If time travel was ever possible, then why hasn't someone from the future come back to visit us?

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Sun, 2009-03-08 11:37

Boom Boom

If time travel was ever possible, then why hasn't someone from the future come back to visit us?

I've been dreaming about going back to the early 1960s and patching things up with one of my first loves, and then later buying some MicroSoft stock, and enjoying the Easy Life.

However, that got me thinking - if time travel ever became possible, then why hasn't someone from the future come back to warn us of impending catastrophe, in an effort to avoid mass loss of life or environmental disaster?

Would it even be ethical? A time traveller would in effect end up playing God and manipulating things and generally just messing up the natural evolution of things.

Sun, 2009-03-08 11:52

anchovy breather

If time travel was possible, but yet people from our future have never returned to us, maybe it means this going to be a damn hard recession, and maybe climate change will indeed cause our branch in the tree of species to fall off. maybe an astroid is about to hit.

Basically we can assume humans get a fail, no?

Sun, 2009-03-08 12:00

Unionist

Boom Boom wrote:
If time travel was ever possible, then why hasn't someone from the future come back to visit us?

I'll let you know yesterday.

Sun, 2009-03-08 12:01

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Boom Boom wrote:

...why hasn't someone from the future come back to warn us of impending catastrophe, in an effort to avoid mass loss of life or environmental disaster?

What makes you think we haven't?

Sun, 2009-03-08 12:05

Boom Boom

Unionist wrote:

Boom Boom wrote:
If time travel was ever possible, then why hasn't someone from the future come back to visit us?

I'll let you know yesterday.

Sun, 2009-03-08 12:06

Boom Boom

M. Spector wrote:
Boom Boom wrote:

...why hasn't someone from the future come back to warn us of impending catastrophe, in an effort to avoid mass loss of life or environmental disaster?

What makes you think we haven't?

Sun, 2009-03-08 12:27

Boom Boom

I guess the idea of time travel has fascinated people for centuries, and movies have been made about the subject - most recently Back To The Future and The Butterfly Effect, and there was a television series not that long ago about someone who jumped back and forth in time although I forget the name of the series. I recall very dimly that the idea of time travel has been pretty well debunked by physicists but their names escape me. So, why the continuing fascination with what is an impossibility?

Sun, 2009-03-08 12:32

Boom Boom

anchovy breather wrote:

If time travel was possible, but yet people from our future have never returned to us, maybe it means this going to be a damn hard recession, and maybe climate change will indeed cause our branch in the tree of species to fall off. maybe an astroid is about to hit.

That's an interesting idea. That the future has no future, that all things come to a sudden end. I'm picturing in my mind a future time traveller who doesn't realize that the future has an end date, and he sets his time machine to go further than the earth exists - does he simply disappear, or land in exisential limbo?

Sun, 2009-03-08 12:33

anchovy breather

Maybe we all pine for lost loves, or lost whatever. The woulda, coulda, shouldas.

Sun, 2009-03-08 12:35

#10

Boom Boom

And the movie makers and novelists take advantage of us in the meantime.

Sun, 2009-03-08 15:35

#11

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Boom Boom wrote:
...there was a television series not that long ago about someone who jumped back and forth in time although I forget the name of the series.

You're thinking of [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0948538/][color=mediumblue][u]Journeyman[/u]..., a great series that was killed by the writers' strike.

There's also been time travel in this season's [b]Lost.[/b]

Sun, 2009-03-08 15:47

#12

Fidel

According to theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, it could be possible to travel to parallel universes where, say, your teenaged mother is alive ie. "Back to the Future" sci-fi movies. But she really wouldnt be your mother, she would be future mother of another version of you. Travel at Star Trek warp speed is also possible on paper. The only hitch is that you would probably need the power of the sun to achieve it. And our civilization isnt advanced enough for that. Maybe in a few centuries.

