The BEEJ Paradox: Biological Existence, Evolution and Identity through Time

What if travelling backwards in time raises a question not only about physics, but also about the biological origins of the traveller? Every person comes into existence through a particular reproductive event: one sperm cell fertilizes one egg cell. That event belongs to a much longer history involving the development and lives of earlier generations. The BEEJ Paradox asks whether this dependence on a specific biological history creates an additional philosophical challenge for backward time travel. Consider a person who travels to a time before their mother was born. The person is present in an era before some of the events that led to their conception. Does that create a contradiction, or can the traveller simply carry their already-existing body and history into the past? This paper explores the question in accessible language. It does not claim to prove that backward time travel is impossible; rather, it proposes a biological perspective for further discussion. Central question: If our existence depends on a specific biological history, can we separate ourselves from that history and travel to a time before it happened? Author: Alfred SherrattAffiliation: Independent Researcher, India