As a time traveler, how would I see quantum randomness change history?

Suppose I have a time-traveling DeLorean (of all things), and I've used it to travel back to 1955. But then I ran out of juice. Fortunately, I just happen to know that a certain clock tower will be struck by lightning on a specific evening at a specific time, and I can use it to power a trip back to my own time.

I wonder if there's a flaw with this plan though: I'm assuming that lightning is deterministic. Lightning, being electrostatic discharge, seems like it could be subject to the laws of quantum mechanics. So, even if there were the exact same initial state as before the original lightning strike, whether it occurs or not is still a randomly determined outcome. I could be left there scratching my head as the moment passes and, oops, I can't (ahem) get back to the future.

To take another example, DNA mutations are subject to quantum randomness. If I travel back to the dawn of life, safely from space with zero impact on anything happening on Earth, am I still resetting all DNA mutations, completely changing the path of evolution, and wiping out humanity? Or on a lesser scale, if I travel back to before someone was born, am I resetting the quantum interactions determining their DNA, changing the fiber of who they are?

Are lightning or DNA formation actually influenced by quantum randomness? Are there any other ways quantum randomness could noticeably change history and throw my time traveling into disarray?

posted about 8 years ago

ognockocaten‭

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