MovieChat Forums > Interstellar (2014) Discussion > The Morality Of Time

The Morality Of Time

posted 7 years ago by filmkind
7 replies | jump to latest

A/ What of the explorers and workforce who are tasked with dealing with wormholes travel? Would only those without families be selected for such work, since they would inevitably be missing large gaps of their loved ones lives during their time in the stars.

B/ Time travel as a commodity. For instance, lovers of different legal age, one of whom travels out a couple years via wormhole, and returns to find his girl about his own age. Of course, it could be adjusted and timed and used for a myriad of other situations.

C/ Wealthy businessmen, medical scientists, etc. using time to speed along building projects [take a little time vacation and come back to find your investment completed] or awaiting medical discoveries [send sick patients out a few years until a cure has been found.]

And this is just the time dilation part; If humans gained access to the bulk [outside space time] where the past/future could be accessed at random, it would be the granddaddy of all paradoxes.

[–] creatorof2002 7 years ago

I have an interesting one I want to add. It is both immoral and illegal and medically dangerous (deformed offspring) to have sex with a close relative its called INCEST.

Now if you go back far enough we are all related so having sex with a very distant relative like your 12th cousin is not illegal or considered immoral but FIRST cousin is in most places.

Not enough time went by for this dilemma in this movie but in other science fiction stories where instead of almost a century a person has been gone for several centuries or millennia does it ever become ok to have sex with one's grand children?

For example, if a person had one or more children and ended up returning to Earth several centuries later from the perspective of the Earth but barely aged themself they might have hundreds or thousands of descendants. Our laws do not really deal with this because a person would not live long enough for it to matter much but would it be ok to sleep with one's grand child if there were enough "greats"?

For example the 1979 tv series Buck Rogers had a main character who was chryogenically frozen for over five centuries and he was not a father but if the story had been slightly different and he HAD been a father and had slept (maybe by accident not knowing at the time) with one of his descendants or "great to the sixteenth power" grand children would that be ok?

[–] cosmic_surveyor 7 years ago

For example, if a person had one or more children and ended up returning to Earth several centuries later from the perspective of the Earth but barely aged themself they might have hundreds or thousands of descendants.

Assuming the children and their descendants do not live in an isolated community where inbreeding occurs, genetic mixing with the larger general population over the centuries should make the issue of time-travelling parent and (many)great-grandchild inconsequential inbreeding-wise.

If Buck Rogers fathered a child whose descendant(s) went space-faring in a fairly small community, and a revived Rogers had relations with one of his distant descendants, the genetic risks are greater.

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Est modus in rebus sunt certi denique fines quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum Goldilocks

[–] creatorof2002 7 years ago

I was kind of not just asking about genetics but how it would be viewed morally or legally. Since nobody knows what laws or customs the future might have maybe if it was a fantasy or sci fi story about someone from medieval times who ends up in today's world. Would the law prosecute him if he had sex with his great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grand daughter assuming she was over 18 and it was consensual or would it technically be a crime?

[–] cosmic_surveyor 7 years ago

Unless a genealogy tree, that goes 10+ levels deep, is required by law, how would anyone make that obscure connection? It would have to be serendipitous to have male descendants carry the customary surnames until a female is born for the time-traveller to return and meet.

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Est modus in rebus sunt certi denique fines quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum Goldilocks

[–] dabney_smith 7 years ago

Genetically, again, I dont see it as an issue. It feels gross because we can't imagine mating with parents or grandparents. However, Your 18^great-grandchild shares probably as little with you as an 18th cousin would. I think most of us couldn't go back 18 generations without sharing a common line with our mate. I know I don't. So if it isn't an issue genetically, i think morally it isn't objectionable.

My feeling is if you can't name every link that seperates you from a potential mate, you'd be in the clear.

[–] Saoradh 7 years ago

How is incest immoral? And how are you any less bigoted then someone who says homosexuality is immoral?

Life springs from death and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations

[–] cosmic_surveyor 7 years ago

A/ Families have dealt with this from time immemorial. Breadwinners whose jobs have tremendous risks balanced the costs and benefits. Fishermen, miners, soldiers and offshore oilriggers face this throughout their careers. Attitudes have changed for men, who increasingly want to spend more time with their children. And, since there is a whole spectrum of men and women who would prioritize space travel above everything else, the pool of candidates should be wide and deep.

B/ The example reads more like the girl is the commodity, shelved until the time-traveller returns to reclaim her.

C/ People who willingly 'cut corners' would not be wealthy businesspeople or scientists to begin with.

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Est modus in rebus sunt certi denique fines quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum Goldilocks