Why didn't the scientist destroy the formula?
In Christopher Nolan's Tenet, we see the main antagonist, Sator, using an algorithmic formula to
invert the entropy of the entire world. This was supposed to have cataclysmic effects on the human race, something which was evident to everyone.
This formula was initially conceived and manufactured into a physical form from a future female scientist. When she realized its potential, she split the formula into 9 pieces and hid it
into different times in the past and committed suicide, so that no one could force her make it again -hence preventing the fallout of humans.
If she was so keen on protecting the world from the formula, why didn't she just destroy it altogether? What was the point of creating it and then playing hide and seek if her goal was to protect everyone from it?
Best Answer
You're right; it doesn't make any sense (this movie is about time travel, not magically indestructible armor). Logically, that cannot possibly be the full story.
The movie's oddly insistent "Protagonist" is not really the protagonist.
In the bleak future, scientists attempt to fix the destructive past by sending a device to fix it into the past via secure locations. Sator interprets that as "destroying" the world to create a better one. And that's true from a certain point of view: it "destroys" the terrible future and sets history on a better path.
In a causal loop, the Protagonist founds an organization to stop Sator, informed by the knowledge the Protagonist receives...from himself. That's an important reveal at the end of the movie: the Protagonist posses no actual knowledge of the events. The Protagonist is fueled by his love for Kat and hate for Sator. His only external source is Sator's own megalomaniac interpretation (but disbelieving the part where it results in a better world).
Naturally, the Protagonist succeeds because of the movie's defining theme:
What's happened happened. Which is an expression of faith in the mechanics of the world. It's not an excuse to do nothing.
The future scientists attempted to do something about their doomed world, but of course the past has already happened.
tl;dr
What is the the most sensible explanation for securely distributing a powerful tool? The tool's inventor wanted it used.
The Protagonist invented a bunch of other stuff fueled by emotion and zero direct knowledge.
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Why dont they destroy the Algorithm in Tenet?
In the final part of Tenet, the Protagonist and Neil are trying to prevent one of the bad guys from dropping the Algorithm into the time capsule. Supposedly dropping it inside would be a way to deliver the Algorithm into the future and thus allowing humanity of the future to reverse entropy, destroying the past.How was Sator going to end the world?
The villain has managed to bring together nine parts of an Algorithm, sent to him from the future by a mysterious evil group. In short: if Sator dies, his heart-rate monitor will drop to zero, and that will set-off the Algorithm, which will end the entire world.How does the Algorithm work in Tenet?
The Algorithm is a physical rendering of a formula that can invert the entropy of the world. Invented by an unnamed scientist in the future who is described as the J. Robert Oppenheimer of her generation, the device is an extension of all the other timey-wimey shenanigans seen throughout Tenet.What was the bomb in Tenet?
Dissecting the plot of Tenet Tenet is about a war with the future and the past. Basically we are trying to stop the present from being nuked from the future\u2014but it's not a real nuke. It's a series of 9 cubes that when put together will reverse the entropy of time. This weapon is called the algorithm.Why Didn't You Stop Me?
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