Time Travel

[Sharp]

A common debate is whether Time Travel is possible, the have been many theories regarding the issue. In some cases the theory of traveling faster than light would cause you to travel through dimensions.

Traveling to the past however I find is impossible. Typically there would've been a reason why we wanted to. Going back into the past to resolve what you want creates a paradox, something similar to the Grandfather Paradox. The Grandfather Paradox is when you go back in time, and kill your grandfather. Therefore you would cease to exist. But since you don't exist, you couldn't have gone back to kill your grandfather, and thus he lives still... but then you kill him, etc. The paradox I mentioned it creates would be like you go back into the past and to change the future and such, but once you've accomplished it, you cease to exist in the past because there was no reason for you to go to the past. But since you didn't go to the past, the past wasn't changed, and therefore, you would exist in the past.

As Time Travel requires unthinkable speeds, it it not achievable in this generation, but looking more into the future generations we could find a speed faster than light, but it will require massive thinking.

[Amel]

I think The Grandfather Paradox would be logical only in one way - you kill your grandfather after he had children :^^: I believe that the future can't be predicted by anyone and that only we create it (God can make situations, but we choose which way we are going to go). So I don't believe in traveling into (into is correct?? English isn't my native language) the future. It doesn't exist yet. Travelling into past would be interesting and I think it's possible - these things happened and we normally cannot change them. However, what would happen if we change something important? I dunno.
I like thinking about travelling in time a lot. Did you watch or read anything interesting? I've seen all parts of "Back into the future" (1, 2, 3) and all parts of "The Planet of the Apes" (but it isn't connected with travelling that much), also "The Butterfly effect" and "The sound of thunder". I've read the book written by Wells (I don't remember its english title, but I hope you know what I'm talking about) and the book written by two Germans. I don't know whether it was translated into English or not. It's from 80's, and the title could be translated like "First journeys in time" or something like that. If you are interested, I can check its german title, so you can search for it in your country. I'm waiting for your answer and I hope we'll have a nice discussion here :^^:

[Sharp]

Indeed, there have been many theories throughout the Centuries, only now we can actually do something with the technology. It will be many years before we can actually prove it depening on how quick the development of Technology goes. Some theories, most notably special and general relativity, suggest that suitable geometries of spacetime, or specific types of motion in space, may allow time travel into the past and future if these geometries or motions are possible

The Presentist View - Presentism holds that neither the future nor the past exist; that the matter of the universe only exists in the present moment, that time is merely a concept which people use to describe what is going on around them. This could be interpreted to mean that there is nowhere for a time traveller to go, thus rendering the whole topic of time travel null and void.

So as you see there can be two sides of the story depending on how much information is given.

[Amel]

The Presentist View - I've never heard of that before or maybe I 've forgotten about this :p Sounds interesting. And what about the books I've mentioned? Have you read them? Should I search for a title? Or maybe you can refer me some? It can be SF, I don't read about this theme in science books a lot.

[Sharp]

I have read a few books on Time Travel, if that is them being the same ones I am not sure. I might reconise them if you give a Title.

[Electron]

I agree with the presentist view mentioned by Sharp, it seems the simplest and is probably the most correct (though I don't know much about other theories, I have my own though).

I don't think time travel is physically possible (not because of current technological limitations; not plausible at all). What has happened, has happened and traveling back in time would mean either moving all matter in the universe back to the original positions before the shift, or "exploiting some catch in the space-time continuum", which is really dodgy and leads to all these paradoxes, so I doubt it can be done at all (something as confusing as the Grandfather paradox simply must be a physical impossibility). I don't believe some of Einsteins hypotheses, like the one about how traveling at speeds near the speed of light causes the person moving at the speed of light to age slower (as a result of time passing more slowly for him/her), and though I sense that a lot more thinking could be done on this subject, I have a feeling it's not worth it (the result of thinking about the entity, idea or perceived quality at hand does not render the process of retrieving the result worthwhile, energetically, spiritually or in any other way), since someone will discover that it was not achievable all along.

[Careful With That Axe, Pichu]

Sci-fi. Time travel is and will always remain impossible.

