Do You Believe Time Travel is Possible? [Archive]

Citizen Rules

01-13-16, 05:19 PM

Star Trek: Enterprise...episode Shockwave part 2

Silik: Who are you working with from the future?

T'Pol: The Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that time travel is impossible.

Silik: Does Captain Archer agree with that opinion?

T'Pol: This is not an opinion.

Silik: Does Archer agree with that determination?

T'Pol: Captain Archer believes Crewman Daniels... comes from the future.

Silik: But Daniels is dead.

T'Pol: Captain Archer claims he saw Daniels two days ago.

Silik: Your Captain is gone. Did Daniels take him into the past or the future?

T'Pol: Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that time travel is impossible.

Derek Vinyard

01-13-16, 05:24 PM

Just find a DeLorean

-KhaN-

01-13-16, 05:27 PM

Into the future? Sorta/kinda, based on relativity and a loose definition of the term "time travel."

Into the past? Absolutely not.

Agreed, future is not made yet, past is. At least that is something that first comes to mind. But personally I don't like terms "impossible" etc. we accomplished many impossible deeds, they are impossible only until someone dose it. Of course, this dose not mean we will actually manage this one, but it's fun to think about it. :D

-KhaN-

01-13-16, 05:28 PM

Just find a DeLorean

Would need a time machine for that.

Chypmunk

01-13-16, 05:28 PM

Not sure - ask me again yesterday.

-KhaN-

01-13-16, 05:32 PM

Not sure - ask me again yesterday.

Or I could time travel into the future and ask you tomorrow?

Captain Steel

01-13-16, 05:32 PM

I agree with Yoda. Impossible this is.

(Although I like Demetri Martin's joke: “I have a time machine at home. It only goes forward at regular speed.”)

Chypmunk

01-13-16, 05:33 PM

Or I could time travel into the future and ask you tomorrow?
That would prove nothing though ;)

Derek Vinyard

01-13-16, 05:34 PM

Would need a time machine for that.

got one.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UO53JhLCIV0/TrleQ7Wzv9I/AAAAAAAABRQ/ct5hRzcIhNI/s1600/hot-tub-time-machine-horizontal.jpg

-KhaN-

01-13-16, 05:35 PM

That would prove nothing though ;)

Well...It's a lot easier to do. :p

Citizen Rules

01-13-16, 05:37 PM

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UO53JhLCIV0/TrleQ7Wzv9I/AAAAAAAABRQ/ct5hRzcIhNI/s1600/hot-tub-time-machine-horizontal.jpg Looks like they drank a lot of booze is that why the water is so yellow? If they traveled back in time they could visit the bathroom before getting into the hot tub:eek:

gbgoodies

01-13-16, 05:40 PM

If time travel is possible, why hasn't someone from the future already traveled to the past to tell us about their experiences?

-KhaN-

01-13-16, 05:45 PM

If time travel is possible, why hasn't someone from the future already traveled to the past to tell us about their experiences?

I knew someone is going to mention that, but as I already said, I'm not talking about Doctor Who time travel. Also, there are theories on how time would work, some believe as soon as you change something you go to separate line. So maybe someone came back, but that ain't our world.

I'm just playing devils advocate, as I said already, it's not like I actually believe it's possible, at least not soon and not how we imagine it.

foster

01-13-16, 06:05 PM

time travel is impossible.

But I've had fun exploring the religious aspects of it.
Someone dies and goes to hell. You travel back in time, change them, they die and go to heaven.

Man is more powerful than god.

Anyway it's not real though, just a funny concept.

Captain Steel

01-13-16, 06:17 PM

On a serious scientific note - the kind of time travel that may one day be possible or even unavoidable is the kind in such films as Planet of the Apes (1968).
And that is travel into the future at a faster-than-normal rate. If someone goes on a ship out into space at a certain rate of speed, then turns around and comes back, only a couple years for them may have passed, while decades may have gone by on Earth.

