly running "present clock, The Hitchhiker's Guide has a mish-mash that all fits together somehow because the timeline has already been screwed up and patched together... etc.
Our favorites are generally those used by Stargate and the Terminator franchise, wherein the timeline follows multiple iterations.
Think of time like a stream. But not at high flow, more like an infinitely wide creekbed through which a current flows in one channel. But there are other channels, and the movements of the little rocks in the main channel can divert the stream into other channels. Think of the rocks and pebbles as all the living critters
affecting reality.
This is similar to the alternate reality theory, but gets rid of some of the problems in that (abandoning your own universe, not really changing things so much as just moving somewhere else, etc.) by just having one active current. This system allows for paradoxes (like the Grandfather Paradox) to occur and exist because the events being erased DID exist at one time, in another channel of the stream. Thus, time travellers can erase their own past, but since they're from another version of
the past (in a nearby channel), they continue to exist.
We've probably given this WAY too much thought.
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