Time Travel Logic - My personal case

I really got into the idea of time travel, alternate dimensions, and "past" and "future" "selves" first through "The Terminator" movie. What really intrigued me about the movie's plot was how the characters got stuck in a lethal "time travel loop".

For those who don't know the story, here's what it's basically about. In the future, the machines have threatened to destroy the entire human race, but are foiled by the savior of the human race: John Connor. In order to gain back their edge, the machines send a Terminator assassin into the past to kill John's mother, Sarah Connor, in order to prevent John, currently an old man, from being born. A young man named Kyle, who was trained by John Connor when he was a little boy, is tasked with saving Sarah Connor from being terminated, and follows the Terminator assassin back into the past. While in the past, he mates with Sarah and becomes the father of John Connor - the man who was his elder and teacher in the future.

The story then progresses towards the same reality: the machines threaten to destroy the entire race, John Connor is about to foil the machines, so the machines send a terminator to kill Sarah Connor, Kyle follows, and the entire story is doomed to repeat itself forever.


For the past year or so, I've been receiving a lot of random calls outside the state of Hawaii. I hear my cell phone ringing and see the unfamiliar number, and I always reject it.

Then, I laugh to myself and think of the following situation:
In the future, I am being hunted by time-traveling Assassins. Somehow, I am teleported to the past (which is the current day) and am stranded in a foreign nation. I frantically try to remember who I can call for help, and then I remember my own cell phone number when I was 18 years old. So I go to a local pay phone and call my 18 year old self - PRAYING, and begging on my knees, that my 18 year old self will answer my distraught future self.

Meanwhile, it is the present day and I check my cell phone. A weird number shows up, and I automatically reject it.

Little do I know that the time traveling assassins have found my future self, and have executed him.

Years later, I find myself being chased by time traveling Assassins. Somehow, I am teleported.....
(And the story goes on, in an infinite, lethal loop.)


Which leads me to another big idea I have been pondering over:
-Does the past self affect the future self, or does the future self affect the past self, or both?

From my own reasoning, I have concluded that the past self affects the future self, but the future self has no affect on the past self. This is because the past self eventually becomes the future self, but the future self has absolutely no connection to the past self, since it is open to alterations and consequences that have never happened in the past (yet).

I guess I could say that the future is really a sub-section of the past. You see, the past is the "starting reference point", and it is therefore definite and defined. The future is just one possible outcome for the past self to transition into. Therefore, it is possible to have many future selves, but only 1 past self.

Similarly, it is possible for the future self to be harmed and/or killed without adverse consequences to the past self.

However, harm and/or death of the past self would impact all future selves, so it seems that the past is the "independent variable" and the future is the "dependent variable" in terms of "Time Travel Logic".