Most of the sci-fi stories where people are exploring space in ships moving at incredible speeds don't seem to take relativity into account where, when they return to Earth, most of the people they know would be elderly or dead.

Sexy Celebrity

01-13-16, 06:17 PM

Yes because I've done it.

Sexy Celebrity

01-13-16, 06:20 PM

I think dreams are time travel. Not ACTUAL time travel, but the closest thing we've got to it. I frequently dream about the past -- even long ago -- and it feels like I'm right back there. Sometimes I even experience feelings and emotions and see things I had forgotten about. To me that's time travel.

Not only that, but I also think we can dream about the future -- the future our mind is predicting and rehearsing us for in case it happens.

honeykid

01-13-16, 06:49 PM

:nope:

Yoda

01-13-16, 06:58 PM

foster

01-13-16, 07:10 PM

20% chance I steal this idea for a short story or something.

it's funny how no one has explored the religious aspects of time travel. Might make a good short film.. scientist killed by a fundamentalist at the the end.

Mr Minio

01-13-16, 07:31 PM

It may be, but perhaps we will never achieve it.

It may be possible in the fourth dimension. In fourth dimension the perception of time and time itself is no longer linear. Let's say the timeline is just a straight line in 'our' 3D and assume you can't go backwards. Therefore, once you passed any point on it, you can no longer get back to it no matter what you do. You can travel faster (time works differently in space - as somebody mentioned the thing about you in a spaceship and getting back to Earth only to find out everybody you knew is dead), but there's no possibility you can travel backwards. Okay, let's go to 4D now. Our assumption that you can't go backwards is still true, but let's imagine that time itself is no longer a line in 4D, but a circle. As you know, if you start from any point of the cycle, you can get back to it only going forward. You still can't go backwards, but since you used another definition of time, you achieved the possibility to actually reach that point again. Of course, the circle would have to grow bigger and bigger as time passes, but this example is only to prove a point that using other means and knowledge you can achieve something that wasn't possible before. And in this example we were still staying in 2D. What if we used any 3D figure. We would be able to get to the point we wanted to get back to with utmost easiness and we'd also have a very easy time moving in every direction. I know this example may be nonsense, but it's just to illustrate my point.

Now let me give you another example to make you think about it. Take a piece of paper and draw a square. Then draw a circle inside of it and then draw a stickman outside of the square, next to it. Now draw a horizontal line (ground), on which both the stickman and the square 'stays'. From the stickman's point of view, there's no circle. It just doesn't exist. He also only sees at most two 'sides' of the square (because it's way bigger than the stickman itself, so he can't jump over it, so he could see what's on the 'other side'. In other words, from his perspective, there's only a vertical line and a horizontal line (ground) on the same level as the 'foundation' of the square. However, from our perspective (we are gifted with 3D), there is the stickman, ground, square AND the circle. We see more things, because we are in 3D, not 2D as the stickman. Now imagine if we could see in 4D. And think how many new things would there be to behold.

Captain Steel

01-13-16, 07:42 PM

This just reminded me how a kid I knew in high-school first explained "warp drive" to me. (I'm sure everyone's seen this one...)

He put two dots on each end of a piece of paper and a line connecting them. He said the line could represent light years or miles or whatever distance.
He said, "Now what if the line represents 100 miles - how long would it take you to go that distance in a car?"

"About a couple hours," I said.

Then he pushed the two ends of the paper together, bringing the dots close to each other as the paper curled upwards in the middle.
"Now how long would it take you?"

Then he explained that warp isn't a "speed" per se, but that the concept is a technology that bends space the same way he bent the paper, bringing points closer together - so it's not necessarily the ship that would move, but the space around it that would allow it to be delivered from one point to another.

