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DanielLC comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 20, chapter 90 - Less Wrong Discussion
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I thought it was more that we are just following the story in one of the very lucky universes that has no paradoxes.
Say there are LOTS (not infinite, but unimaginably large number) of universes. One for every configuration, every difference, every spontaneously created particle.
If a paradox is created, the universe ends. (or never was; depending on how you think about it).
We are following a story in one of the universes that did not end due to paradox.
In another one of these universes, harry continued with his experiment. This universe was never meant to be, and in fact it never was. Nobody was around in this universe to write a story about it.
In another one of these universes a toaster materialized out of nowhere next to harry. It stopped his time-travel experiment, and also confused him for the rest of his life. This story was confusing.
In another one of these universes our solar system was never formed. This story was dull.
In one of these universes something clicked in Harrys mind and made him impulsively send back a note saying "DON'T MESS WITH TIME TRAVEL" . This deterred further advances down this road, triggered a desire to send the note back and averted a paradox. This universe continued existing, and made for a good story.
That's like saying that we live in one of the very lucky universes that follow the laws of physics.
It's not entirely inaccurate. When you talk about stuff in math, it's common to do something along the lines of taking a universe of sets, and narrowing them down to the one you want. We take all possible universes, then ignore the ones that don't start with the big bang, then ignore all the ones where any moment contains a violation of the laws of physics, and we end up with our universe.
Those are two very different things. One results in entire universes existing before being destroyed. The other only involves one universe.