If this couple travels back in time to have sex, are they cheating on themselves? (That's a time machine behind them.)

What I mean to say is, if you were a scientist with a time machine (and why shouldn't you be?), and you traveled back in time to somewhen before you met your wife, husband, or current partner, and slept with someone else (not your wife, husband, or current partner), would it be considered cheating?

Would your temporally-motivated carnal activities have been adulterous in nature? Or could it be argued that your sexual encounter in the past was open, because technically, in that timeline, you hadn't officially met your (present) mate?

I know Einstein probably didn't have sex on his mind when he wrote about relativity (or maybe he did--remember that photo of him with his tongue hanging out?). But you have to wonder: if you fool around in the past, are you a cheating scumbag, or are you outside the morally established boundaries of your pre-existing relationship?

Was your science fiction sex-capade within the rules? Or would you be accused of having an affair in the past, because although you are you, are you still the "you" of the present?

Let's assume for a moment that you didn't plan in advance to have an affair in the past. Otherwise, if you were intentionally using the time machine to cover your time-traveling, tail-chasing ass, you're still a cheater in your own mind.

Maybe time is non-linear, and anything that you do occurs in the order that it applies directly to you, regardless of some chronological law of finite time.

Now the naysayers are just going to argue that time travel isn't even possible. But naysayers tend to be a rather homely lot. They whine and complain endlessly, and they rarely get laid.

So for arguments sake, let's say that time travel is possible.

Now for example, what if you traveled back in time to when you were dating your high school sweetheart and you had sex with her during a time period when you were still dating her? Is that cheating because the you of today slept with the you of then's girlfriend? Physically you're the same person, but chronologically speaking, you're not. Is it even possible to cheat on yourself?

What if you took your wife back ten years in time (maybe she's a time-traveling scientist too) when you were both in separate relationships, and you had a romantic weekend with her. Would that be adultery? Maybe you should think about these things before you decide to get away.

What if you engaged in some quantum sex by going forward in time, say a year after you and your wife committed to each other in a monogamous relationship, but in fact you had engaged in this sex twelve years ago, when you first experimented with time travel. Does this create some sort of perverted paradox? Because to you, the future was part of your past. What if that woman was your wife ten years before you met her? Are you cheating on yourself again? Are you still with me?

How about if it was a same-sex scenario? Is your wife cheating if you catch her with another woman regardless of the time period? Would you care? What if it was two versions of your wife (one from the future)? What if you walked in on yourself having sex with one of both of your wives at the same time? This shit can really get fucked up.

I'm certain that the writers of Star Trek already came up with a plausible sci-fi explanation for temporal infidelity, but they could never air the episode due to the suggestive content. I doubt that Captain Kirk cared. He was firing his photon torpedo all the time, regardless of time or space.

The question of temporal infidelity may never be solved this lifetime. The paradoxical possibilities can be mind-boggling. But if a sexy scientist from the future suddenly materializes, and she has sex on her mind, it's not going to take much convincing to get me to understand...well, the sex part anyway.