(yes, I hung out with geeks!) :)

AdamUpBxtch

01-13-16, 08:08 PM

Let's be honest here nobody has the knowledge to know if it is truly impossible or not. You can't prove something is impossible unless it is factual or if there is solid proof in front of you that it isn't, but you can prove it is possible if you actual discover it. You can't prove time travel is impossible, how do you have proof it is impossible? Just because something hasn't been proved yet doesn't make it impossible.

Many times throughout human history we thought there were things we'd never accomplish and we did (Flying is the biggest example. Back before planes were invented the thought of humans flying winged machine's in the air like birds was considered madness to think about, and don't even get me started on space travel). The closest thing scientists have found to any form of time travel is worm holes in space, and those are pretty much just simply taking you to other sides of the galaxy, not actually going into the past.

I think the multiple time-lines/multi-dimensional theory is the only plausible reason to why if someone in the future "does" discover time travel and comes back we wouldn't know as it would create a brand new time line with new series of events set into motion that are different to our own. Like how scientists believe there are vast numbers of other dimensions all around us. I'm not saying time travel is possible, but don't write it off. It may never be discovered in our lifetime, or our children's life time or even their granchildren's lifetime, but you never know.

"By striving to do the impossible, man has always achieved what is possible. Those who have cautiously done no more than they believed possible have never taken a single step forward."

just my little rant on the topic....feel free to call me an idiot. I just feel like thinking something is truly "impossible" just makes the universe feel really dull to me.

Captain Steel

01-13-16, 08:42 PM

Point taken, AdamUp. But in the arena of debate the burden of proof lies with those making a positive existential claim for something that as yet has no evidence of existing or being possible. So it's safe to use the word impossible for something that doesn't even have a hypothesis or workable theory for being achieved until it is shown to be possible.

-KhaN-

01-13-16, 08:47 PM

Few nice posts, I'm glad topic got some interest.

In addition to what you guys already mentioned...Isn't time travel into the future already proven (in theory) and easy to explain? If you have twins, one stays on Earth and the other one travels at a light speed (or something similar), he would return to Earth that is now 50,100, 1.000+ years older, depending on speed.

Captain Steel

01-13-16, 08:51 PM

Few nice posts, I'm glad topic got some interest.
In addition to what you guys already mentioned...Isn't time travel into the future already proven (in theory) and easy to explain? If you have twins, one stays on Earth and the other one travels at a light speed (or something similar), he would return to Earth that is now 50,100, 1.000+ years older, depending on speed.

Yes.
http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=1438689#post1438689

-KhaN-

01-13-16, 08:56 PM

Yes.

Then we do have a theory, a working one.

Citizen Rules

01-13-16, 09:01 PM

Most everyone thinks of time as a measure of units, (calenders, clocks, hours, days, years) but time is a physical force in the universe similar but different to: Gravity, Electromagnetic force, Weak and Strong Atomic force.

Right now it's beyond our grasp to manipulate time, like we do with the other four physical forces. But someday we will be able to do that and then time travel could be a reality.

If someone offers up the evidence time travel can't be real because it would be to ridiculous to travel back and meet yourself, I say that's a limitation on human understanding.

Captain Steel

01-13-16, 09:04 PM

Then we do have a theory, a working one.

For traveling into the future, but no going back in time.

Traveling into the future isn't a big deal since we're all doing that anyway - but with Einstein's theory of relativity, it suggests that with a fast enough conveyance, people could move into the future at different rates.

There is nothing to suggest that anyone or anything can go back in time, not to mention the issue of creating endless paradoxes.

(Unless, of course, people are going back in time and our reality is constantly changing as a result, but we can't perceive it because we are mutually changed with each reality / time change. Then there was Reed Richard's theory that with each journey backwards in time & the unavoidable changes to the continuity of reality such journeys would create, a new splinter reality would be created with a potential infinite number of concurrent realities. So no backward time-traveler could ever alter their present or future, they'd only create a new additional time-stream.)

Guaporense

01-13-16, 09:06 PM

Nobody mentioned the grandfather paradox yet?

