About

Time Travel (Real)

How, Why, Where, When

    Introduction

    Traveling in time is an interesting idea: the concept of being able to go forwards or backwards in time; to experience either history with hindsight, or see the future, without preconceptions of too much of the past. The uses to which this could be put are simply staggering, as are the implications of these acts.

    The first thing to know about time travel, is that we already travel in time; we do it every day. What's the time? 10:40. You can go and read a book, walk the dog [1]. Now it's 11:00. You have just traveled forward twenty minutes in time. Granted, it has taken you twenty minutes to do it, but none the less, the journey has been made.

    Unfortunately, the more usual conception of time travel is a little faster. Whereas in the example, you can travel forwards in time at a steady speed, let's call it 1=1 or "Standard". For most creative fictional demonstrations of the uses of time travel, the speed is usually infinite [2].

    Forwards

    There are other ways to, at least seemingly, travel forward in time. For one, if you have yourself frozen, you will be unaware of the passing of time [3], and since perception is everything from your perspective, your journey will be instantaneous. The only problem with this is that there is no current way to safely "unfreeze" you, and the whole idea hinges on the hope that there might one day be a discovery to bring you back to being. Also, as the passage of time is observed all around you, you are still subject to physical laws, and to the homicidal, or "scientific", leanings of any maniac with an axe and a gas heater.

    Backwards

    It appears that there are no current ways of doing this. When taken in perspective, it seems just as likely as "proper" accelerated forward time travel. To demonstrate this case, imagine time as a piece of string. Rather than placing yourself at the end, place yourself in the middle. It has been claimed that forwards time travel is not possible because "you can't travel into what doesn't exist." Firstly, we do this all the time, as has been stated before. Secondly, the logical conclusion to that argument would be that if you travel into the past, you invalidate the future, i.e.. the future no longer exists. This implies that the body that makes the journey is more important than time itself, and that the journey wasn't made. Think about it. The point is, once you have accepted the possibility of travel into the past, you know that the future, or the current present, must exist. See the later section, Paradoxes, for more information.

    Stasis

    Static. No movement forwards or backwards, completely unaffected by the passage of time. Two approaches are possible:

    1. You are the item in stasis. In this case, you are frozen within a field of time, usually "standard". The purpose of this would be to preserve the item in question, to wit yourself.
    2. The whole universe, except you, is in stasis. In this case, you would again exist within your own field of time, while the world around you is frozen. You would therefore be able to walk around, undetected, in a rather eerie world of statues.

    Is either of these possible? Well, it is already possible to freeze something, so that it is virtually untouched by the passage of time, but some would say this isn't quite the same thing, and rightly so.

    If it is possible to travel forwards and backwards in time, it is possible to stay at the same point in time. Further, it might be possible to prevent an object from being affected by the passage of time, but whether this would take the form of an object boxed in a different time field, or a matter of "simple" forwards time travel, is a matter of speculation. In fact, it is a matter of perception.

    Paradoxes

    The most alarming thing about backwards time traveling, and the reason that many people deny the possibility, is the possibility of paradoxes. Once you have accepted the possibility of traveling into the past, you must accept the possibility that you can as in the present time, alter the course of time, or your "past". What if you decide, to take the typical example, to kill your father [4] as a child. This would mean that you would no longer be conceived, born, and that you would not exist. Therefore, you could not travel into the past to kill your father as a child, so then you are born, you do exist. Do you then make the same mistake? Logic dictates that you do, but history dictates that you didn't succeed, even though you did, but you didn't. Hell, you didn't even try, but you did. It's a tricky situation...

    Theoretically, you could go back and stop yourself killing your father, except you didn't, because you don't exist. But how did he die? Or did he die? And if he's alive, you should be too. Shouldn't you? But then you can kill him. Then you don't exist. And so on...

    Of course, the biggest theory to bypass this is the theory of parallel universes. This states that at every point in time, there are branches for every possibility. Hence, taking the above example, if you went back in time to kill your father as a child [5], you would instantly slip into a parallel universe, and an alternate timeline where you don't exist. Except you do. If you find yourself in this position, don't ever expect to get back.

    Almost unthinkably, you might also consider the possibility of being/becoming (which are the same thing in this instance), your own father/mother. Whilst this is theoretically possible, it raises a number of genetic implications, not least of which is the fact that any genetic flaw could multiply to infinity (well, not quite). Count your fingers, and think again!

    Worm Holes And Natural Phenomena

    These are another set of wonders that are associated with time travel. Usually this is because we don't understand them properly yet [6]. It is said that traveling into a worm hole could take you into a time tunnel to another point in time and space, or time. It should be stated here that a "worm hole" is still speculation [7].

    Speed

    Another theory is that you can travel backwards in time if you accelerate to a sufficient velocity. The only realistic way this can be the case is if the g-force sends you into a dream world. While it is true that, if the "speed limit" of the universe, that is light speed, would be approached, a number of strange things could appear to happen, there is no theory that states it can happen backwards [8].

    In fact, current theories suggest that if you travel close to the speed of light, time will slow down for you. A few seconds on your part could mean years to the observer. This is explained in Einstein's theories of relativity. Proof of this slowing down has come from high speed radioactive particles penetrating our atmosphere and living far longer than can be expected. However, another theory states that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

    Is It Possible

    I've no idea. In my mind, I have told myself that if I ever find out for sure, I should come back in time and tell myself, so I can write an article about it, so maybe it is. However, being unaware of any such message, probably not. At least, not that I'll ever be aware of. Even then, even if I'm aware of it, I may not have access to it. Further, even if I do have access to it, I may decide not to tell myself, or maybe tell myself later in life. Maybe I die before I find out. Maybe it happens but I don't find out. Perhaps it is happening now. Perhaps it will never happen.

    [1]You can even go and read the dog and walk the book if you are surrealistically inclined.
    [2]Of course, this is the speed as determined by the entity making the journey. From outside, it is a little different. For example, if a journey is made into the past, they will have arrived well before their departure. This makes timetabling a little difficult.
    [3]It is possible that, during the passing of time, you will be aware, albeit to a lesser degree, either because you dream or because you are in the same position as paralysed people sometimes are.
    [4]These examples are cruel.
    [5]And he's probably getting a little sick of this by now, except he doesn't even know about it.
    [6]The logic appears to be: associate anything we don't understand with anything else we don't understand on the basis that they both at least have that one thing in common.
    [7]It is very easy to solve conundrums this way. Once trapped by the knowledge of certain death from an incurable disease, it is very easy to invent a "universal cure" in your imagination, and apply it liberally to the affected area. The point is, just don't expect it to work.
    [8]It is true that "no theory" doesn't mean it is not possible. Also, "no theory" can be instantly disproved, and "theory" doesn't mean "true".
 
  Support This Site  

Cheap Blank
Minidiscs
in the UK
Digital-e-uk.com

Hosted by
Openweb Analysts Ltd
in the UK
OWAL.co.uk

Inspired By