Calling all Time-Travelers ...

wee · Aug 21, 2007

Well, I don't understand all of it, since my physics is limited to what I remember of an entry-level college course almost a decade ago, but this is very intriguing:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070820/sc_livescience/timetravelmachineoutlined

The most interesting part to me? You would only be able to travel back as far as the point where the machine was created, and no further back...

wee

Azraelsbane · Aug 21, 2007

Oh shit. We're doomed. I knew I should have been watching that family pic for disappearances from the get go.

zegota · Aug 21, 2007

One of the biggest non-scientific objections to time travel is that if it were possible, there would be time travelers visiting us. A machine like this provides a very nice explanation for why that's not necessarily true

Esopha · Aug 21, 2007

Iiiiinteresting.

*contemplates while waggling an eyebrow*

JAGiunta · Aug 21, 2007

Sort of reminds me of the John Titor posts. I'm pretty sure he said his time machine used gravity wells.

AdamH · Aug 21, 2007

zegota said:
One of the biggest non-scientific objections to time travel is that if it were possible, there would be time travelers visiting us. A machine like this provides a very nice explanation for why that's not necessarily true

Then again...if there WERE time travellers amoungst us, would they want to be found?

The most famous case for Time Travel is John Titor. Who? you ask.

John Titor

Basically, he's this guy that appeared on some time travel boards back in 2000...hung around for a few months making predictions...and disappeared without a trace. The website above compiles all his info into one place (since he visited a few different boards).

He predicted some things that came true and pleaded a good case that he might be the real thing.

But, I found that the more I researched him the more his story fell apart. But he added enough redundancy statements that would still explain why his story falls apart...so there's still that doubt.

Whether it's real or not, it's a very intriguing story.

AdamH · Aug 21, 2007

JAGiunta said:
Sort of reminds me of the John Titor posts. I'm pretty sure he said his time machine used gravity wells.

D'oh...while I was writing my long post, you swooped in and stole my thunder.

Early bird...I suppose.

Oberon · Aug 21, 2007

Reminds me of a story, I can't remember the author, about a guy who invented a time machine model, in form a little black box. He gathered his colleagues for a demonstration, saying the box would disappear, proving that it had traveled in time. He flipped the switch and the entire universe disappeared. Nothing was left but a little black box.

wee · Aug 21, 2007

AdamH said:
Whether it's real or not, it's a very intriguing story.

If you've ever been to a gun show, this guy sounds like one of those wacky "patriot" people who buy books with titles like, What to Do when the Revolution Comes and stockpile weapons.

Some of his statements aren't well-thought-out and sound like a person trying to pretend he is looking back over time, rather than one who really is. Just doesn't ring true.

And if I was a time-traveler with a specific mission, I don't think I would be trolling message boards making cryptic statements to strangers. I would have work to do!

I picture an overweight, middle-aged balding guy who lives in the swamps of Florida somewhere with an internet connection & collecting a government disability check, getting his jollies off by teasing people online. These days I'll bet he has 17 different screen names & spends all his time trolling random sites, posting "FIRST!" and generally making inflammatory comments.

wee

(see, I wrote 2500 words this morning so I came back to post something else)

Wolvel · Aug 21, 2007

If it can only go back as far as it's creation, what if you used ancient materials to build the machine. Could you then go back as far as your oldest material.

Okay brain locked up.

wayndom · Aug 21, 2007

Do we really want people from the future to come back and tell us what jackasses we are for not stopping Global Climate Change?

I can hear them now... "Dammit, you idiots! You perfected the time machine two days after the last chance to correct the weather!"

wayndom · Aug 21, 2007

The article mentions using very strong gravitational fields, "like those found near black holes," but fails to point out that the tidal forces near a black hole would tear anything to long, streched-out shreds. That could prove a difficulty for living things...

The_Grand_Duchess · Aug 21, 2007

Wolvel said:
If it can only go back as far as it's creation, what if you used ancient materials to build the machine. Could you then go back as far as your oldest material.

Okay brain locked up.

No, no, no, I think this idea has potential. . .

RumpleTumbler · Aug 21, 2007

AdamH said:
Whether it's real or not, it's a very intriguing story.

This kinds of answers that question.

There is a civil war in the United States that starts in 2005.

RumpleTumbler · Aug 21, 2007

The domain http://www.johntitor.com/ is registered under proxy. Wonder why that is?

Hillgate · Aug 21, 2007

The speed of light I vaguely recall is 183,000 miles per second. When we see a star, in a galaxy far far away (sounds like a movie...) through Hubble then I think what we are seeing is the light refracting from the lens onto the star and coming back again which means that it takes time to get to us so that means that what we're looking at is possibly 1000 years old or more but it's taken that long for the light to reach us (I guess 1000 light years) so the star might not actually be there anymore by the time we get its image.

If there were aliens looking at us at the same time as we were looking at them (in real terms) then I'm unclear what they would see. Presumably light would take as long (I think the speed of light is a constant) but that if they had optics that somehow 'warped' or sped up the image they could possibly see us in real time, which means...what does it mean? I think I've had too much red wine.

Back to my Asimov...

JLCwrites · Aug 21, 2007

wayndom said:
Do we really want people from the future to come back and tell us what jackasses we are for not stopping Global Climate Change?

I can hear them now... "Dammit, you idiots! You perfected the time machine two days after the last chance to correct the weather!"

Interesting idea,

Al Gore = Time traveler from the future

Oberon · Aug 21, 2007

Hillgate said:
The speed of light I vaguely recall is 183,000 miles per second. When we see a star, in a galaxy far far away (sounds like a movie...) through Hubble then I think what we are seeing is the light refracting from the lens onto the star and coming back again which means that it takes time to get to us so that means that what we're looking at is possibly 1000 years old or more but it's taken that long for the light to reach us (I guess 1000 light years) so the star might not actually be there anymore by the time we get its image.

This is something I have struggled with. Consider that when you see something it is the light reflecting from that something that you're seeing, and that has taken time (Ok, a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of time, but still time), so what we are doing is in fact living in the past. What we see has already happened. Or is it the future? Damn time, anyway!

Danger Jane · Aug 21, 2007

my head is breaking

Calling all Time-Travelers ...

wee

just a little

Azraelsbane

Agony is defeat

zegota

Fantastic!

Esopha

bam pow zap.

JAGiunta

AdamH

Pumped Up Kicks

AdamH

Pumped Up Kicks

Oberon

wee

just a little

Wolvel

Write the Damn Book!

wayndom

wayndom

The_Grand_Duchess

I record everything.

RumpleTumbler

Loves Joni Mitchell

RumpleTumbler

Loves Joni Mitchell

Hillgate

On location

JLCwrites

Oberon

Danger Jane