Physicist Definitively Rules Time Travel Impossible

[OldNewNewOld]

I just know that once you take out the Master Sword, you go 7 years in the future. Once you bring it back, you go 7 years back.
So who is HE, to say that it's not possible? It's already done, by many people.

Now seriously, isn't -273 Celsius the absolute zero where everything stops, including light and time? Even photons can't move at that temperature. At least that's what I've learned in Physics... or did I simply get my facts wrong. <.<

 

[madrubberchicken]

We can't know everything there is to know about physics right now. It may still be possible to travel through time we just don't know the method how yet. Perhaps we need not bend light back to its original location like in the first post. Maybe the solution is so out-of-the-box thinking that we couldn't even dream of the solution right now.

Maybe not in our's or our grand children's lifetimes.

 

[rutger5000]

I don't see why everyone automatically thinks "kill Hitler" when time travel comes up. There are much more productive things that could be done. I'd personally go back to some time before the middle ages and start fucking with the Catholic Church. We'll see what the world would be like by now without them stunting scientific progress.

Kill Socrates, believe me no man has harmed science more then he has. Had the guy not existed we would have been roughly 2000 years further then we are now.

Doood, what did So-crates do?


-OT-

Epic captcha! semicolon; aiewses

My bad I meant Plato. Got the two confused.

 

[mikespoff]

I like the idea of alternate realities. We'll fuck up their timelines, but keep our one pristine.

hmm... "pristine" might be a stretch. I think we've already screwed ours up pretty well!

 

[dfphetteplace]

His theory doesn't say anything on traveling into the future. We may not be able to come back, but why can't we travel near the speed of light into the future? Theoretically of course.

 

[Zaik]

Oh boy.

Stating definitive stuff like that has always gone well, ever since science was positive the world was flat, and anyone who disagreed was killed.

 

[ThisTypeofThinking]

200 years ago: "Scientist jumps off roof, claims flight impossible."

 

[callmegreen]

Soooooooo......... that Means NO more Stealing Plutonium from libyian Terrorists to power the time circuits....... o.o

 

[samsonguy920]

This just in, physicists definitively ruled as doodoo brains.

Fact doesn't come from theory!

All you need to know is that Smolyaniov simulated the Big Bang, saw in the scattering of light particles a simulation of the entropic forces that are slowly causing the heat death of the universe, and (apparently) proved that time travel is impossible.

And how did he do this?

Yeah, I'm done here.

 

[Jopoho]

Looking at the article, it's all to do with creating a spatial analogy to time, and showing that in that model you can't bend light back on itself. But at no point is reflection ruled out.

I want a time mirror (that is now my phrase/name for it. No-one steal it please!)

I think that might end life as we know it.

Admittedly, that would be a pretty sweet way to do something vastly destructive.

 

[lwm3398]

I like the idea of alternate realities. We'll fuck up their timelines, but keep our one pristine.

"GodDAMNit! Those Alpha Phi Dimension assholes keep killing all of the other dimensions' founding fathers!"
"Revenge by killing their Da Vinci?"
"Agreed."

And so we, the Alpha Phi Dimension, continue in a long line of timeline-wrecking revenge. Thus is human nature to have the last inter-dimensional, space-time obliterating laugh. I'm thinking eventually one will revert all the others to cavemen and do psychological experiments on them. Or pit them against eachother for sport.

This idea is even better than time travel...

 

[Saviordd1]

Ill be honest i ignore both sides of these arguments. Because all it would take is one break through in science to prove EITHER side wrong, besides, hes from maryland what do they know?

 

[Averant]

snip

snip

I know I put "Serious Response" but it actually wasn't one. I was taking a side swipe at everyone here suggesting similar things (and my own ignorance in this field see: here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.275642-Physicist-Definitively-Rules-Time-Travel-Impossible?page=3#10692028])

This area of physics is something I really don't understand. I can grasp most of the rest of it but astrophysics melts my brain; psychology is more my speed. Did you know for example that without any external indicators of time (i.e living in an underground bunker/cave) your average human reverts to a 25 hour day? (ranges from 21-27). That is all kinds of messed up when you consider that our planet's day/night cycle is fairly consistent time wise.

I understand the theory about alternate timelines and universes in parallel but thanks for the gravity information. If you want a philosophy question: if you change an alternate universe's history and are resident in that alternate with no present analogue (other you) what makes this universe alternate? To put it another way: how can you be sure the history you came from is the unbroken, unmeddled with "true" course of history?

If astrophysics melts your brain, can't imagine what it'd do to mine. I hate math. With a vengance. Ah, well. Give a serious answer, get a serious response, heh. You know what the web needs? Sarcasm fonts. That would be so damn useful.

My response to that last statement would be... there IS no true course of history. But when you hit a steampunk-verse, I'll let you answer that.

 

[Rayne870]

There's arguments in several directions on time travel, I won't be ruling out any of them because we still can't even figure out how to visit Mars cheaply and efficiently.

 

[nitro27]

Wait, this is what I already believed. Of course time travel in your own dimension is kind of silly, but accessing another dimension at a different point is possible.

<img src=http://reactorfire.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/10dimensions.jpg?w=500&h=463 ALT="Description of time travel from Imagining the 10th Dimension>

 

[bushwhacker2k]

It's impossible because it can't be done just now. Who says his proofs are irrefutable?

Is he trying to say that we know all there is to know about this branch of physics, right now?

Well, maybe he's just saying that according to the calculations he has made regarding time travel it is actually impossible...

but then if we did achieve time travel (these conversations always get me going, in that time travel can't exist because if it did, we would have already travelled back and thus we'd already know it exists forever and the universe would fold in on itself because we'd be able to achieve things that require time travel before it existed because IT IS TIME TRAVEL!!!!!!)... where was I?... oh! Then perhaps it would be from some scientific knowledge we previously had no notion of.

 

[FFHAuthor]

Time, like any form of measurement is merely a human construct, like a mile, you merely use an hour to define a period, based upon what? A fraction of the distance the world has rotated? Time does not exist, only the human perception of what we call time. There is no future, no past, merely existence.

 

[BioHazardMan]

No shit, I could have told you that. I also heard an astrophysicist say that it would require the energy of one million suns to go back in the passage of time

 

[William Ossiss]

So time travel is out, but visiting alternate realities and killing their Hitlers for fun could still be in! Keep the dream alive, guys.

Unless said Hitler is a giant Ninja-T-rex Robot pirate zombie Hitler...
With gatling guns for his... ahem... "codpiece", and fires said guns by repeatedly air-banging you.

or hitler was a GOOD person and america was the holocaust starters...

 

[Trivun]

I like the idea of alternate realities. We'll fuck up their timelines, but keep our one pristine.

Of course, people in those alternate realities are probably thinking the same thing, so our timeline could be fucked up by those people and we couldn't stop them. And the worst (or best) part is, we'd never even know... ;D