Bootstrap paradox
The Bootstrap Paradox is a theoretical paradox of time travel that occurs when an object or piece of information sent back in time becomes trapped within an infinite cause-effect loop in which the item no longer has a visible point of origin, and is said to be “uncaused” or “self-created”. It is also known as an Ontological Paradox, in reference to ontology, a branch of metaphysics dealing with the study of being and existence.
Example of bootstrap paradox
Imagine, you have several questions about the theory of relativity, you have tried a lot but you are not getting the relevant answers. So you think, how nice it would be if I would be able to travel back in time and ask Albert Einstein. Opportunely you develop a time machine and travel back in time with Einstein’s theory of relativity research papers and books.
But when you reach out to Einstein and ask him your questions about the theory of relativity, he tells you that he doesn’t know anything about relativity, he also says he never published any research papers, and he is a farmer, not a scientist. By knowing these things in Einstein’s own words, you are shocked. You tried to make Einstein understand and asked “where did the theory originate?” but never understood. In disappointment and anger, you left all the research papers and books with einstein, keeping in mind that one day he will understand and then you travel back to your own time(present time).
Now over the coming decades, Einstein claims the theory of relativity as his work and published it. In the present time, a copy of it again reaches your hands and you again take it back to Einstein, with the same question “where did the theory originate?”
Here we cannot say that it came from you(the time traveler) as you have learned it from Einstein’s relativity research papers and books, we also cannot say that it is the original work of Einstein, since he was taught by you(the time traveler) and then, Einstein claimed it as his discovery. Then who discovered the theory of relativity? and where did the theory originate?. This is the Bootstrap Paradox, a theoretical paradox of time travel.
