this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2025
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Time travel/alternate dimension stories that don't just use infinite dimensions as a cheap way of avoiding complexity. Once you have infinite timelines, it's all meaningless, because whatever story you're trying to tell loses all sense of importance, because whatever didn't happen in one version still happens in another. Who cares if the character saves their family, when there are an infinite variety of worlds where they're not saved.
It's possible to tell stories about infinite timelines, where the weirdness of having infinite duplicates is an important part of the story (Dark Matter).
It's possible to tell stories where there are alternate timelines, but only a finite number (The Peripheral/Counterpart/Alice)
And it's possible to tell stories where there is only one timeline, and gracefully navigate the paradox (The Pern Series/All You Zombies/11.22.63)
I can't get enough of stories that handle it well!