Let us see how the Logic bases of rational thinking work
with the idea of time-travel suggested by the time jumper Andrew Basiago: The three
fundamental laws are:
The Law of Identity
The Law of Non-Contradiction
The Law of Excluded Middle
The law of identity states that A is A, consequently; it
would be a total fallacy to say that A is and is not A, right? Now, Basiago
told us that he traveled back in time to Gettysburg. As we all know, The
Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, one of the best-known
in American history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War,
on
the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the
Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months
after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of
Gettysburg.
If we consider the Law of Identity, we will say that Basiago
is Basiago ( B is B.)
Andrew D. Basiago was born in 1961 . He is a Vancouver
lawyer. As a side project, he runs Project Pegasus, a group dedicated to
lobbying the government to release the secrets of teleportation and time travel.
However in 1863, Basiago was unborn. He was in fact born
102 years after the Gettysburg Address.
Then we should say that Basiago was nonexistent in 1863
and consequently the time jumper B was and was not B. This of course violates
the second logical law of non-contradiction. If someone has an identity, it has
a single identity. It does not have more than one identity. In other words, if something exists it has a
set of attributes that are consistent with its own existence. The law of non-contradiction tells us that B
cannot be both B and not B. The third law
of excluded middle confirms that that a statement is either true or false. B is
born or isn’t born. He cannot exist before his own birth.
But things get worse if we consider that all the people that
Basiago met in Gettysburg in 1863 were dead and we cannot say that all those were
dead and not dead. There is no such thing as a living dead if we accept the law
of excluded middle.
Therefore, the presence of Basiago in Gettysburg violates
the three laws of rational thinking. It is nothing more and nothing less than a
triple fallacy.