I support the presentist view~

[SBJ95]

I believe it is possible. I have developed some theories for time travel. But they are just theories. I side with the people who think that time is one alternate dimension, and space is the three we're familiar with.

Really, the only way to time travel seems to be to go INTO the space-time continuum or to go to a place --like a black hole-- where the normal laws of physics don't apply. Those are major parts of my theories.

Anyway, I believe that time travel is possible, but the grandfather paradox makes me do some serious thinking...

[Sharp]

Thing with Time Travel theories is that when you think of one possible then usually there is something that will counter it and deem it nonsense. From theories I have thought up there is something to prevent it.

[SBJ95]

I'm not particularly confident my theories will work, either. But when I get my degree, I'm trying them anyway. Really, the only way to find out if something works is to either try it for real, or have professional people test it out.

[Sharp]

With the current technology we have I wouldn't think it is enough. We must be looking many years ahead for something to prove it can be done. It might be not even happen in our lifetime.

[Electron]

Really, the only way to time travel seems to be to go INTO the space-time continuum or to go to a place --like a black hole-- where the normal laws of physics don't apply. Those are major parts of my theories.

The laws of physics were constructed by carefully observing the interactions between all existing things around us. They are harmonious and all rely on their own interconnections.

A black hole is just a super heavy object that has gravity so strong it sucks towards it light itself (hence the name). I believe there is no slowing down of time nearing the event horizon (from the observer's point of view, as described by Einstein), since if you disregard everything you know about Einstein's theories there isn't really much to say except that these objects suck matter into themselves. Now, as they get bigger, their gravity also becomes stronger, forcing the matter to become even more dense, but scientists have confirmed that black holes do indeed grow in size, which might imply that there is no "stargate-style portaling to another dimension", all the matter just gets compressed more and more. The expansion of a black hole also means that it may not have infinite mass, but a measurable (albeit huge) mass.

Humans are still far from getting anywhere near a black hole and conducting experiments, so be very careful when you say they "the normal laws of physics don't apply", no one knows yet, it's all theoretical.

[Yggdrasill]

You would also have to consider the fact that if you travel into the Future then it would be the result of a future without you in it.... because you have been in the Time-Machine since between the time you left and the time you arised in the future.
Unlike the rest of you I don't believe in time-travel simply because I believe the only time that actually exists is the present, it's very hard to believe that our past selfs are still living past parts of our lives out.

[Crystal Walrein]

I happen to know a guy who comes to the library where I usually hang around. One of the things he'll talk to me about is his 'time machine', which I thought for a moment that he was trying to physically build. Of what his 'machine' was, the most I saw was a sketch of the model, which was based on a VCR, and then he showed me pages on Wikipedia showing events that occurred at certain times in the past as well as those to occur in future. It wasn't until yesterday that we were talking about old newspaper clippings and phonograph records that he finally said, 'These records — they are the time machine. You see, there is a time machine; it's in your mind.'

I see his point now. The past is a way to measure what happened before and what is due, and it indeed has existed. And the old record sleeves we saw were artifacts from the past, something to tell us what CDs and computers were destined to be from looking at the records.

It's true, though, that 'time travel' per se will never be achieved. This was even the subject of a standardised test I took years ago; one of the prompts required me to analyse and find the fault in an advertisement for 'The Island That Time Forgot', an island that is claimed to have remained completely frozen in time, oblivious to what had been going on outside the continuum. However, the advertisement mentioned a golf course, moonlit nights, and a luxury hotel — an egregious intrusion of civilisation outside the continuum. The most damning of all is that, if the island was truly frozen in time, no-one entering the continuum would be able to move at all, much less build a resort.

[Electron]

If you walked into a chamber to somehow freeze your body and thus stop everything from happening (all chemical processes, and of course all biological functions like breathing), and if you were left like that for many millions of years, and then were somehow "unfrozen" and all these processes started up again, it would seem to you that only a second had passed, while actually a whole lot of time had passed.

Everyone outside the capsule could look inside, and see you in there. They would age and die, while you just existed inside this chamber.

Wouldn't that be time travel?

