• phx@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I love movies and books that touch on topics like this, like situations where you’ve got a super-being but they build in limitations.

    • one who can “see” into the future for hundreds of years but can only actually view one timeline simultaneously and in real-time (meaning they could see any event in the future but would need to burn time in “the now” like watching a recorded video)

    • beings that constantly lose track of what the “current” reality/timeline is in a seas of possibilities (MIB3’s “Griffin” is a fun example of this)

    • being able to know what significant future events will occur but unable to influence whether they do or not. Unavoidable destiny (e.g. Emma’s Death in “the Time Machine” is unavoidable, though the exact many it occurs changes)

    • Knowing what “bad things” will happen but still being on the “best track” timeline as deviations make things worse (Loki, Butterfly Effect)

    • Macro level knowledge overcrowding micro level suffering in the backdrop of inter-galactic scales and infinite time

    • semi-autonomous superpowers commanded by unfathomable beings without fine control and a limited self-awareness

    None of this of course is an argument for the existence of an actual deity that loves us but ignores us, however they are fun ways to think of how one might know the future yet not want or be able to change it.