Physicist Definitively Rules Time Travel Impossible

[John Funk]

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.

well, thats not all you need to know; Science journalism is often pretty shoddy, a layman's explanation makes it no better and The Escapist has got to have the worst "Reporting" of news stories I've ever had the misfortune to set my eyes on.

An example, without even leaving this thread, without even going further than the title.

The Escapist's title "Physicist definitively rules time travel impossible"

The title of the original article "Big Bang Recreated in a Metamaterial, Offers Evidence That Time Travel is Impossible"

Both are sensationalist headlines more interested in getting you to gawk than being accurate journalism, but the Escapist takes the gold for misrepresenting what is actually being said.

Some problems - His method is somewhat distant from the conclusion (what he has been able to demonstrate my not actually fit his conclusion), It is one, unpublished, unreviewed paper and His qualifications and experience tend to suggest that he is more of an Engineer than a theoretical physicist. Also, the source and this very website are the ONLY places on the web to of reported about this and I don't really consider PopSci to be a great source of original research...Especially since they've posted this story knowing full well that it is non-peer-reviewed and non-published; It kind of demonstrates their aim is, as has been said before, not in the interest of being accurate.

I'd love to see this turn out to be something worthwhile, but right now this story reeks of "Overzealous journalist syndrome"

Oh, lighten up Francis. If you want serious top-level analysis of academic papers, you should probably read an academic journal.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Of course time travel is impossible. Everyone knows the Langoliers eat the past.

And stupid people in airports. Great reference by the way.

OT: Well that just sucks. I just hope some random guy calling himself a doctor in a Tardis comes along and proves him wrong, that'll show him!

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

[sub]Serious response:
Call me a cynic if you wish but I'm reluctant to take his word as gospel.

Looking at his test: he found one thing, reported it and then speculated on his findings which is not the same as actually having found it in the first place.

I'll wait for the peer review version of it where people that understand his space age techno-wizardry offer their opinions on his validity.

Also I thought time was relative to gravity? Less Gravity present=faster flowing time? Time is also an artificial construct. Where I am at the moment (UK) I am living out the past of some people (those GMT+X) and the future of others (those GMT-X). If I wanted to be snarky I'd say you could time travel by flying round the world's timezones.
[./crackpot ill-educated troll-physics][/sub]

Less serious response: So I can rule out the possibility that I am in fact my own ancestor? Dammit I'd better get back to work on my family tree homework

 

[Slick Samurai]

Just more proof to prove idealists wrong. I'm glad that we can focus on moving forward instead of foolishly trying to move back.

 

[McMullen]

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.

well, thats not all you need to know; Science journalism is often pretty shoddy, a layman's explanation makes it no better and The Escapist has got to have the worst "Reporting" of news stories I've ever had the misfortune to set my eyes on.

An example, without even leaving this thread, without even going further than the title.

The Escapist's title "Physicist definitively rules time travel impossible"

The title of the original article "Big Bang Recreated in a Metamaterial, Offers Evidence That Time Travel is Impossible"

Both are sensationalist headlines more interested in getting you to gawk than being accurate journalism, but the Escapist takes the gold for misrepresenting what is actually being said.

Some problems - His method is somewhat distant from the conclusion (what he has been able to demonstrate my not actually fit his conclusion), It is one, unpublished, unreviewed paper and His qualifications and experience tend to suggest that he is more of an Engineer than a theoretical physicist. Also, the source and this very website are the ONLY places on the web to of reported about this and I don't really consider PopSci to be a great source of original research...Especially since they've posted this story knowing full well that it is non-peer-reviewed and non-published; It kind of demonstrates their aim is, as has been said before, not in the interest of being accurate.

I'd love to see this turn out to be something worthwhile, but right now this story reeks of "Overzealous journalist syndrome"

Meh. I agree the headline is the sort of complete misrepresentation that is the norm for the Escapist, but the article itself is a significant improvement from what I've seen in recent months. Where this author said "all you need to know is...", others have said "I don't understand it and neither do you", if they don't just start making shit up. I think they should at least get a polite nod, maybe a tasty treat, for trying.

 

[Darth IB]

But if we can travel to the past of some other dimension, we could then reasonably travel from there to the past of a third dimension, which if we wanted could be the same as the first one. Which would make time travel possible again.

 

[crystalsnow]

I like how we also had indisputable proof that the world was flat.

Also, *cough* Wormholes *cough*.

 

[Formica Archonis]

Does this mean I can stop molesting bunnies now? [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1907]

 

[WorldCritic]

I've been telling people it's impossible for years and now there is proof! It's just a shame the proof goes over my head. But hey, going to another dimension could be fun.

 

[martin's a madman]

Actually, he's not ruled out time travel into the future, which is sort-of possible. The faster you're moving, the slower time goes for you. Here's an example

You have 2 (theoretically) identical clocks. One stays in the exact same spot in on the planet, moving at the speed of the earth's orbit, whilst one is sent round the earth at such a speed that it returns to to its starting position (next to the other clock) in exactly one hour. The clock that orbited the earth in an hour would be slightly behind the other one, as it travelled faster.

