[Steve Conway]

Seen too many "impossible" things happen during my lifetime to ever say that something won't ever happen.

Steve

Originally Posted by Doug Nelson

Yes, time travel is possible. It's paradoxes that are impossible. Therefore, while possible, no one will ever time travel

[Doug Nelson]

If you saw them, they weren't impossible, were they?

You'd think if TT were possible we would have met a traveler by now. That's why, when I'm feeling particularly ornery, I'll claim that TT will be limited to viewing, and even then only to the past.

[Steve Conway]

Precisely...and when TT happens IT won't be either. Remember it was possible to go to the moon (in theory) 200 years ago. I would bet on a lot of doubters back then, if the subject ever came up.

I found these interesting:

Parallel universes resolution

There could be "an ensemble of parallel universes" and when you travel back in time and kill your grandfather, you do so in a parallel universe in which you will never be conceived as a result. However, your existence is not erased from your original universe. Parallel universes are also used in Michael Crichton's novel Timeline and Alfred Bester's short story The Men Who Murdered Mohammed. The latter story starts with this premise, but proposes a timeline which is dependent on perspective, making such paradoxical changes self-limiting. Interestingly enough, Crichton's novel seems to imply that universes set in the past can affect the one we live in. The example given is when a professor trapped in the past sends a message to his graduate students at a medieval cathedral.

Complementary time travel

Since quantum physics is governed by probabilities, an unmeasured entity (in this case, your historical grandfather) has numerous probable states; but, when that entity is measured, the number of its probable states singularises, resulting in a singular outcome (in this case, ultimately, you). Therefore, since the outcome of your grandfather is known, you killing your grandfather would be incompatible with that outcome. Thus, the outcome of one's trip backwards in time must be complementary with the state from which one left. (see Professor Dan Greenberger, of the City University of New York, quoted by Kettlewell, BBC, 2005, [1])

Steve

Originally Posted by Doug Nelson

If you saw them, they weren't impossible, were they?

You'd think if TT were possible we would have met a traveler by now. That's why, when I'm feeling particularly ornery, I'll claim that TT will be limited to viewing, and even then only to the past.

[Doug Nelson]

There's a whole nuther conversation. I don't believe in parallel universes or quantum mechanics. Scientists are a lot less "scientific" than people assume. A lot of that is just the old Sherlock Holmes axiom "eliminate the impossible, and whatever is left must be true, however improbable". So instead of proof we have inference, and a lot of mind games offered by ppl like Heisenberg and Shroedinger to justify it

Infinity also doesn't exist, but it makes their formulas work so they must insist it does. Ditto black holes, etc.

[Steve Conway]

I feel a debate brewing on what started out as someone asking for a recommendation of some time travel movies.

Let's concede good points made by all and go back to keeping this a relaxing place to come for all of us.

Steve

[NancyJ]

Originally Posted by Doug Nelson

There's a whole nuther conversation. I don't believe in parallel universes or quantum mechanics. Scientists are a lot less "scientific" than people assume. A lot of that is just the old Sherlock Holmes axiom "eliminate the impossible, and whatever is left must be true, however improbable". So instead of proof we have inference, and a lot of mind games offered by ppl like Heisenberg and Shroedinger to justify it

Infinity also doesn't exist, but it makes their formulas work so they must insist it does. Ditto black holes, etc.

In science nothing can be proven, only theorised and then failed to be disproved.
A long time ago the earth was flat and if you sailed to the endge of the world you would fall off, as far as anyone was concerned this was the truth, then somebody disproved that theory and we now believe the earth is a sphere. In a thousand years time maybe that wont be the truth, maybe we'll discover that the its really something else that we dont even have a concept of right now.

[Racc Iria]

Space=Time. Time is nothing more than the space of the next highest dimension.

For example, let's imagine the second dimension (a flat plane) with a sphere passing through it. How would it look to the inhabitants of the second dimension?

It would first appear as a point. That point would expand to a circle equal to the diameter of the sphere and collapse again to a point and dissappear. From our 3 dimensional vantage point we can see the sphere is three dimensional, but the folks in the second dimension only see the cross section of the sphere as it intersects their dimension. The only way for them to measure the entire surface of the sphere is over time. Yet we apparently see the "whole" sphere simultaneously. Our space is their time.

Okay, but what about for us? We think we see the whole sphere, but all we can see of the sphere's surface is what intersects our dimension. We know by looking at the second dimension that the only way they could percieve the 3rd was to measure it over time. What if we do the same thing? Can we determine what the sphere would look like in the 4th dimension (our time)? You bet.

If we start plotting the surface of the sphere over time, we can begin to see what that sphere looks like in 4 dimensional space. With a perfectly smooth sphere what would emerge would be a long tubular structure (like a spaghetti noodle) that represents the path of the sphere through our space. Map that tube structure into 5th dimensional space and you get giant curtain-like structures.

So what does all this have to do with time travel? Time, even though it IS space, cannot be percieved without motion. All things in the universe are in constant motion. That is why the sphere is passing through the plane of the 2nd dimension and why it appears to be traveling through ours.

As Einstein says, you can't travel through time by going faster than the speed of light. To do so, you'd have to have enough energy to overpower all the motion in the universe. Not very practical. To travel through time, all you need to do is step into the next highest dimension (the 4th in our case). You could then simply walk along the surface of the noodle and transition yourself back into the third dimension to complete the time travel. The journey could take as long as you like, it wouldn't matter to those in the 3rd dimension it would be instant. The only trick, is getting into and surviving in that other dimension.

--Racc

[byRo]

Originally Posted by Doug Nelson

Scientists are a lot less "scientific" than people assume.

Da Vinci code?
9-11 Cover-up?

No, these ain't nuthin'.

The big conspiracy is the science guys hushing up the Heim Theory.
The guy (Burkhard Heim) developed the Grand Unified Theory* 50 years ago, and up to now has been the only one to show Real proven results.

If you are interested do some Googling.
If not, just let the scientists go one spending billions to smash atoms and hunt for elusive dark matter and dark energy - when the answers are already there.

"But the theory is written in German!" Ah, c'mon. 2006?

Rô
* Life, the universe and everything

[Kraellin]

i hadnt seen "Frequency" with Dennis Quaid before but the Sci Fi channel ran it last night. that was an interesting romp. you knew where it was going but it was still enjoyable watching it get there.

craig

[Doug Nelson]

A sincerely bad time-travel movie is The Lake House. Worse even than A Sound of Thunder, if only for the fact that at least the latter recognized that paradoxes would happen, even if it was clueless about how they'd work.

I know, I know, not really fair to expect hard science from a weepy chickflick

[plugsnpixels]

Am I back here again? Ha!

Time seems to be based on circular motion (spinning of the earth, planetary orbits, rotation of galaxies, etc.). Or maybe a spiral (circular and forward motion). Beyond that, I don't know what I'm talking about.

Movies:

Escape From New York

Planet Of The Apes

[goose443]

I don't know if this one counts exactly. I guess it really depends on your personal take. But it's a great movie none the less: Red. The third of the Three Colors Trilogy: Blue, White, Red

[BobJones]

Originally Posted by Doug Nelson

You'd think if TT were possible we would have met a traveler by now.

What if time travel were possible but occurs in an absolute reference frame so you lose sync with the earth's position. Maybe the real reason we haven't met a traveler is that they can't solve the problem of how to arrive at a specific coordinate in space-time. With the Earth revolving around the Sun at about 67,000 miles per hour and the Sun revolving around the galaxy at about 486,000 miles per hour, anything beyond a trivial jump would probably end up in deep space. And the Galaxy isn't standing still either.