Time travel

So what are your views on time travel? 

I'm travelling through it was we speak. I could travel through a little more slowly if only I could run a little faster.

I'm travelling through it was we speak. I could travel through a little more slowly if only I could run a little faster.

I could have bet every dollar I have that this was going to be the first response.  I almost said it myself, but I decided that it wasn't productive and detracted from the topic.

To the OP:
Yes, but I think it's relative.  In other words, I believe there are places in the universe that could be traveling the opposite direction in time 'at the same time' as we are.  Just as there is no way of telling how 'fast' time is moving, there's no way of telling which direction it's moving either.  Since there is no start and no end, there cannot be a forward and reverse.  Both must exist simultaneously and equally, IMO.

In my opinion, if time travel is feasible, then we would have multiple universes. It's not very comforting to begin thinking about that.

I think there is around a 50-50 chance that it is possible to travel backward in time.

Backwards? Why not forward?

Backwards? Why not forward?

moving forward in time is trivially true. you can not stop moving towards the future.

Quote from: frozen_berries on April 15, 2010, 09:27:35 AM

Backwards? Why not forward?

moving forward in time is trivially true. you can not stop moving towards the future.

But what about skipping through time and jumping further then you should be travelling?

Another thing to note is, if time travel is possible (let's say backwards), then why aren't we seeing anyone from the future yet? This comes down to a belief of multiple universes OR that time travel is simply not possible. Cause think about it, if a fully functioning time machine is ever invented in the future, say, in year 3000, then why haven't we seen anyone from the future? Clearly they would have impact a great deal of our history by now. Could it be that they're in another universe?

Another thing to note is, if time travel is possible (let's say backwards), then why aren't we seeing anyone from the future yet? This comes down to a belief of multiple universes OR that time travel is simply not possible. Cause think about it, if a fully functioning time machine is ever invented in the future, say, in year 3000, then why haven't we seen anyone from the future? Clearly they would have impact a great deal of our history by now. Could it be that they're in another universe?

We have had visitors such as John Titor and Aliens (evolved humans from the future)

OR we are the first in the timeline and that there is nothing ahead of us.

We have had visitors such as John Titor and Aliens (evolved humans from the future)

OR we are the first in the timeline and that there is nothing ahead of us.

Then think about it, if we are the first in the timeline, then if people in the future uses a time machine (say, only 5 lucky people uses it) and came to our current time now, how would they see our reactions? Would they be visible to us? Would that change the lives of people in our timeline? Their destiny?

Another thing to note is, if time travel is possible (let's say backwards), then why aren't we seeing anyone from the future yet? This comes down to a belief of multiple universes OR that time travel is simply not possible. Cause think about it, if a fully functioning time machine is ever invented in the future, say, in year 3000, then why haven't we seen anyone from the future? Clearly they would have impact a great deal of our history by now. Could it be that they're in another universe?

you forgot the possibility we killed ourselves before we could invent it. or

Quote from: frozen_berries on April 15, 2010, 09:36:47 AM

We have had visitors such as John Titor and Aliens (evolved humans from the future)

OR we are the first in the timeline and that there is nothing ahead of us.

Then think about it, if we are the first in the timeline, then if people in the future uses a time machine (say, only 5 lucky people uses it) and came to our current time now, how would they see our reactions? Would they be visible to us? Would that change the lives of people in our timeline? Their destiny?

They would be travelling to an alternate timeline, where what would have been the "past" for us would be the "now" for them. If they kill my grandfather in the alternate timeline, it woudn't affect me in this timeline.

They would be travelling to an alternate timeline, where what would have been the "past" for us would be the "now" for them.

Yes, but about our "past", how would our "past" react to their "now"? That was my question from before, perhaps there's just been a little misunderstanding somewhere along the lines. Well isn't this becoming a pretty interesting thread..

Quote from: frozen_berries on April 15, 2010, 09:50:44 AM

They would be travelling to an alternate timeline, where what would have been the "past" for us would be the "now" for them.

Yes, but about our "past", how would our "past" react to their "now"? That was my question from before, perhaps there's just been a little misunderstanding somewhere along the lines. Well isn't this becoming a pretty interesting thread..

Whatever their reaction may be, it wouldn't affect us in this timeline.

Whatever their reaction may be, it wouldn't affect us in this timeline.

So you think that having multiple universes is a possibility too? Cause that's the only way it wouldn't affect us, otherwise it would not be scientific.

Quote from: frozen_berries on April 15, 2010, 10:06:48 AM

Whatever their reaction may be, it wouldn't affect us in this timeline.

So you think that having multiple universes is a possibility too? Cause that's the only way it wouldn't affect us, otherwise it would not be scientific.

Yes a multiverse is one possibility. The other possibility is that it is impossible to travel to the past, it is only possible to travel to the future.

Skipping through time and travelling to the future has proven to be possible but we just dont have the technology do it yet.

I think we will have destroyed ourselves before anyone could manage to build a time machine. If it's even possible for anyone to ever do it.

Time travel is not possible.

Time travel is not possible.

Why not?

Quote from: toothyp1cks on April 16, 2010, 05:42:53 AM

Time travel is not possible.

Why not?

Because there exists no means to travel through time.