Sun, 2009-03-08 15:54

#13

Catchfire

I think that if time travel were possible, those who had invented it would be no more come back and see us than we would go back and see the pile of goo from which we issued--and those few lame-asses that would go back, we would notice them no more than the goo would notice us.

Sun, 2009-03-08 16:09

#14

wage zombie

Good point Catchfire.

If time travel were possible, in the way that theoretical physicists postulate it, it would be very limited in terms of setting target dates and locations--like it might be possible if one were to find orbiting blackholes ("wormholes"). But the idea of travelling forward or backward in time and arriving at the same physical location is a bit off because the earth is always moving.

Sun, 2009-03-08 16:24

#15

Fidel

Imagine that our universe is like a fish pond. We can swim left and right, down and up. But light shines only inside our world, which theoretical physicists and string theorists liken to an expanding(or contracting) soap bubble and possibly multiple bubbles. We cant see what's just above our heads and all around us. If black holes pull enormous amounts of matter and light into them, then is our universe the result of what's expelled out at other end? ie. a white hole? In school we were told everything that exists consists of atoms. Apparently that isnt true anymore. Everything we can see and observe is perhaps 5% of all that there is.

Sun, 2009-03-08 18:45

#16

martin dufresne

"This is it!" said the scientist. My time machine is finally ready!" He pressed the button the pressed He "!ready finally is machine time My. scientist the said "!it is This"

(A Jacques Sternberg short short story)

Sun, 2009-03-08 18:48

#17

martin dufresne

"What makes you think we haven't?"

Easy to find out... Did anyone unload a lot of stocks just before 9/11 or Fall 2007?

Sun, 2009-03-08 20:13

#18

Papal Bull

TITOR!

Sun, 2009-03-08 20:34

#19

Refuge

M. Spector wrote:

Boom Boom wrote:
...there was a television series not that long ago about someone who jumped back and forth in time although I forget the name of the series.

You're thinking of [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0948538/][color=mediumblue][u]Journeyman[/u]..., a great series that was killed by the writers' strike.

There's also been time travel in this season's [b]Lost.[/b]

This is a little bit of time travel but I loved Quantum Leap.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Leap_(TV_series)

Has anyone checked the hospital psychiatirc wards? Maybe there is someone there who really is from the future!

I know if I time travelled I would keep it to myself in the past. Maybe when they finally do "invent" time travel hundreds of people will step forward and say "Man, we have been waiting so long to tell you but we knew no one would believe us till now!".

Sun, 2009-03-08 21:48

#20

ElizaQ

I met a guy once who said he came from the future. It was an amusing conversation.

Hmm now that I think of it, he did say the global economy was going to tank. Hmmm.......

Sun, 2009-03-08 22:48

#21

Papal Bull

ElizaQ wrote:

I met a guy once who said he came from the future. It was an amusing conversation.

Hmm now that I think of it, he did say the global economy was going to tank. Hmmm.......

He may have simply been a sarcastic babbler at any point in their life ;)

Sun, 2009-03-08 23:41

#22

Boom Boom

Refuge wrote:
This is a little bit of time travel but I loved Quantum Leap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Leap_(TV_series)

Has anyone checked the hospital psychiatirc wards? Maybe there is someone there who really is from the future!

I know if I time travelled I would keep it to myself in the past. Maybe when they finally do "invent" time travel hundreds of people will step forward and say "Man, we have been waiting so long to tell you but we knew no one would believe us till now!".

Quantum Leap is the series I was thinking of - I don't recall seeing the series that M. Spector mentioned.

Sun, 2009-03-08 23:47

#23

Boom Boom

Refuge wrote:
I know if I time travelled I would keep it to myself in the past.

I was thinking exactly the same thing, because it would be such a fantastic thing. And, it would throw world society into complete chaos if it became common knowledge - there would be mass suspicion about time travellers cheating on lotteries and the stock markets, for instance (see my earlier comment about buying up MicroSoft stock...). There would probably be huge anger if time travellers did nothing to prevent (or warn about) catastrophies from occurring. But physicists tell us this kind of time travel is impossible, so the whole argument is moot.

