So I've heard mention over the past couple years of this film called "Primer" that's supposed to be really good, but I never got a chance to watch it.  I think I even remember it being mentioned here a couple of times.  So then This recent XKCD comic reminded me of the movie, and since my roomate has a Netflix account, I looked it up and yes, it's on their streaming list.  So I watched it.

Then I said, "What the fuck?"

Then I watched it again.  Then I went insane.

Now, after two days of seclusion, diagrams, and insanity, I solved it.  This is the only solution I can see that makes sense.

The key to it all is when Aaron2, in the voiceover says, "The boxes are reusable".  What does he mean by this?  Of course the boxes are reusable.  After you've traveled and lived out the day, you turn it on again and reuse it.  Oh no, dear friend, it is much more frightening than that.  This is not a sci-fi movie, it's a horror film.

Imagine you have a box.  You turn it on, and you wait twelve hours, then turn it off and climb inside at the B point of the curve.  You then of course wait 12 more hours while traveling to the A point of the curve, then exit the box at the point at which you originally turned it on.  That's how it works, right?  Abe explained this to Aaron simply.  But he didn't realize something.  the box is reusable.  What happens if, after making this first 12-hour trip backwards, you wait eleven hours, and then turn off the box and climb in?

The box is fucking reusable.

I now present to you the accurate, and only logical, timeline of "Primer":





You may go insane now.


Edit:  Hmm, I guess either something about making it in MsPaint or my state of mind right now, but I can't make it show larger.  You may have to copy the image locationa nd open it in a new window to read.

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gonna have to see that!

This is why you only put women and children in boxes.

edit: Nice work.

My brother and I object to the use of our names and characters and intend to sue the makers of this movie.

Also movies that ignore the universal law of paradox suck.

Zoomie:  It covers paradox pretty well, actually.  I can't spoil the end, but it's the paradox that forces them to start over.

Fuse:  "The boxes are not one-use only."  It's not that he's turning the boxes on and off, it's that he's carries back another box with him, and sets that one up for use.  It's their modular nature.

Mosh:  You watched this!

Zoomie:  It covers paradox pretty well, actually.  I can't spoil the end, but it's the paradox that forces them to start over.

Fuse:  "The boxes are not one-use only."  It's not that he's turning the boxes on and off, it's that he's carries back another box with him, and sets that one up for use.  It's their modular nature.

Mosh:  You watched this!

Wrong.  What's he referring to is when Abe told him in the beginning that the boxes were one use only -per trip.  In that scene, he's talking about why they have to seclude themselves in the hotel before using the boxes: because you can't go back again, but Abe didn't realize that you CAN actually use the box again if you go back to the box and turn it off again earlier than you did the first time, creating a new B point and thereby erasing (or consuming, really) your former self that got in the box the first time.

Or doing this to someone else, like Aaron does to Abe, severing his original B point and untethering him.  It's the only way the movie works.  If Aaron found the box and went back before the Granger incident, then when Abe went to use the failsafe, it would already be turned off.  It's the same vice-versa, if he discovered it after the Granger incident and tried to use it,  the failsafe would already be turned off from Abe using it.  It only adds up if Aaron didn't find the failsafe until after Abe's attempt at a rewrite.  It's the only way they can both have used the failsafe.  One scene even back this up:  the scene at the gas station when Aaron says, "What's worse, thinking you're paranoid or knowing you SHOULD be?"  He's realized that something's not adding up.  That Abe has already come back and is trying to affect events from the sidelines.  the scene at the bench showing Abe looking at Aaron from the roof:  He doesn't go down to speak to Aaron from there, that's Abe2 watching the conversation after he's come back.

Now, the recursive loop is a little shaky, but it's the only thing I can figure out about how Aaron worked ther party.  He was already untethered when he drugged his previous-self's milk, anyway.

Edit:  Hmm, accidentally hit "quote" instead of "edit" the first time, apparently

Indeed I did.

reading this thread was faster than watching the film, cheers

Ummm............my brain asplode. 

When it comes to movies, I love "thinkers"....I just don't like movies that make me think so hard my brain says "fuck you" and walks away.  I think the movie Adaptation represents the extent of depth I like a flick to have.  Extremely clever and brilliant Adaptation was.  Yoda, I am.

Agreeing, I find myself.
Adaptation was sweetness.

Partout!