Sure, it's not instant time-travel, but it's similar

Or hey, just move at the speed you regularly go at and you'll travel forwards in time too.

[sub]Serious response:
Call me a cynic if you wish but I'm reluctant to take his word as gospel.

Looking at his test: he found one thing, reported it and then speculated on his findings which is not the same as actually having found it in the first place.

I'll wait for the peer review version of it where people that understand his space age techno-wizardry offer their opinions on his validity.

Also I thought time was relative to gravity? Less Gravity present=faster flowing time? Time is also an artificial construct. Where I am at the moment (UK) I am living out the past of some people (those GMT+X) and the future of others (those GMT-X). If I wanted to be snarky I'd say you could time travel by flying round the world's timezones.
[./crackpot ill-educated troll-physics][/sub]

Less serious response: So I can rule out the possibility that I am in fact my own ancestor? Dammit I'd better get back to work on my family tree homework

I was gonna get my 'angry-scientist' on until I saw the bit in the brackets at the end.

 

[Gaderael]

Wait, wait, wait. He hasn't proved that time travel into our past isn't possible. In fact, he's proven that it is possible, albeit in a roundabout way.

Smolyaniov's experiment showed that while light can't be bent to go to its former location, it could go to somewhere like its former location - in another dimension.

So, basically, you bend light and time back into another dimension, and then bend light and time from that dimension and hop back to any time in our past.

I'm sure if they are able to create something like that, then they can also make such a system pretty instantaneous. So they jump from our reality in to another, and then back again would take a split second, maybe shorter.

EDIT: Then they can call it the Time And Relative Dimensions In Space ship.

 

[Coldster]

Awwwww, major bummer man. I kinda hope he is wrong on this one. Think of the benefits (not the disadvantages becuase there are plenty of those) time travel could do for humanity. We could send back fuel efficient vehicles to slow the comsumption of oil, etc.

 

[gigastar]

[HEADING=1]Dont lose hope![/HEADING]

Hope? Hope for what, being able to irreversibly fuck up the past and create time paradoxes?

Paradoxes dont exist if you think of time as a series of sequential universes.

Anything i fuck up with simply result in a new parallel 'verse.

That siad:

Go back,
Accelerate development of science,
After a certain point go back and do it again,
After a dozen rounds or so rounds of this, you should be ready to conquer the stars around you.

 

[SnipErlite]

I'll read the paper some other time, but if he's saying all time travel is impossible then NO. Travel to the future is technically possible by going really really fast.

To the past? I think it might be....give science a few more decades, we'll manage it

 

[The Apothecarry]

Great. Now I no longer have a reason to buy a DeLorean. For the first time since elementary school, I hate science.

 

[YawningAngel]

A more compelling argument is that, if time travel were actually able to produce observable effects on the universe, we'd be seeing them.

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

[sub]Serious response:
Call me a cynic if you wish but I'm reluctant to take his word as gospel.

Looking at his test: he found one thing, reported it and then speculated on his findings which is not the same as actually having found it in the first place.

I'll wait for the peer review version of it where people that understand his space age techno-wizardry offer their opinions on his validity.

Also I thought time was relative to gravity? Less Gravity present=faster flowing time? Time is also an artificial construct. Where I am at the moment (UK) I am living out the past of some people (those GMT+X) and the future of others (those GMT-X). If I wanted to be snarky I'd say you could time travel by flying round the world's timezones.
[./crackpot ill-educated troll-physics][/sub]

Less serious response: So I can rule out the possibility that I am in fact my own ancestor? Dammit I'd better get back to work on my family tree homework

I was gonna get my 'angry-scientist' on until I saw the bit in the brackets at the end.

Hehe, glad I got saved from the angry scientist's hate. I threw my hands up a while ago and decided that advanced physics is indistinguishable from sorcery and that I liked troll physics better.
I was working on this:

Spoiler: image

added to this:

Spoiler: image

equals science broken.

How I know that time travel is impossible in the way we understand it:

Spoiler: because this doesn't work

 

[Chris646]

I'm gonna stay in this reality, thanks. I'd hate going into a different reality and having something completely different happen (Spanish ruling America, Miyamoto never being born, stuff like that)
It is an interesting theory though.

 

[Hugo Artenis Rune]

That's funny. I'm travelling through time right now. Sure, it's only at a rate of one second per second but *fuck it*, I'm still travelling through time!

(as an aside, is it just me or is the whole idea of "time" as a thing just a load of rubbish? I dont see time existing as a thing at all. It's more of an idea than a thing.)

(edit: another thing about time travel.. Maybe someone is already coming back to the past and messing about. That might explain why everything seems to be getting more and more screwed up, exactly like someone is trying to fix something but it all gets worse every time they try. GO AWAY TIME TRAVELLERS. WE'RE ABLE TO SCREW IT UP OURSELVES! Unless of course the time traveller is a robot. Then hello robot overlord sir.)

 

[Random Argument Man]

Physicist were always boring people anyway.

Note*No offense to the physicists on this site.