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Alternate History General Discussion

Do any of you believe that alternate timelines actually exist?
There is the multiverse hypothesis.
It has more support among physicists than you may think.
FWIW, when I asked him, Jonathan Edelstein told me that he doesn't rule out the possibility of alternate universes but that he doubts very much that we could ever visit one as those universes would be out of causality with each other.
 
FWIW, when I asked him, Jonathan Edelstein told me that he doesn't rule out the possibility of alternate universes but that he doubts very much that we could ever visit one as those universes would be out of causality with each other.
I mean, I like Jonathan but he's a lawyer not a physicist or a philosopher. Why does his opinion matter enough to even mention him?
 
Do any of you believe that alternate timelines actually exist?
There is the multiverse hypothesis.
It has more support among physicists than you may think.

a) Maybe.
b) Thats enough "proof" for AH to work as science fiction, if needed at all
c) I have a degree in Economics and International Relations and nearly failed A-Level Physics.
 
a) Maybe.
b) Thats enough "proof" for AH to work as science fiction, if needed at all
c) I have a degree in Economics and International Relations and nearly failed A-Level Physics.

Tbh even then that's treating it as sci-fi or at least stuff where multiple timelines is part of the plot like, IDFK, Sliders. A lot of AH it's not relevant. You're generally looking at it as a strictly historical thought excercise (though reasonable assumptions and quality of work may vary). Even ISOTs you don't necessarily need a multiverse, just time travel. Although multiverse would stop anyone who traveled into the past from changing their own past and present ala say, Back to The Future. I Dislocated to success this might explain why Norman St John Stevas doesn't suddenly remember history differently as they change it. Or vanish from history altogether (StJohn-Stevas one, Marty McFly nil )
 
If they exist, i hope that some are not as bad as some TLs that are floating on boards.

To be fair, most Alternate History books range from dreadful to worse.

That has been true for many years. The late Alison Brooks once wrote a review of one such, imaginatively called: The Falklands War.

I don't think I can better that as a farrago of implausibility piled on top of stupidity, save for perhaps including some romance nonsense that even Mills & Boon would describe as "unrealistic."
 
To be fair, most Alternate History books range from dreadful to worse.

That has been true for many years. The late Alison Brooks once wrote a review of one such, imaginatively called: The Falklands War.

I don't think I can better that as a farrago of implausibility piled on top of stupidity, save for perhaps including some romance nonsense that even Mills & Boon would describe as "unrealistic."

"have a damned tough fight on Tumbledown"

That's when I knew this story was beyond salvation. That's not a place name, it's a setting on a dryer.
 
To be fair, most Alternate History books range from dreadful to worse.

That has been true for many years. The late Alison Brooks once wrote a review of one such, imaginatively called: The Falklands War.

I had forgotten about that site! Particularly like this scathing line:
I presume the author is making a point about the location of brains in Marines
Well, she would know, wouldn’t she?

including some romance nonsense that even Mills & Boon would describe as "unrealistic."
I can just see the editors notes on the first draft- “yeah it’s good, but could we work a love interest into it? You know, badly wounded NCO with a mysterious past get nurses back to health* by a charming lady, then they fall in love and get married?”




*my sincere apologies if I’m misremembering this, or dredging up bad memories. Happy to delete if you wish.
 
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