MisterCairo
I'll Lock Up
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- Gads Hill, Ontario
I've always liked this line of thought, but I really think we are thinking small (but very big for us - certainly, I'm impressed with these thoughts that others, not me, have come up with) in that the "answer" (i.e., how the universe works, how it got here, what really drives it) is so far beyond what we've thought that we are adding 2+2 while the universe is a quadratic equation in the billions. We have no choice but to keep trying, but I think we are far, far, far away from getting to the answer.
You also have to factor into the equation(s) the concept that time moves faster or slower because it can be warped by matter and energy (i.e., "space-time"). So a time machine would have to have some sort of insulation from those effects so that you would age at relatively the same speed as you would if you hadn't time traveled.Another paradox of time travel is aging. Could a time traveller return in time to a point beyond where he was just a twinkle in his father's eye, or similarly, could he go forward in time beyond his alloted span, and would he get younger as he went back or older as he travelled forward...
Riiiiiight. As if this discussion wasn't unusual enough already....There is another point to elucidate, if we travelled back in time,would we not meet our younger selves & if so, could the two of us coexist in the same time continuum ? The Doctor says yes but we can't have physical contact, so any sexual activity between the two would be impossible. I mention that, as according to a large number of psychoanalysts, we all have an underlying desire to make love to ourselves & it would be a good opportunity to find out if we are as good a lover as we think we are.
Also, imagine if someone were to approach you at any point in your life, claim to be your future self, and then start divulging the outcomes of choices and/or decisions you may or may not have even made yet. What do you think your reaction would be? My guess is that the vast majority of the people on this planet would think that person was a nutcase, go about their business, and maybe--maybe--think back on it years later, long after it was too late, and realize that "nutcase" might have been telling the truth after all....As for past relationships, would you really have wanted to be forewarned of the consequences...I doubt it.
Ah. Fair enough.Of course it explains what happens to the descendents. The mere fact that one could kill a grandfather or oneself by traveling back in time renders the concept a paradox and not possible. Puzzle solved.
The other thing involved in time travel that most people don't take into consideration is the fact that Earth moves through space at a speed of approximately 67,000 miles per hour as it orbits the sun. So if a time machine moved only through time and not space, you would have to calculate precisely when Earth would be in the exact same spot when you arrived as it was when you left. Otherwise, you might travel X amount of years into the past or future only to die (sooner or later) stranded in the vacuum of space.
Riiiiiight. As if this discussion wasn't unusual enough already. !
Ah but it would be no more incestuous than masturbation, as Woody Allen said " It's sex with someone you love "
Like Lizzie has stated about the past being immutable, would it be possible to go back in time & say bet on something you knew was going to happen if you hadn't already done so in the past...............would it be possible to change history & alter what has already happened, even if it was just a bet ?
As for past relationships, would you really have wanted to be forewarned of the consequences...I doubt it.
Junkies. If I find out you're a user—we won't be seeing much of each other. Cannot be trusted.
Anyone my cat won't stay in the same room with. If small cat doesn't care for your presence—I probably won't either.
I thought the answer was 42.
What colour is YOUR towel?
By the way, thank you for starting this thread. This is fun!
Any one else just wondering what to have for supper?
There might also be variations in the earth's orbit or the angle of it's axis that would be impossible to calculate in advance & the traveler returning from a voyage into the distant future could end up being fried in the center of earth.
The Twin Paradox is resolved with general relativity and the idea of inertial reference frames. Both twins cannot be in the same inertial reference frame the entire time, and both cannot be in non-inertial reference frames. In other words, both cannot be simply floating out in undefined space without the influence of some frame of reference. They both have to start and return somewhere. It's the person who accelerates away from and back towards that *somewhere* that defines the time dilation, or "stays young" relative to the other.
But if you eat there, you'll be satisfied and you won't bother cooking it when you get back. The Gastronomic Paradox.
I am sure there are many individuals that study sincerely regarding physics and the possibilities of endless results regarding things such as this "twin paradox" problem. But one part of common sense always comes to mind for me, when looking at such a problem. Until it is actually made a fact, we will not know for sure what the outcome will be. I merely say this as looking back when aviation had not yet made it through the sound barrier, there was a great concern that a aircraft going faster than the sound barrier would simply blow up, that maybe passing through that barrier would not be possible. Of the many people helpful to solving both the mathematics but also the physical part of what the design of the aircraft to be able to pass through the air molecules was, Howard Hughes. His design of having the rivets on the wings and body of the aircraft being flush/recessed smooth to help aid less drag on the aircraft surfaces, helped make it possible for an aircraft to pass through the sound barrier. Of course to have a craft pass through the speed of light is a much greater problem but, we also now have a greater ability of finding resolves to problems due to our own technical advances as humans and scientist as well. It may well be that when we do pass through the "light barrier" we discover something we had no clue even factually existed...another dimension where all the spooky things reside?!?I recall a while back, someone in school using the doppler shift factor with the principle of relativity to solve the twin paradox. If I recall correctly, two things, not in motion, retracting at a uniform velocity from each other, would not be able to detect motion... Something like this... I have to look it up. Its been a while.
Or the traveler would go nowhere...
Nowhere doesn't exist, everywhere is somewhere...