Polchinski's paradox

proper noun

A potential paradox serving as a comment on the Novikov self-consistency principle, in which a billiard ball, sent back in time through a wormhole, is launched at such an angle that, upon exiting the wormhole in the past, it collides with its earlier self, knocking it off course and preventing it from entering the wormhole in the first place.

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Meanings

proper noun
  1. A potential paradox serving as a comment on the Novikov self-consistency principle, in which a billiard ball, sent back in time through a wormhole, is launched at such an angle that, upon exiting the wormhole in the past, it collides with its earlier self, knocking it off course and preventing it from entering the wormhole in the first place.

Origin

Devised by Joseph Polchinski, American physicist.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Polchinski's paradox. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Polchinski's%20paradox

MLA

“Polchinski's paradox.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Polchinski's%20paradox. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Polchinski's paradox,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Polchinski's%20paradox.

Source: Polchinski's paradox on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.