Controlling Time

Printable View

07-27-2005, 06:18 AM
SomethingBig

Controlling Time
I remember seeing this thread in a different forum many years ago and spawned a great debate. I'd like to see what EoFF can conjur.

The topic is not simply about time travel, but actually controlling time and its speed. I used to believe that time travel would some time become possible, but there are many problems with said idea.
- Time does not exist - How could we hope to control something that we cannot detect with our senses? Time is something that was used to calculate the orbit of the sun(back then - now the earth). It isn't something we can manipulate or experiment upon.
- If time travel were to become possible, we most definitely would have had some sort of visitor from the future by now. There could be government restrictions in the future, but that doesn't mean people couldn't create their own homemade time machines.
There are also problems with time travel. One of the biggest would have to be an event occuring in an endless loop. Ex: Person A goes back in time to assassinate Hitler on June 12, 4010, hypothetically keeping WWII and the Holocaust from happening. The future changes and no German holocaust occurs. This era rolls along and soon enough, it is June 12, 4010. Person A is now a carefree guy and since Hitler was killed, he has no reason to go back. But he was the reason Hitler did not come to power in the first place. Because Hitler is not assassinated once again in the past, Hitler comes to power; thus, creating an endless cycle.

So what are your thoughts on time travel?
07-27-2005, 06:24 AM
Yamaneko

I don't even want to think about. We have enough trouble trying to figure out the origins of our own universe. Apparently, though, strings are the answer to everything.
07-27-2005, 06:34 AM
Polyonymous

String Theory is messed up, it confused me so much. But anyway, I don't think the endless cycle idea is true. If time travel were to become possible (however that would happen I don't know) and people went back to "change" the past, nothing would change. My reasoning is this... if it is in the past, it has already happened, so if somebody went from the futer into the past to kill hitler, and we know that nobobly killed hitler, the person from the futer must have failed. Some supernatural force, or the time police, must have stoped him. :)
07-27-2005, 06:54 AM
-N-

Sorry, but string theory hasn't resolved time travel and causality yet.
07-27-2005, 07:00 AM
Pant Leg Eater from the Bad World

String theory is very hard to grasp. It is something I have studied and still dont completely grasp, in fact I kinda just barely understand most of it. But of course im not a Physicist, not yet anyway, still gotta get out of high school.

I would prefer time control over time travel. Being able to control time with some kind of remote.But I imagine you wouldnt be able to reverse. It would be cool to like make it stop, then walk somewhere, do something, go back and unstop it. or slow everything down so you can walk really fast. or even speed it up, that would look cool.
07-27-2005, 07:03 AM
-N-

The premise of string theory is to treat particles not as points, but as strings, in all dimensions. Therefore, particles don't have coordinates anymore. In order for time travel to be possible, the timelike string of an object must be nonlinear, which so far has not proved to be consistent with the remainder of string theory, and physics in general.
07-27-2005, 07:16 AM
Yamaneko

String theory hasn't resolved anything yet.
07-27-2005, 07:18 AM
nik0tine

Backwards time travel is impossible, and I believe that time travel forward is not possible either. I believe, however, that time can be sped up or slowed down.
07-27-2005, 07:19 AM
-N-

Welcome to special relativity. :p
07-27-2005, 07:23 AM
nik0tine

Quote:

Originally Posted by -N-

Welcome to special relativity. :p

ha..ha..? Okay, you got me. I don't get it. :confused:
07-27-2005, 07:25 AM
-N-

SR states time slows down in a reference moving close to the speed of light. :p
07-27-2005, 07:43 AM
Shlup

I wish I had some vanilla ice cream, but all I have are popsicles.
07-27-2005, 08:41 AM
Meat Puppet

I used to tie a string to a special coin to give me infinite lives at the arcade. But then machines got smarter than me. :(
07-27-2005, 09:12 AM
The Shoeless Hobo

If time travel did exist, someone from the future would've gone back in time and killed Hitler already. Thus, making Hitler dissapear. And why would this stop him from not letting the wars start? It would be a perfect world. I don't think past time travel exist. But going into the future may be possible.
07-27-2005, 09:22 AM
boris no no

BERNARDS WATCH!!!!!!!
I TOLD YOU DIDN'T I??? :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
07-27-2005, 09:34 AM
black orb

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meat Puppet

I used to tie a string to a special coin to give me infinite lives at the arcade. But then machines got smarter than me. :(

>>> I used to do that when I was a kid...
and I remember It worked pretty well. :D