-KhaN-

01-13-16, 09:10 PM

For traveling into the future, but no going back in time.

Traveling into the future isn't a big deal since we're all doing that anyway - but with Einstein's theory of relativity, it suggests that with a fast enough conveyance, people could move into the future at different rates.

Sorry but I disagree, traveling into the future is a big deal. Going into the future second by second is not same thing as traveling 1.000 years or any other period of time.

There is nothing to suggest that anyone or anything can go back in time, not to mention the issue of creating endless paradoxes.

(Unless, of course, people are going back in time and our reality is constantly changing as a result, but we can't perceive it because we are mutually changed with each reality / time change. Then there was Reed Richard's theory that with each journey backwards in time & the unavoidable changes to the continuity of reality such journeys would create, a new splinter reality would be created with a potential infinite number of concurrent realities. So no backward time-traveler could ever alter their present or future, they'd only create a new additional time-stream.)

Traveling into the future is still time travel. There is nothing to suggest so at the moment (at least not that I know of), but yet we are developing theories and researching it, that is why I dislike using "impossible".

-KhaN-

01-13-16, 09:11 PM

Nobody mentioned the grandfather paradox yet?

You mean if you go back and kill your grandfather? That is the tricky part, but I could stand behind explanation that there is just a different time-line where you are not born, you still exist in your own, that is not such an insane theory.

Captain Steel

01-13-16, 10:14 PM

Sorry but I disagree, traveling into the future is a big deal. Going into the future second by second is not same thing as traveling 1.000 years or any other period of time.

Traveling into the future is still time travel. There is nothing to suggest so at the moment (at least not that I know of), but yet we are developing theories and researching it, that is why I dislike using "impossible".

Everything is "time travelling" into the future naturally, but nothing known has ever gone back.

So, regarding the future travel relativity scenario - it's possible, but to what end? I'm not talking in terms of interesting fiction, but in reality, who would it possibly benefit? It's not like the traveler could go to the future, experience what it's like to be a man out of time, then go back to the present and tell everyone what it was like, or bring warnings back on what to avoid to prevent future problems.

It would be a scary & bleak adventure to undertake that would only be attempted by someone very unhappy with life as they know it (and keeping their fingers crossed that an unknown future my be better). That mindset probably wouldn't be ideal for an explorer who forfeits his life just to see the future.

If it ever does happen it will probably be due to an accident rather than intentionally - it would be like sending astronauts to the moon, but telling them they can never come back. No one in their right mind would go.

The intrigue of time travel is to change something or alter something to create a different outcome or avoid disasters - future travel with no chance of return doesn't offer any of that.

Sexy Celebrity

01-13-16, 10:31 PM

Citizen Rules

01-13-16, 10:33 PM

Yeah, it's more cost effective to leave them on Mars.

Sexy Celebrity

01-13-16, 10:34 PM

There are probably people who'd go to the moon and stay permanently. Even if it meant they wouldn't live long on the moon.

Sexy Celebrity

01-13-16, 10:36 PM

It's your chance to experience another world. To go to outer space. To look out and see Earth in the sky for a change. And even to die in outer space. Hell, it sounds like a cool way to end your life, actually.

Citizen Rules

01-13-16, 10:38 PM

The moon seems boring. Now Mars, that be cool. But nah people will never go to Mars, except in the movies.

Captain Steel

01-13-16, 11:00 PM

No one in their right mind would go to the moon if you told them they could never come back?

Did you miss all that stuff about the Mars One thing? THOUSANDS of applicants that applied to be sent to live on Mars, with no possibility of ever returning to Earth.

I did hear a bit about it, but all the scenarios I heard included being able to return at some point.

I didn't hear any that said, we're looking for volunteers to go to Mars, but once you get their you live in a tiny enclosed structure until you die with no chance of ever seeing Earth or breathing natural air again.

