These are sorts of things my brain obsesses over at 3 AM.
I propose a Schrödinger of Deloria.
Strictly speaking, there was only ever one Delorian time machine, one Doc Brown and one Marty, each folded along its or his respective worldlines. Unless the alternate timelines existed “parallel” to the original ones, in which case there were already a transfinite number of timelines (and therefore each of those things) waiting to be Biffed, or a whole universe worth of mass was (as Doc claimed) unceremoniously created and subsequently destroyed by a cool but poorly designed car reaching 88 mph, which does conveniently explain why he thought a paradox would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe.
Plus, if the alternate timelines already existed, then logically so did the causal loops that shunted time traveling cars and slackers between them, which would imply not just one, but at least two dimensions of time, one perpendicular to the other (or even the term already would be meaningless). Which begs the question as to why events seem to flow predominately along one time dimension but only occasionally move along perpendicular time, when spatial dimensions demonstrate no such privileged axis. Otherwise causality would appear much less linear with causal loops happening so frequently they would come as no surprise to anyone. Since mass can fluctuate (albeit not measurably), universes being created and destroyed is actually a tiny bit more consistent with what we see in the films, as it can be done with only one time dimension being bent into a closed-timelike-curve a la general relativity. And if a conceit of the film is measurable mass fluctuations, it might explain why everything was so “heavy” in the future.
And don’t get me started on two-axis-time evolution of a wavefunction.
I really need to stop watching CinemaSins.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m feeling strangely drawn to a detonation site…
The Jihadis are obsessed with Red Mercury, our own secret services are into Yellowcake. Colour coding makes it easier to distinguish between The Good and The Bad.
I kinda have a soft spot for the Scorpio; we used to have a purple one we called ‘The Aubergine’. It was a weird, blobby purple thing, but it had all the options and the 3.0, so it was a fast, comfy aubergine blob. I kinda miss it.
Isn’t it obvious. It’s insanely powerful, can get them power over others and is ultimately fictional. That’s what they’re all about. I’m surprised that they’re not worshipping it.
While looking at a NYT article The Doomsday Scam on this same subject, I found several lovely quotes.
Safi al-Safi, an unaffiliated rebel and small-time smuggler … ‘‘Red mercury has a red color, and there is mercury that has the color of dark blood,’’ he said. ‘‘And there is green mercury, which is used for sexual enhancement, and silver mercury is used for medical purposes. The most expensive type is called Blood of the Slaves, which is the darkest type. Magicians use it to summon jinni.’’
Another smuggler, Faysal … continued the lesson. ‘‘It has two different types: hot and cold,’’ he said. The cold form, which other smugglers sometimes call ‘‘spiritual mercury,’’ he said, ‘‘can be found in Roman graveyards.’’ He added: ‘‘Kings and princes and sultans used to take it to the graves with them.’’
…
Cold red mercury, these smugglers said, could not be used for nuclear weapons; that was the role of hot red mercury, which had a more recent origin. Only sophisticated laboratories manufactured it, and the hot red mercury available in Syria had come from the Soviet Union — usually, according to Raed, another smuggler, ‘‘in a specially maintained box with equipment and a manual and special gloves.’’