Or imagine this. You have 10 marbles. You position 10 special tubes to fire these marbles at a certain velocity in 10 different ways, each pointing to a set point, and each equally distanced from the point. You fire the marbles. They collide, and roll away at different angles. Let's say the room had no air in it, and the marbles had no electrical charge, and there was no other interference. You pick up the marbles and put them back into their firing tubes, making sure they are oriented in exactly the same way as before, and that you have not interfered by leaving fingerprints on them, or in any other way. If you fired again, would they not collide and roll away in exactly the same way as before? Would that not be time travel to the past? Time would have passed for you, while you conducted the experiment, but Einstein says time is relative, and I agree. The closed environment with the marbles experiences this time travel, while you do not.

After all, what is time but a way of expressing the differences between the positions of matter? (eg. "My teddy bear was there a minute ago!" - The matter which makes up the bear was present in that place a minute ago. If you returned the bear back to that place with the matter positioned exactly in the same way as before, would that not be time travel too? It's just that humans expect time travel to involve the environment changing too. So if you adjusted the entire room so that it was exactly as it was while the bear was there, that would make the time travel more complete.)

However, this "adjustment" of the marbles, and of the bear and the room is impossible, since humans are made of matter too, and touching anything, or even simply being there is already interfering enough for the experience not to be time travel after all. This is purely theoretical. However, if some force could be used to do this positioning of matter, time travel would definitely be possible relative to us....

[Saruki]

It's not, it's been scientifically proved. You'd end up in a time paradox, unless you find a way to fix that.

[the grimm]

since i'm writing a book wich involves time travveling, i investigated and philosophized a lot about it.

traveling to the future is possible and confirmed: when you reach extremely high speeds, time will go slower for you. so when you go fast enough, you'll technically travel trough time: outside of your spaceship (you'll need to be in space to get at that speed level) time will go faster than inside.

and there is a theory about traveling back trough time: when going exactly as fast as the speed of light, time will completely FREEZE. so, when going faster than the speed of light, the time outside becomes negate comparing to the time inside your ship, and that way, travel back in time.

the flaw of this: the exact speed of light. as i told, when exactly reaching the speed of light, time will freeze. so, a billionst of a billionst of a billionst and-go-on of a second becomes INFINETY outside your ship. and you'll end up in the end of infinity.

and there isn't and end to infinity. you'll break a law of nature. what happens after that won't be good IMO, maybe even destruction of the universe.

now, this might be (even more) confusing: even if you'd be able to get to the past, you can't change it. because, it has already happened, so the conclusion of your actions in the past already happened.

i'll make an example i have from an (awesome) movie:
someone killed your girlfriend. you make a time travel machine, and save your girlfriend.
everything is fine again, you marry your GF, the end. you have no resaon to get back to the past.

so who's going to save your girlfriend if you're in the future without a reason to make a time machine? nobody.

what you did in the past already infered with your future. would you try to do something irrational in the past, like killing your parents before you get born, would be against the laws of nature, making it impossible or again the destrucion of the universe.


EDIT: i see a lot of this is already stated. i'm happy about that. in other places i told the same story and people just didn't understand a word of what i said.

maybe i'm just too far grown in psychological matter for a 14 year old boy...

[Saruki]

If you killed your parents before you were born you wouldn't exist... XD

[the grimm]

If you killed your parents before you were born you wouldn't exist... XD

and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing. and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.


see my point?

[Saruki]

and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing. and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.and that way impossible to kill your parents, making you exist again. and killing your parents, and stop existing.


see my point?

Yes, I do.

o.0

[Electron]

In short, it is not possible, because time is a measure invented by humans to describe different positions of matter. It is unlikely any other being feels time the way we do.

Besides, when asking the question "is is possible to travel through time?" the answer would be "what would the point of that be?".

[the grimm]

In short, it is not possible, because time is a measure invented by humans to describe different positions of matter. It is unlikely any other being feels time the way we do.

Besides, when asking the question "is is possible to travel through time?" the answer would be "what would the point of that be?".

weight and height are also invented by humans, but it is sure it does exist. Same goes with time IMO.

but indeed, travelling trough time would be quite pointless since you can't change histoty anyways. maybe to study history, but that's about it.