"Past me is an asshole."
this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2025
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Ontalogical Paradox detected!
Casually creates a time loop
Japanese ppl: DON MAI
This is a pretty cool thought experiment. From our perspective, there is nothing about this that wouldn't allow the comic to just keep going. Despite it being a "paradox" from the perspective of the characters, from ours it just is, and doesn't look particularly nonsensical, just quirky. I wonder if that's how an eternal/4th dimension being would see our history
I wonder if that’s how an eternal/4th dimension being would see our history
Our history on earth: "We're sick of this asshole ruling over the people! Lets start a war to remove/kill him!!!"
war happens
"Ok, glad he's gone. Now introducing the newest asshole to rule over the people!!!"
some time passes
repeat
"Why do these earthlings KEEP DOING THIS SHIT???"
The first thing I thought was "that's neat," and the second thing that came to mind was "that pizza never existed until it was taken from the future."
I mean, yeah, the comic could continue, and the characters could ignore it, but... does this imply that the characters can will anything into existence so long as it eventually disappears? Could they "borrow" a car from 10 years in the future so long as it's taken by their past selves in 10 years?
Only from the perspective of the characters, though. To us it clearly existed in panels 3 and 4, prime for taking by any higher dimensional beings, that's what I mean. It doesn't mean the characters can will anything into existence, it means that time is just another dimension to travel through, and there are entities (that one slice of pizza for example) that travel backwards and forwards.
Another way of seeing this is that it would look equally alien to our 2 dimensional shadows when we pick something from our pockets, or turn something inside out, but it still makes sense to us 3d beings
Us: it's a paradox! Time is broken!!!!
Them: that's just bistability, big whoop.
the pizza, being in an infinite time loop, would eventually mold if it were a normal slice of pizza. probably for the best that he didnt get to eat it...
Depending on how closed loops of time work
Someone gif the comic into a horror panel
🤯
8-Bit Theater made this into a plot point. Hilariously so.
Quantum electrodynamics in a nutshell
If you hurry up and eat it before it gets taken back, that's some lovely calorie-free pizza! Imagine starting a pizza chain like that
Is this supposed to be a parable about humanity living on credit?
It is now that you mention it
... maybe. :)
So now the pizza is never eaten :(
Edit: Now that I think about it, won't it get colder over time? Omg I'm not going to continue I'm falling down a hole that way
A better question: what if a bite is taken out of it in panel 3? How many bites will have been taken out of it in panel 2?
If the pizza was taken a bite in panel 3, then it's also bitten in panel 4, then it's also bitten already in panel 2 because it's taken from panel 4, then it can't be bitten in panel 3. It contradicts with itself. The pizza cannot be bitten.
And now we know that the pizza can't be altered in any way. It can be large, hot, freezing, or small.
One, and only one scenario of these defies physics the least, and you know which one it is.
It's like how Kirk's glasses are just going to get older and more worn-out with every loop.
I would argue since it's in this loop, it can't really change its temperature. Otherwise the loop wouldn't close. And since also it adjusts to room temperature, it has be room temperature ~~from the beginning~~ all the time to avoid temporal paradoxes. According to the same logic, it doesn't crumble.
In panel 2, the dude has a pizza in his/her hand, and he/she has time to say "Now I have a free snack!" You don't think the temperature of the pizza would drop by even 0.1 degrees in that time?
If this object is permanently warmer than its surroundings, surely it can be used as a means to generate energy.
No, my whole point is that since it can't cool down without temporal paradox, it has to already have room temperature and be already cold
There's no way to avoid a temporal paradox. Will the dude in panel 3 be able to smell the pizza? If so, there are microscopic particles from the pizza being emitted into the air. That means that by the time the pizza reaches panel 4, it won't be the same pizza that was brought into panel 2.
I guess that puts my crumble argument to the next logical step
Yeah, even if it's a pizza enclosed in diamond so nothing can escape, surely they're putting fingerprints on it by handling it, so it will change from cycle to cycle.
According to the same logic, it doesn’t crumble.
Where the fuck do you live that you have crumbly pizza?
Maybe crumble is too strong a word but nothing would ever fall down which can happen with a crunchy crust
Since it's stuck in a loop, maybe its conditions are somehow being reset to fresh and hot as it's pulled over the panel edge. Or else, that thing is ice cold, rock hard, and completely inhospitable to microbial life, since from its perspective, it's probably been looping for a long, long time.
From the naive perspective it's looping infinitely and it ought to be infinitely old because there's no "first loop". Depending on the laws of physics, proton decay could make the pizza slice literally impossible.
Given that it clearly exists and has no rot let alone deep-time decay, I posit that it spontaneously appears/renews in panel three, away from the boundary break, as some kind of near-infinitely improbable entropy break.
He thinks he's discovered panel time travel, but it's far weirder than he thinks.
Instant paradox. XD
I hate that this is actually how the universe works, total BS.
There is a smart and funny french comic on this concept: "Imbattable" by Pascal Jousselin
The author plays with all the rules/codes of the European comics, one character can go through pages, another uses their speech "bubbles" as weapons, one uses the perspective of the objets, and the hero "Imbattable" can go through the page's frame.
Highly recommended !
This shows a paradox naturally resolving itself.
Thank you for posting the masterpiece behind the copy.
holy moly, look how fucking crisp that old ass meme is. no dschiffpegg artifacts whatsoever. my eyeballs cut themself on the sharpness of the pixels.
anyway heres some goobicii: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLQQW-On0uY
Wow it is just terrible
heh also -
Nice try, Gemini
Such gud song. I cri evritim