Time Travel Conundrums

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by SpikeD, Oct 3, 2012.

  1. AndrewTheAndroid

    AndrewTheAndroid A hero for fun.

    Could you not calculate where you would want to land in the future, using mathematics as they did when launching Curiosity , or use to make GPS systems work?
     
  2. LilBunnyRabbit

    LilBunnyRabbit Old One

    Only during the lifespan of that black hole, and only the light that it actually captured. Plus you'd basically see an incredible intense white light which would burn your eyes out - plus incinerate your body - assuming you've somehow managed to remain intact through the spaghettification that the gravitational forces would cause.

    Unfortunately not, because when calculating the launch of curiousity the frame of reference is based on our sun - which is actually moving. Because of this, if you were to remain absolutely stationary, the frame of reference of the solar system is useless to you. GPS, again, relies on a local frame of reference (in the case of GPS it's the earth rather than the solar system).
     
  3. Polar Bear

    Polar Bear Moved on

    If we could time travel we would have encountered time travellers by now. Therefore logically we have never achieved it at any point in the human timeline.

    The Bear.
     
  4. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    Unless we only invent the means to go forwards in time (which we can all do yay!).
     
  5. Oddsbodskins

    Oddsbodskins Troll hunter 2nd Class

    I'm doing it right now!
     
  6. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    Actually inventing forward time travel would be great.
    If you get cancer you could forward time travel in the hopes that there's a cure in the future.
     
  7. LilBunnyRabbit

    LilBunnyRabbit Old One

    Halley's comet was the first successful human time traveller and his vehicle. It's just a shame he forgot to calculate for spacial displacement.

    Actually the wormhole time travel possibility does counter the alien argument (as in, if they existed we'd have encountered them by now) in that a wormhole would allow time travel only to the point at which the wormhole was created (or after).
     
  8. Xanth

    Xanth Valued Member



    I never agreed with Mr. Hawking’s statement. It is also logical to assume that said time traveler would not want to be so obviously from the future. If I was coming back to place sports bets, take out enemies grandparents, stash stocks etc... I'd certainly not want to advertise that fact to the world. Also consider scientific purposes, the best observations are done without interfering with the thing you are observing (e.g. natural environment), so again said time traveler would not want to interfere with the history they are observing by holding up a huge "I'm a time traveler" sign.
     
  9. finite monkey

    finite monkey Thought Criminal

    i have just arrived from the future

    It's great
     
  10. LilBunnyRabbit

    LilBunnyRabbit Old One

    Alternative (and I rather like this one) is that any time traveller is splitting off a new timeline through their interference. Doing this means that only a party of time travellers travelling together will ever encounter other travellers within the same universe - otherwise every time someone travels, they're isolating themselves within a new version of their 'base' timeline.

    It would explain a fair bit, since no universe would ever have more than a single time traveller (or party thereof) arriving in the past, and you'd be very unlikely to be aware of them.
     
  11. m1k3jobs

    m1k3jobs Dudeist Priest

    Bunny's version is one you see the most in Sci Fi now. When you time travel you can only travel to another time line. That removes any of the paradox issues.

    Although, once you have the coordinates for that particular line you can go back and forth as much as you wish as well as anyone that has access to your time machine.
     

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