Time Travel - An Impossibility? Is time travel possible? Will we ever manage it? What are the dangers?

[ZettaAIR 0]

I do not believe that time travel will ever be possible to any human IN our solar system. First, I question how it would be possible to do it. You can ask a scientist and he/she will probably be puzzled.If time travel is possible by traveling at intense speeds faster than light would just incinerate human beings or animals in a matter of microseconds. I have no clue if there is life outside our solar system but I do believe that maybe living things will have unique qualities like crazy resistance against physics beyond imagination. Keep in mind that the universe is as big as how far light has traveled and is still continuing. This may sound crazy but it’s “me” logical. For other people, its probably, not logical at all.

[rogerthecamel 1]

Ok, where do I start.First I guess that time is the 4th dimension. I think in general this is true but not quite as most people understand it. The idea of time and history as a simple dimension similar to length, width and height doesn't really make much sense. If this were the case then we could find some way to move along it (aka time travel). The big problem with motion through this dimension is that you are already occupying it. If I were to give myself momentum in the negative direction of time I would run into myself instantly. If we imagine what our bodies would look like if we took this dimension into account then we would be long snakes that occupy every moment along the dimension. Because of this fact I do not think history and future are really part of the dimension of time.More likely is that the dimension of time is almost like a rate of change dimension that causes the basic laws of physics to vary in strength. Take an atomic clock, it has been proven that they run faster in space than they do on the earth. This is because of the distortion gravity has on all dimensions including time. We may say time has been slowed but really what has been slowed is the break down of the caesium particle. I would also imagine the speed of electrons orbiting particles has been slowed, electricity would run slower, our brains react slower, basically everything. If we were to extend this effect to the extreme and pass the point of zero motion then we would get inverted motion and inverted effects, effectively running things in reverse. But this would only be localised and as the system is unlikely to be identical as it was when created the past that is moved into will unlikely be the same.Take for example your want to travel back in time, you decide the best way is to run the entirety of the universe in a reverse direction. First you would have to be outside of this reversal otherwise you would be taken along with it, forget everything and probably leave the universe reversing forever. So you sit outside the universe and watch it start to reverse, then things start going wrong, things that happened before when you were part of the universe now would not have happened, basically the universe would be rewinding as though you were never there, but it still ended up in exactly the same place, this would be some kind of paradox because your friends and family would know of your existence but no one would have ever seen you or ever have been effected by you.Ok, so sometimes seeing time as a dimension is a little boring because it doesn't really fit as a normal dimension as simple as space. Lets imagine that time travel is possible, you can go back in time and exist in the past. Can you change it. Here are my two thoughts on this:1- No, basically what has happened always happened, you travelled into the past and killed your granddad by mistake? Guess what, it wasn't really your granddad, he had his sperm frozen, or you are medically insane and had always just imagined your grandfather when you grew up. Basically with this notion is there is one time line and you cant change it, not without messing with your head. There are some interesting things you can do though. "What you don't know can't hurt you" - if I travelled back to medieval england and killed king arthur well some would say I have changed history, except that I don't know how king arthur died, so therefore what I did could have always been the case. The invention paradox is still possible - if I travel into the future, find a cool device and take it back without finding out who invented it, then I am free to invent it.2- The other most widely notion changing the past is that it creates alternate realities/universes. Well firstly I highly doubt the act of travelling back in time has a side effect of duplicating the universe unless it is a phenomenon that is reasonably common. It would also mean that in travelling back to the present there would either be a duplicate you because the change would mean it was unlikely you travelled back at the exact same time if at all, or you wouldn't exist at all, and if you went back far enough then no one you ever knew would exist either. One of the theories that supports the multiverse is that a new universe is created at every decision point you ever made. But since thoughts are related to collisions of particles and how they interact using quantum physics to determine what could possibly happen then at every collision of every particle an infinite number of new universes are spawned to create every possibility. This seems way to big to be possible as the multiverse would exponentially grow in its already infinity.This probably turned out to be very long, but id also like to quickly add that time doesn't stop at the event horizon of a black hole. The event horizon is the point outside a black hole where nothing can possibly escape. At this point not even light can escape the extreme gravity. The point where time stops I think is actually at the singularity itself.

[ORene 0]

In my opinion, time traveling is impossible. However, I think dimension traveling will be achieved one day, which would allow us to fix things in different dimensions. Parallel worlds where the things have happened, are happening or haven't happened yet. Yet another theory I've read about is that energy beings are not affected by time therefore if we managed to transform into an energy being and get "affected and unaffected" by time AT WILL, it could then be possible.

[handywork 0]

When the current Doctor Who 'regenerates' the next one will be played by a 28 year old actor. The first Doctor Who had a grand-daughter with him. So when the new one appears next year it would make an interesting story to have the two meet again. The grand-daughter of the 28 year old will be 69 years old. So is the grand-daughter a Time Lady or not?

[rogerthecamel 1]

The problem with alternate dimension theories is that it requires that every single choice or possible difference cause an alternate reality to be created. That means at every single moment of every single day billions of new realities would be created by the billions of people on earth. To traverse such a dimension would be impossible because each branch is a new direction to travel. Also decisions aren't binary. in other words each decision you make isn't a 'yes' 'no' choice, all the choices in between the extreme choices that could be made are possible.The other problem with this theory is questionable choice. Lets say you are angry with someone you know. One choice is to let it go, and ignore it. Another is to get pissed off and yell at them. Well in this theory all possible decisions play out in alternate realities. But I would never choose to kill the person, but thats a possible choice that could be made. Just like I might yell at them, it all depends on what previously happened in the day and so on. In this way I don't think that multiple alternate realities exist. They don't really make a lot of sense.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

The problem with alternate dimension theories is that it requires that every single choice or possible difference cause an alternate reality to be created. That means at every single moment of every single day billions of new realities would be created by the billions of people on earth. To traverse such a dimension would be impossible because each branch is a new direction to travel. Also decisions aren't binary. in other words each decision you make isn't a 'yes' 'no' choice, all the choices in between the extreme choices that could be made are possible.
The other problem with this theory is questionable choice. Lets say you are angry with someone you know. One choice is to let it go, and ignore it. Another is to get pissed off and yell at them. Well in this theory all possible decisions play out in alternate realities. But I would never choose to kill the person, but thats a possible choice that could be made. Just like I might yell at them, it all depends on what previously happened in the day and so on. In this way I don't think that multiple alternate realities exist. They don't really make a lot of sense.

Exactly. What you bring up is kind of like the movies Butterfly Effect and Butterfly Effect 3(I don't remember the second one very well).

In case you haven't seen it, it's about a guy who can go back into the past to see things that happened and can change his actions to have effects on the future. He could go back and say something different for example, and wake up in a completely different life than he was in before.

Things like this are entertaining to watch but to think there's even a remote possibility it could happen is too far off in fantasy land. I think a lot of people wish it was true so they could fix things they did wrong but if you think about it, what you did wrong put you where you are today. Every mistake you make teaches you something new. In the movie, for example, every time the main character(there's two...different ones in each movie) changes an action he did from bad to good it causes negative effects to not only himself but those around him.

The movie teaches the view that you should "leave the past behind." Or "keep moving on and don't look back." Those who keep wanting to re-do things they've done already have no idea what kind of consequences would occur due to having made said choices.