Mon, 2009-03-09 00:10

#24

martin dufresne

"physicists tell us this kind of time travel is impossible, so the whole argument is moot"

Hmmm... at one point did they suddenly start trying to convey that message? (TWILIGHT ZONE theme)

Mon, 2009-03-09 00:13

#25

Boom Boom

Mon, 2009-03-09 00:25

#26

Fidel

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_series_that_include_time... of TV series that include time travel[/b][/color][/url]

I kinda liked Sliders when it was on. The Terminator is a cult classic now. Arnie said he disliked that movie role and didnt think it would go over very well.

Mon, 2009-03-09 00:52

#27

al-Qa'bong

Fidel wrote:

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_series_that_include_time... of TV series that include time travel[/b][/color][/url]

I looked through the "Is," but found no mention of "It's About Time," a TV show that was on for a brief time when I was kid. The show was about astronauts who break through a time barrier and end up living among cave men.

Opening Theme

Mon, 2009-03-09 14:03

#28

wwSwimming

I would attempt to contemplate that, but my head might explode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY-03vYYAjA

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

http://LASIK-Flap.com ~ Health Warning about LASIK Eye Surgery

Mon, 2009-03-09 14:34

#29

Fidel

[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/apr/02/sciencenews.physicalscienc..., time travel and aliens - a vision of tomorrow today[/b][/color][/url]

Quote:
Time Travel

The Cambridge physicist Professor Stephen Hawking spent much of his career attempting to prove that time travel is impossible. If it were possible, he reasoned, why have we not been visited by voyagers from the future? But he was forced to conclude that there is actually nothing in the laws of physics that prevents moving in time.

"He changed his mind about 10 years ago," said Kaku, "There was no way to ban time travel from happening. So now he says that time travel is possible, but not practical."

The way it might work would be to take a trip through a worm hole connecting one point in space and time with another. The laws of physics suggest that the intense gravity of a black hole is enough to rip the fabric of space and time, making a worm hole possible.

"What we physicists want to do is create our own wormhole so that if you walk through the looking glass you may go backwards in time," said Kaku. Stabilising a black hole would require large amounts of an exotic form of energy called negative energy, thought to be impossible. "But we can now make it in the laboratory," said Kaku.

Quantum theory is a surprisingly large part of modernizing economies, from lasers to computer/electronic components o MRI's. Many politicians think it's a gamble, but some also believe governments should be investing a lot more money in people and high technology.

Tue, 2009-03-10 00:09

#30

Spectrum

So Let's have some Fun(link)

Quote:
Now of course, the time travel issues are always quite endearing, because good thinking minds can come up with a imaginative way to travel. What stories are these, that are created?

Tue, 2009-03-10 07:01

#31

Boom Boom

Neat link. I should have mention Contact, probably the best film about time travel ever, although I've never understood how spinning at high speed gets you from here to there.

Tue, 2009-03-10 07:23

#32

Le T

There has been time travel for a very long time. It utilizes the advanced technologies of oral tradition and books. Not quite as sexy as spinning really fast, at least not for the ultra-materialist society that we have become.

Tue, 2009-03-10 17:48

#33

Noise

Time travel seems to stem from a linear perception of time, like there is a preserved image of past for us to travel to...if time isn't linear, would time travel still be theoretically possible? Can the events of today be as capable of effecting the past as they are capable of effecting the future? How about time is only moving forward from our perspective while in reality it's flowing backwards, so you'd really be going forward to the past? Would time travel involve reliquishing free will? Could I go back in time and prevent myself from posting this silliness?