I guess it would be one thing if you could take your family with you and start a new life as pioneers, but for an individual, such a one-way trip seems like it would only appeal to someone currently unhappy with life or who was suicidal and wanted to see something cool before they die, or someone who only wants to be remembered for something. It seems the motivations for a sacrificial one-way trip would not be the ideal psychology for an explorer.

And it would also depend on the purpose of the trip - a sacrifice to save others in more meaningful & noble than one for no good reason. The whole point of exploration is to somehow get word of your discoveries to others, not just to take off and die. Remember, the Robinson's in Lost in Space left Earth on a one-way trip in an attempt to save the planet.

(I'm kind of mixing up the scenarios now of traveling to the future and trips to Mars. Starting... to not... make... sense.)

SilentVamp

01-13-16, 11:37 PM

I know I am keeping this a tad bit off-topic of time travel, but I want to quickly say something.

I did hear a bit about it, but all the scenarios I heard included being able to return at some point
This is exactly how it is:
THOUSANDS of applicants that applied to be sent to live on Mars, with no possibility of ever returning to Earth.
I heard this woman talking on the radio a few months ago about how she is willing to sacrifice all that she has here to get the chance to go there. She had a husband and kids, but she didn't care. She, for whatever reasons are in her head, wants to go, and it doesn't matter to her whether or not she comes back. And she knew she wasn't going to come back.

If this is all true, if this isn't just some scam or something, then it is their choice to go. I think it is kind of odd, but if they want to go, then go. I really couldn't care less. :shrug:

Swan

01-13-16, 11:40 PM

Time travel is already possibly. I can travel through time at one second per second.

Captain Steel

01-14-16, 01:26 AM

I know I am keeping this a tad bit off-topic of time travel, but I want to quickly say something.

This is exactly how it is:

I heard this woman talking on the radio a few months ago about how she is willing to sacrifice all that she has here to get the chance to go there. She had a husband and kids, but she didn't care. She, for whatever reasons are in her head, wants to go, and it doesn't matter to her whether or not she comes back. And she knew she wasn't going to come back.

If this is all true, if this isn't just some scam or something, then it is their choice to go. I think it is kind of odd, but if they want to go, then go. I really couldn't care less. :shrug:

I haven't researched this, but perhaps it was posed as a hypothetical question as opposed to actually looking for volunteers for an established plan?

I kind of doubt that NASA is organizing exile-until-death expeditions with openings for people to condemn themselves to a life sentence on another planet.

Current projections say a trip to Mars would take about 6 months. Astronauts would have to remain on the planet 18 - 20 months before Earth and Mars re-align for a return trip which would take another 6 months. So the duration of the journey would be about 2.5 years. The first trip would enable explorers to set up only a rudimentary camp (limited by the amount of supplies they can haul there) that subsequent trips would have to build upon.

AdamUpBxtch

01-14-16, 01:53 AM

The moon seems boring. Now Mars, that be cool. But nah people will never go to Mars, except in the movies.

I'm pretty sure manned missions to Mars are being planned to launch in a couple decades to explore it in more detail, but the astronauts will actually be coming back lol. Also nah I think I'll just live and die on Earth thank you very much.

Unless the sun is about to explode I'll happily stick around on this rock.

AboveTheClouds

01-14-16, 02:12 AM

YA IT IZ, YOUTUBE TOLD ME SO!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4fBR4p_UtE

/jokes

BOWgoesBOW

01-14-16, 05:00 PM

20% chance I steal this idea for a short story or something.

What if time travel does exist and its a power only deities use? What if a superhero like Thor or some other hero is out there and the moral implications of being a time traveler (like Doctor Who) absolutely prevent the secret from being shown?

There are people who follow ideas, one of them is a person like Joe Rogan (haha), and they are very into the idea that psychoactive drugs are just dimensional portals, and that humans are only capable of visiting worlds through drugs and stuff... I don't think that though, but it does sort of relate. Sorry for going off topic.