Question: If you actually traveled back in time and stepped on an insect would that really change the world right now

Gary Munnelly answered on 3 Nov 2018:

I don’t know…

This is a classic paradox. If you went back in time and stepped on an insect, and your actions meant that the human race never existed then you could never have gone back in time to step on the insect which means the human race would exist, which means you did go back in time aaaaaaand my brain hurts.

Time travel is weird and it is hard to separate actual theory from science fiction. What you are describing is called the “butterfly effect”. That is the idea that small things can affect large changes in the universe. I don’t know enough about it to answer your question honestly, but what you are asking is a seriously interesting question which relates to chaos theory. Try looking at the butterfly effect with respect to time travel and see if you can find your answer.