Wed, 2009-03-11 14:18

#34

Spectrum

Boom Boom,

You might be able to identify which one Contact used?:)

The Super Hero Versions

Miracles StudiosThorne Plates

Quote:
To activate Thorne plates, the distance between each plate must be less than the width of an atom. The resulting wormhole will be equally small, so getting in and out might be difficult. To widen the portal, some scientists suggest using a laser to inject immense amounts of negative energy. In addition, Thorne believes that radiation effects created by gravitons, or particles of gravity, might fry you as you enter the wormhole. According to string theory, however, this probably won't happen, so it's scant reason to cancel your trip.

Miracles Studios Gott Loop

Quote:
To take you back one year, the string must weigh about half as much as the Milky Way galaxy. You'll need a mighty big spaceship to make that rectangle.

Many scientists believe the big bang that created the universe left behind cosmic strings - thin, infinitely long filaments of compressed matter. In 1991, Princeton physicist J. Richard Gott discovered that two of these structures, arranged in parallel and moving in opposite directions, would warp space-time to allow travel to the past. He later reworked the idea to involve a single cosmic-string loop. A Gott loop can take you back in time but not forward. The guide to building your own:

Miracles Studios Gott Shell

Quote:
This is a relatively slow method of time travel, and life inside the shell could become tedious.

In essence, a Gott shell is a huge concentration of mass. The shell's sheer density creates a gravitational field that slows down the clock for anyone enclosed within it. Outside, time rolls along at its familiar pace, but inside, it creeps. Thus the Gott shell is useful for travel into the future only. If you're planning a jaunt to the past using a Gott loop, you might want to bring along a Gott shell for the return trip. What to do, step by step:

Miracles Studios Van Stokum Cylinder

Quote:
The cylinder must be infinitely long, which could add slightly to its cost.

Mass and energy act on space-time like a rock thrown into a pond: the bigger the rock, the bigger the ripples. Physicist W. J. van Stockum realized in 1937 that an immense cylinder spinning at near-light speed will stir space-time as though it were molasses, pulling it along as the cylinder turns. Although Van Stockum himself didn't recognize it, anyone orbiting such a cylinder in the direction of the spin will be caught in the current and, from the perspective of a distant observer, exceed the speed of light. The result: Time flows backward. Circle the cylinder in the other direction with just the right trajectory, and this machine can take you into the future as well. How it works:

Kerr Ring

Quote:
The Kerr ring is a one-way ticket. The black hole's gravity is so great that, once you step through it, you won't be able to return.

When Karl Schwarzschild solved Einstein's equations in 1917, he found that stars can collapse into infinitesimally small points in space - what we now call black holes. Four decades later, physicist Roy Kerr discovered that some stars are saved from total collapse and become rotating rings. Kerr didn't regard these rings as time machines. However, because their intense gravity distorts space-time, and because they permit large objects to enter on one side and exit on the other in one piece, Kerr-type black holes can serve as portals to the past or the future. If finding one with the proper dimensions is too much trouble, you can always build one yourself:

See:A User's Guide to Time Travel-Superpower Issue

There are of course objections(link) to this under the premise that Ronald Mallet presented.

Wed, 2009-03-11 14:28

#35

Spectrum

Van Stokum cylinder

Quote:
A type of time machine based on an immense cylinder spinning at near-light speed. The physicist W. J. van Stokum realized in 1937 that such an object would effectively stir spacetime as if it were treacle, dragging it along as the cylinder turned. What van Stokum didn't realize is that circumnavigating such a cylinder can lead to closed time-like paths. Anyone orbiting the cylinder in the direction of the spin would be caught in the current and, from the perspective of a distant observer, exceed the speed of light and thus travel back in time. Circling the cylinder in the other direction with just the right trajectory would project the subject into the future. The van Stokum time machine is based on the Lense-Thiring effect and uses ordinary matter but of enormous density - many orders of magnitude greater than that of nuclear matter.

Wed, 2009-03-11 14:52

#36

Caissa

The new CBC series Being Erica uses time travel.

Wed, 2009-03-11 15:17

#37

Spectrum

The Last Mimzy (link), is a toy rabbit.

