>>53538148This would be incorrect. If the paradox we're dealing with is a bootstrap, the book being sent to the past is the only thing that matters. Either the AI ultimately giving the book to Heath or publishing it themselves is all that matters for the events of the story to take place. We already have the actions of the AI entering the machine with the book and Heath commenting on him meeting and speaking to someone inside of Area Zero. We're attempting to fill in the blanks rather than dismissing all of those events.
Ultimately none of the events in the book need to have happened and there would be no plotholes. That's how the paradox works. The picture I'm replying with is a vastly more complex example of a bootstrap. It may or may not help give a better idea of how a bootstrap functions. Essentially everything that occurs is within its own causal loop and there is no start and end points, time is just a circle.
