JKR cheat with the prophecy - Point of Destiny

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 124969


Let me try to cut to the chase and give an illustration of what I'm
getting at.  

Suppose you entered a room and saw a large curtain closing off the
back half.  One of your friends goes up and sticks his head through
the curtain.  He yells "There's a Doberman Pinscher in a tutu back here!"

At that moment he has made an observation, i.e. a statement about the
factual and existing state of affairs in the universe.  The
observation, i.e. the statement, can be either true or false.  If it
accurately states a real set of facts about the universe, it's true. 
If not, it's false.

Now, and this is very important, if the observation is true, there is
no way that any choice can make it false.  It reflects a real and
existing state of affairs.  The observer cannot wish these things away
or choose for them not to be so.  The people who listen to him can
choose to believe him or not, but they cannot by their choices affect
the actual truth or falsehood of the observation.  If there is a
Doberman in a tutu in the back of the room, there is a Doberman in a
tutu in the back of the room and no choice will change that.  Lastly,
there is nothing the OBSERVED can do to change it either.  The
Doberman cannot make any choice that will change the truth of the
observation.  He IS in the back of the room and he IS wearing a tutu.

Now, suppose that the curtain rerresents a barrier in time as well as
space.  The observer, whom we shall now call the prophet, sticks her
head through.  She yells, "Voldemort is marking a kid as his own on
Halloween night 1981!"  Either what she says is true or it is false.
If it is true (as DD assumes Trelawney's prophecies are true) then it
represents a real state of affairs about the universe and no choice
can change that.  The prophet can't wish it away.  The observers can
make no choice to change it.  And, very importantly, neither Voldemort
nor the others the prophet sees can make any choice that will change
this state of affairs.  In order for the prophecy to be true it is a
factual statement.  Voldemort IS marking a kid in 1981 and therefore
he WILL mark the kid in 1981.  If there were any way to avoid it the
observation would not be about a real and existing state of affairs,
and the prophecy would not be true.

Now, what if the prophet warned the kid's family not to be in a
certain place on Halloween?  If they are able to make a choice based
on that info, then Voldemort will not mark the kid.  But then the
prophet will not see the marking and warn the family.  But then
Voldemort WILL mark the kid.  But then the prophet WILL see the
marking and warn the family.  But then Voldemort WILL not ....  A time
paradox results.  As a paradox of that type by its nature defies the
laws of logic and causation, logic dictates it can't happen.  What has
been seen cannot be changed.

Now, it is possible for a prophet to see something she can't
determine, and either/or.  That is a branch point.  But logic dictates
that if a prophet can see a fixed branch point, she can see what
branch will be taken (or a more powerful prophet could, at any rate).
 The only way around that is to say "The Universe Just Doesn't Work
That Way."  Okay, but that is an arbitrary statement and not valid
once you allow for the possibility of true prophecies UNLESS you have
some way of empirically experimenting with prophecies, which we do
not.  That is if it is possible to make a true prophecy about the
existance of a branch point, logic dictates, in the absence of
empirical evidence to the contrary, that it is possible to make a true
prophecy about what branch will be taken. You have simply introduced
an arbitrary limitation on the power of prophecy for no justifiable
reason.

The other way around this is to postulate that causality flows in both
directions.  The past affects the future and the future affects the
past.  This seems attractive at first until you work out its
implications.  If causality can flow backwards in time, it means that
none of our pasts are fixed and none of our memories and recollections
are reliable, since they are constantly changing to adapt to the new
state of affairs.  Even worse, unless you have a way of standing
outside of time you couldn't test such a proposition, given that your
own memory is constantly changing.  That is, you can't say "we'll send
a message back in time and see if X changes," because if X does change
your memory will change with it, making it seem as if X HASN'T changed.


Lupinlore