Lets just say that by design, the possibility existed that a mandala was cumultive speaking, built to contain "your history of experience" and was a method by which "past information(lives)" was re-released in the present day?

So, you in essence have travelled back in time, and in that life, worked to model a perspective in which to contain that life's work. Then, knowing it will open up in the future?

Wed, 2009-03-11 20:49

#38

Boom Boom

Caissa wrote:
The new CBC series Being Erica uses time travel.

I didn't know that! Guess I'll have to start watching it.

ETA: I'm watching it now - good show!

Thu, 2009-03-12 09:41

#39

Caissa

Ms. C. has French class on Wednesday night so we tape it and watch it on Thursday evening. It's turned out to be a better series than I expected.

Thu, 2009-03-12 10:10

#40

Boom Boom

Interesting to see Casa Loma on last night's show.

oops - hope I didn't spoil it for you tonight!

Wed, 2010-11-03 22:08

#41

Fidel

If time travel was ever possible, then why hasn't someone from the future come back to visit us?

What if time travel includes a rule that no traveler can interact with people of the past in order to avoid creating chaos? What if visitors from the future are invisible to us? Perhaps visitors from another universe, a world where we either don't exist or exist in parallel, are everywhere and all around us?

Scientists say that objectivity is necessary when exploring unknowns. If the technology for time travel is ever invented, then it is surely futuristic. But why haven't we been visited by people from the future or another world?

The technology for [url=http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-meta-flex-brand-invisibility.html]cl... or invisibility is not so far off say scientists. If we can invent invisibility cloaking sooner than later, then why could there not be invisible time travelers from the distance future visiting us in the present? Aha!

[url=http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/05/03/13808381-qmi.html][color... Time travel will happen[/color][/url]

But they won't be coming here from there.

Wed, 2010-11-03 22:09

#42

6079_Smith_W

Not sure if I have posted this before, but it's worth the read. Everyone does it the first time:

http://www.abyssandapex.com/200710-wikihistory.html

Thu, 2010-11-04 08:33

#43

KenS

Probabilistically speaking:

If time travel gets figured out in the future, then odds are we would know by now.

The fact we havent, implies two major possibilities [many others obviously]:

1.] It just is not possible/feasible, at least for a complex sentinent being.

2.] That it is possible. But, even assuming that: the working out of how to do it requires the continued ability for very cutting adge research, which in turns assumes the maintenance of material conditions and basic social order required for such research to take place. And it wouldnt be too surprising if there isnt enough of a future for that.

Thu, 2010-11-04 09:27

#44

Snert

I hope this hasn't been posted here before. A super handy crib sheet for gettin' things done, should you travel back in time.

[IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/2m2yw0o.jpg[/IMG]

Keep a copy in your wallet, just in case. It's not like you'll be able to log in to babble to check in when you're living in 1142AD.

Thu, 2010-11-04 10:15

#45

Ghislaine

I am not sure if this has been posted yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RsPyIh4dIQ&feature=player_embedded

Thu, 2010-11-04 13:38

#46

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

6079_Smith_W wrote:

Not sure if I have posted this before...

Snert wrote:

I hope this hasn't been posted here before.

Ghislaine wrote:

I am not sure if this has been posted yet:

I know! All this time travel can be so confusing!

Thu, 2010-11-04 13:50

#47

Snert

Thu, 2010-11-04 14:07

#48

al-Qa'bong

Have you seen the time traveller in the Charlie Chaplin movie?

The Circus

Thu, 2010-11-04 17:49

#49

jas

I have it on pretty reliable authority that our linear conception of time is completely erroneous, so our notion of travel "back" or "forward" would probably also be incorrect. Other sources suggest that time is simultaneous and that "futures" can only be probable, which makes sense. Of course, if time is simultaneous then that throws our concept of past and future kind of out the door anyway. It would also suggest that our "pasts" are also only probable, but I'm just making a logical guess in that respect.