Time travel?

[Fallso]

In the theories I've read, it may be easier to go forward in time than back (from a certian perspective..anyway)

It's all to do with the fact that faster than light travel would mean appearing places seemingly at impossible speeds..due to the fact you'd reach the destination before light does. You could tell people about events that they can't see yet (say a comet was going to hit Alpha Proximo, and that you could travel there and back in a day, you'd be able to travel there, see the comet hit the planet, travel back and be able to tell people about seeing it before their telescopes/scanners even picked it up)

One could say from a perspective..you traveled into the future, and came back. But that's really an illusion because of the way and speed that light travels and how our brains interpret it. The true mechanics behind time travel are much more..complex.

[Fallso]

1) Could they travel back in time to make more sequels to "Time Cop" starring the glorious Jean Claude Van Damme? You have to admit he makes a quality piece of crap.

2) If you traveled back in time to give your younger self advice, would you do it if it meant being caught in an infinite Groundhog Day loop? (ignore the paradox issue)

Even if you were able to go back in time and give yourself advice it would not change the outcome of your future. It's hard to explain but a lot of scientists who do this shit theorize that disrupting the past to change the future is impossible.

I've heard of these theories, too. I forget what it's called, but it's like you can't change what's already been done. If you do change something in your past, it just creates a new parallal of that time and keeps going independant of the one you came from, based on the things you did. It makes my head hurt to think about it, but best thing I could think of for it, is that time is based on how you perceive it.

It's just a theory..but that seems to be the leading theory. Apparently time has a set course of events, if you believe that (like destiny) and won't let you change it. Another one is that there's billions of possible realities, all changable by a single death or invention.

[Exoduso]

If you can only travel back to the point where the time machine was constructed, it's useless.

[Venture]

Was just thinking what would of happened if a ancient civilization had built a time machine before we invented one in our modern times. In our case, 10,000 years from now we might be the ancient civilization. Since we or they had a time machine that had the potential to go from Year 1(Example) to Year 99,999,999(Extreme example), would that enable time travel from year 976,453(lolagain...) back to Year 343(You get it by now, surely?), just because the potential was pre-existing?

More reasons to build it now, so future generations could come back to our points in time? Or if we did build a time machine right now, turned it on. Would someone come back that very instant when the connection was made, and slap the creator for some future offense? Creating a whole new future by flipping a switch?

[Amarok]

If you can only travel back to the point where the time machine was constructed, it's useless.

Um...no?

[Exoduso]

Surely your frail mind can detect sarcasm now can't it?

[Snowknight26]

Something interesting to note:
Take two synchronized atomic clocks.. put one on the surface of the earth, the other in a fast moving plane, for example. Traven around the world once in the plane and you'll notice the two clocks are off; the one that was on the plane seems to be behind.

[Tricen]

Something interesting to note:
Take two synchronized atomic clocks.. put one on the surface of the earth, the other in a fast moving plane, for example. Traven around the world once in the plane and you'll notice the two clocks are off; the one that was on the plane seems to be behind.

Well no shit. Time is relative.

[kuronosan]

Knowing what little I know of temporal mechanics, I'm guessing the reason you wouldn't be able to travel to a point prior to the creation of the time machine is due to there being no existing axis of entry at that time. What he's saying is that if a machine were created now, future generations would be able to theoretically travel back to that point due to the gravitational distortion present, thus connecting the two points of time. Since it would take an immense gravitational phenomenon to create one point, one can theorize that an identical point would also have to exist in order to bend far enough to connect it... thus creating the necessity of there existing a time machine... also if you were to travel before the time machine existed it would again theoretically create a dimensional tear in the fabric of space/time, and causing a paradox since a time machine did not yet exist to create that tear... and of course if it were to continue to happen I'm supposing the entire continuum would tear itself apart due to repeated perforations in the gravitational equilibrium of the universe.


I have no idea what the fuck I just said.

[Siniroth]

That's what I was saying about the lack of a machine being there to have an effect on space-time at that spot

[Kaiseran]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/imag...ine=1147312198
"Hi guys! Am I late??"

[Tricen]

Yeah, about a year late.

[Khamsin]

I just envisioned it like the time machine would create a waypoint in time to return to, or as others have put it, create the distortion that makes it possible. Or another way to look at it might be to envision that folded paper that the ant walks across. An ant walks across the flat paper and, at one point in his journey, he begins folding the paper sharply downward. He keeps walking down the steep slope and then starts bending it back up sharply. The ant walks up the steep slope and reaches a certain point where he flattens the paper out again. Looking back, the paper was folded into a V shape which the ant can now hop over the gap to the point he started folding.