Quote from: Rob Valensky on April 16, 2010, 07:15:34 AM

Quote from: toothyp1cks on April 16, 2010, 05:42:53 AM

Time travel is not possible.

Why not?

Because there exists no means to travel through time.

It's a nice opinion.

Quote from: Rob Valensky on April 16, 2010, 07:15:34 AM

Quote from: toothyp1cks on April 16, 2010, 05:42:53 AM

Time travel is not possible.

Why not?

Because there exists no means to travel through time.

again we are always moving through time. hell we can slow down our movement through time by running around in a circle.

Quote from: Rob Valensky on April 16, 2010, 07:15:34 AM

Quote from: toothyp1cks on April 16, 2010, 05:42:53 AM

Time travel is not possible.

Why not?

Because there exists no means to travel through time.

Go talk to Stephen Hawking, then come back and tell me you don't believe in time travel.

The reason we haven't seen time travelers is the same reason we haven't seen Aliens:

There's no reason to say someone hasn't seen them, but that someone either isn't believed or is silenced. 

I once watched a lecture that talked about Entropy.  He said that time flows in only one direction because it flows from less entropy to more entropy.  This is the very nature of the Universe and it started with the Big Bang or whatever began the universe.  It went from extremely low entropy to high entropy and it's only been going up.

Thus, for time travel to be feasible, it's likely that you need a massive amount of energy to revere entropy.  I suspect it would require all the energy in the Universe.

Entropy actually isn't the sole driving force for why we can claim to be moving forward through time.  There are certain reactions that naturally and spontaneously go against entropy (forming solids from gases and/or becoming colder).  I believe a better measure is something called Gibbs free energy, which relates entropy, enthalpy, and temperature into a single equation.

As to the subject at hand: I've actually written a short sci-fi story that involved the rise and fall of a breakthrough discovery--a type of generator that seemed to create matter and energy from nothing.  Unbeknown to the scientists, it was actually stealing matter from a later point in time.  A major cataclysm occurs when that date finally arrives.  It's a fun concept to play with, as from the fifth dimension it seems possible; there's still the same amount of matter/energy in the timeline, some has just been moved from one point on that timeline to another.

Quote from: Mugthulhu on April 16, 2010, 08:50:24 AM

Quote from: Rob Valensky on April 16, 2010, 07:15:34 AM

Quote from: toothyp1cks on April 16, 2010, 05:42:53 AM

Time travel is not possible.

Why not?

Because there exists no means to travel through time.

again we are always moving through time. hell we can slow down our movement through time by running around in a circle.

This is true, time is variable. It can seem like your going slower or faster but for someone else they may feel like they are going faster or slower as well compared to you.

Travel to the past is impossible IMO. Too many paradoxes are possible that could cause you to not make a time travelling machine in your timeline which would then cause you to never had gone back in time in the first place, or you may kill your mother while she had you in her womb.

To the future however..you would just create an alternate dimension the moment you reach the future and cause a different timeline for yourself and everyone in it at the time. Theoretically making it possible.

Quote from: optimisticcynic on April 16, 2010, 10:05:04 AM

Quote from: Mugthulhu on April 16, 2010, 08:50:24 AM

Quote from: Rob Valensky on April 16, 2010, 07:15:34 AM

Quote from: toothyp1cks on April 16, 2010, 05:42:53 AM

Time travel is not possible.

Why not?

Because there exists no means to travel through time.

again we are always moving through time. hell we can slow down our movement through time by running around in a circle.

This is true, time is variable. It can seem like your going slower or faster but for someone else they may feel like they are going faster or slower as well compared to you.

Travel to the past is impossible IMO. Too many paradoxes are possible that could cause you to not make a time travelling machine in your timeline which would then cause you to never had gone back in time in the first place, or you may kill your mother while she had you in her womb.

To the future however..you would just create an alternate dimension the moment you reach the future and cause a different timeline for yourself and everyone in it at the time. Theoretically making it possible.

A. look up the idea multi verse it deals with most of the paradoxes.
B. I believe you are confusing dimensions with universes.

IMO time travel seems highly improbable

Quote from: dude55 on April 27, 2010, 07:09:57 AM

Quote from: optimisticcynic on April 16, 2010, 10:05:04 AM

Quote from: Mugthulhu on April 16, 2010, 08:50:24 AM

Quote from: Rob Valensky on April 16, 2010, 07:15:34 AM

Quote from: toothyp1cks on April 16, 2010, 05:42:53 AM

Time travel is not possible.

Why not?

Because there exists no means to travel through time.

again we are always moving through time. hell we can slow down our movement through time by running around in a circle.

This is true, time is variable. It can seem like your going slower or faster but for someone else they may feel like they are going faster or slower as well compared to you.

Travel to the past is impossible IMO. Too many paradoxes are possible that could cause you to not make a time travelling machine in your timeline which would then cause you to never had gone back in time in the first place, or you may kill your mother while she had you in her womb.

To the future however..you would just create an alternate dimension the moment you reach the future and cause a different timeline for yourself and everyone in it at the time. Theoretically making it possible.

A. look up the idea multi verse it deals with most of the paradoxes.
B. I believe you are confusing dimensions with universes.

A.That I will.
B.That I was, quite a bad mistake of mine.