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In Tenet, the people of the future suffer because of the climate change of the people of the present. Therefore, the people of the future use things (weapons...) that travel back in time in order to kill the people of the present.

Here the question of the grandfather paradox arises: Do you die if you travel back in time and kill your grandfather or other ancestors? In Tenet, it is clearly stated that the people of the future think that the answer to this question is no - they think they can kill their ancestors without dying. Thus people of the future see no temporal paradox, instead, they simply believe changing their past (by killing the whole of humankind) does not change their present. At the same time, the people of the future believe that changing the climate of their past does make a change in their present. Isn`t this a clear contradiction?

My question is about this contradiction in the view of the people of the future, not about the logical inconsistencies of the grandfather paradox itself. Meaning: It does not matter what the grandfather paradox says about changes in the past but just what people of the future think that changes in their past mean. The assumptions of the people of the future are the ground of the whole story because they are the reason why the war starts.

Edit: My question is based on linear thinking where time goes forward, i.e. the cause precedes the effect. In linear time we can ask things like "do they think changing the past changes their present?". But the machine the people of the future breaks this linear time flow and with this the contradiction described in my question vanishes. (I suggested this edit to the answer but it was not approved for some reason.)

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    Your question is a bit unclear to me: what exactly do you want to know? You're not asking about the grandfather paradox per se, then what?
    – Luciano
    Jun 1, 2022 at 14:35
  • @Luciano Whether the beliefs of the people in the future have an contradiction or whether I get it wrong. As you among others pointed out under the accepted answer the latter is the case, i.e. my question is as is written above "Isn`t this a clear contradiction?" - answer: no
    – Ingo Pingo
    Jun 1, 2022 at 14:38

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They simply believe changing their past (by killing the whole humankind) does not change their present. At the same time the people of the future believe that changing the climate of their past does make a change in their present. Isn`t this a clear contradiction?

The people in the future are not trying to "change the climate of their past." They're trying to trigger the algorithm in their present to invert the entropy of the world, and if successful, this will result in the complete destruction of everyone and everything in the present. There is no contradiction between their belief regarding the grandfather paradox and what they're trying to do.

The people in the future's motivations for triggering the algorithm are discussed by Sator and The Protagonist in this dialogue (emphasis mine):

Sator: Now time itself switches direction. The same sunshine we basked in will warm the faces of our descendants' generations to come.
Protagonist: How could they wanna kill us?
Sator: Because their oceans rose and their rivers ran dry. Don't you see? They have no choice but to turn back. We're responsible.
Sator: Knowing this, do you still want me to stop?
Protagonist: Yes. Each generation looks out for its own survival.
Sator: That's exactly what they're doing.
Protagonist: But not you. You're a traitor. Bringing death to all, because you have no life of your own left.
Sator: When I'm done, life continues.

The main goal of the people in the future is to save their own world. Their main goal is their survival. To survive, they're looking to trigger the algorithm in their present to invert the entropy of the world. The "grandchild" doesn't care if their "grandfather" gets killed in the process.

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    What does "invert the entropy of the world" mean?
    – Ingo Pingo
    Jun 1, 2022 at 11:28
  • @IgorstandswithUkraine It's what the algorithm is made for, inverting the entropy of the entire world. Basically, it's like a turnstile, but instead of just inverting a few objects or persons, it will invert the entire world.
    – galacticninja
    Jun 1, 2022 at 11:34
  • I think I am almost there :-D This means that time goes backwards, i.e. they travel back to times when earth was a good place to live?
    – Ingo Pingo
    Jun 1, 2022 at 11:36
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    They don't really explain what it does or why its useful to the reverse time people, but its just a 'bad thing to avoid'.
    – iandotkelly ♦
    Jun 1, 2022 at 11:38
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    @IgorstandswithUkraine by inverting the entropy of the entire world time will flow backwards. So for the people of the future our present will be their future, thus they'll live from a devastated world towards a better one. No time travel involved.
    – Luciano
    Jun 1, 2022 at 14:32

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