I was watching an old Star Trek movie. The last one with the full original cast; where they bring two whales into the future. There is a scene in which Scotty and Bones are trying to get material to build a giant tank to hold the whales inside the Klingon space ship. They go to a manufacturer and offer him the formula for Clear Aluminum in exchange for the materials. Scotty and Bones don't know who invented Clear Aluminum and the manufacturer who will eventually place the patent in the 20th century didn't really invent it, so who did? If you think of this as a thought experiment would this prove that other universes exist? Did Scotty and Bones create a new universe?
In the novel, developed from the original screenplay (which featured information that did not end up being mentioned in the film), Scotty was already aware that the chap he gave the transaprent aluminium formula to was recorded as its inventor. Therefore, the plot as intended suggested looped or self-generating causality. This is the outcome referred to in other predestination paradoxes, like the one about going back in time 100 years and becoming your own great-grandfather. The character in the film who Scotty gives the formula to is called Marcus Nichols. he was played by an American actor called Alex Henteloff. For reasons of brevity or simplicity of plot, the film leaves the viewer thinking that Scotty et al didn't know who the inventor was, but Scotty does have the line How d'you know he wasn't the man who invented it?, delivered to Dr McCoy, which could be taken as an indication that Scotty DID know and was just being a smart-**** to McCoy. As a thought experiment, this wouldn't prove the existence of multiple universes, just that the outcome was possible without changing their own future. Proof would require more information that is also missing from the screenplay and film. In reality, there is no such thing as transparent aluminium, but there are aluminium-based ceramics which are transparent.
Nichols was eventually recognized as the inventor of transparent aluminum.
