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icehky06's avatar

What are your views on time travel?

Asked by icehky06 (896points) December 4th, 2010

This is a very abroad question but what are your views on time travel? Do you think it’s possible? Why? What field of science encompasses the study of time travel?

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18 Answers

roundsquare's avatar

General relativity would be the area to look into.

As a kid, I read this book and I learned a lot about it.

As far as I know, it is possible.

lloydbird's avatar

@icehky06 Haven’t I already got back to you on this?

rangerr's avatar

The Doctor does it all the time with TARDIS…

filmfann's avatar

Regardless of what I say later in this post, it is possible.

FireMadeFlesh's avatar

I don’t think it is possible, due to the simple fact that it would alter the rate of increase in entropy in the universe. For instance we could send someone into the deep past to gather low entropy matter and bring it back, which would decrease the overall entropy in our system, but as far as I know that is impossible.

bea2345's avatar

I saw somewhere the assertion that time travel, even if possible, was extremely risky: while one was moving through time the earth would be continuing its rotation, and one could end up in outer space.

filmfann's avatar

Can’t happen. I suppose I can try it, but I doubt it will work.

I suppose the argument for the failure of future time travelers to appear is that they will need some sort of reception device, or time beacon to appear. That is why we haven’t seen them yet.

FireMadeFlesh's avatar

@bea2345 Any time travel machine would need to be able to specify temporal coordinates, and since space-time is an inseparable continuum, logically you would be able to specify spatial coordinates too.

bea2345's avatar

@FireMadeFlesh – Thank you. I always thought that there was something wrong with my original idea, but I could not figure out what it was.

AstroChuck's avatar

I’m for it.

CyanoticWasp's avatar

I travel through time every day, except between the hours of 3:00 – 5:30 PM when time stands still.

Carly's avatar

I think if it ever became a reality, those who used it should be watched like the ministry of magic. If you do anything that disturbs the real inhabitants from the era you’re in, then your time-travel rights will be taken away.

Soubresaut's avatar

Look, guys! @filmfann did it!!

I like the idea that blackholes actually take you into wormholes that transport you in time… (Cause I like that a whole lot better than being crushed…) It’s an interesting concept that if you think hard enough makes your head start to spin about free will. I sure know I want it to be possible for some things.

FireMadeFlesh's avatar

@CyanoticWasp If time stands still, how does it get from 3pm to 5:30pm? If time stood still, how would it get going again?

roundsquare's avatar

@filmfann Actually, as far as I know, you are correct. If you build a time machine at time T, you won’t be able to go before time T. But, once you are at time T + x, you can can back to any time between T and T + x.

Traveling into the future is much easier (in a sense).

CyanoticWasp's avatar

@FireMadeFlesh
I don’t know. It’s one of the mysteries of the universe, I guess. Personally, I think the clock fairy visits to turn the clocks ahead after the 2–½ hour stoppage of time. I’ll work on that after I figure out the vines.

mattbrowne's avatar

It’s a fact that we are able to travel into the future. The past is unclear, but the multiverse hypothesis might offer a way.

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