I guess the basic principle is, time travel would only be possible if you specifically set up two points in time and space to jump between, rather than freely going any which way through time-space you please. And you have to get to the future destination naturally first, before you can set it up to be travelled by people in the past.

Even if we ever do succeed at making a time travel device, it will be banned instantly. No one will allow you to go into the past and risk fucking things up and ending the world as we know it and no one will allow you to go into the future and see things that will affect how you're supposed to live. Governments/etc. everywhere would ban it instantly. Fun thing to talk about though.

Then only criminals will own time machines.

[Azkarin]

Something interesting to note:
Take two synchronized atomic clocks.. put one on the surface of the earth, the other in a fast moving plane, for example. Traven around the world once in the plane and you'll notice the two clocks are off; the one that was on the plane seems to be behind.

Well no shit. Time is relative.

Care to explain? I know you are right but I can't get my head around my first impression of why it matters. Whats the difference between the two? Are we talking about a regular jet (or one capable of being built by man)?

Everytime I think about this my head bleeds... I think I need a nap

[Furtwangler]

This stuff honestly makes my head hurt, and it'll probably never happen in my lifetime so I just avoid thinking about it :/

[Jotaru]

I actually heard about this a long while back, not sure if this is from further research on it or just a similar reposting, but whichever.

This is (basically) how it was explained to me. You have to kinda bend your mind around it, as time doesnt have a 2-D 'direction' as it does in this picture, but it shows what it means in a very basic sense.


http://www.photoleech.com/images/118...1pqvru8m4r.png


Time normally gets bent (as shown by mass), but not to a huge noticable extent. However, get a large enough gravitational pull, and you could (theoretically) bend it back upon itself and have it start going backwards.

I remember this because I thought to myself, how would that be? Can you imagine going through the world as if everything was regular, but in reverse? Methinks you'd die or something pretty quick, as you couldn't 'respond' to anything that happened... As, if there was a plane headed for your face, for example, it'd already be there in the first place, and by the time it was somewhere where you could recognize it to react, it'd be after the fact. It'd be like trying to avoid a slap in the face that's in reverse motion.

[Khamsin]

I remember this because I thought to myself, how would that be? Can you imagine going through the world as if everything was regular, but in reverse? Methinks you'd die or something pretty quick, as you couldn't 'respond' to anything that happened... As, if there was a plane headed for your face, for example, it'd already be there in the first place, and by the time it was somewhere where you could recognize it to react, it'd be after the fact. It'd be like trying to avoid a slap in the face that's in reverse motion.

But you'd un-die! Your dessicated corpse would be laying there, as this jet comes hurtling backwards at you. Upon impact, you spring to life, whole again. Now you should be happy.

Your face would be stinging, but as you see this hand in front of you, you quickly whip your head into it which instantly takes the pain away. You'd enjoy it.

[Jotaru]

Hm.. Possibly, but your body is travelling 'forward' in a reverse direction, so maybe that wouldn't happen ; ;

I call not-it for testing it.

[Exoduso]

Your brain would explode before you would fully understand the concept heh.

[Tricen]

I actually heard about this a long while back, not sure if this is from further research on it or just a similar reposting, but whichever.

This is (basically) how it was explained to me. You have to kinda bend your mind around it, as time doesnt have a 2-D 'direction' as it does in this picture, but it shows what it means in a very basic sense.


http://www.photoleech.com/images/118...1pqvru8m4r.png


Time normally gets bent (as shown by mass), but not to a huge noticable extent. However, get a large enough gravitational pull, and you could (theoretically) bend it back upon itself and have it start going backwards.

I remember this because I thought to myself, how would that be? Can you imagine going through the world as if everything was regular, but in reverse? Methinks you'd die or something pretty quick, as you couldn't 'respond' to anything that happened... As, if there was a plane headed for your face, for example, it'd already be there in the first place, and by the time it was somewhere where you could recognize it to react, it'd be after the fact. It'd be like trying to avoid a slap in the face that's in reverse motion.

Well, for something to bend time like that, it would not have to be a huge mass, it would have to be an equivalent of a black hole, seeing as though light would be able to just speed past or barely bend coming from any other mass. Since black holes can trap light, it's supposedly the only mass that can band it far enough, but I think that is theoretical.