Traveling into the future in order to travel back into the past

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Benzoate
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Future Travel
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of time travel, particularly the idea of traveling into the future to subsequently return to the past. Participants explore theoretical frameworks such as Godel's closed time loop and Einstein's general relativity, while also considering hypothetical scenarios and philosophical implications of time travel.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that Godel's closed time loop suggests time could be circular, allowing for travel into the future and back to the past under certain conditions.
  • Others argue that Godel's solution is contingent on a rotating universe, which lacks empirical evidence, although some suggest a small rotation rate cannot be entirely ruled out.
  • A participant questions whether a hypothetically rotating universe would enable time travel as described in Godel's model.
  • Some contributions discuss the implications of changing past events, suggesting that the universe might compensate for such changes, referencing concepts like the Novikov self-consistency principle.
  • Others mention Stephen Hawking's chronology protection conjecture, which posits that quantum effects could render time travel impossible despite general relativity's allowances.
  • There are inquiries about the current state of research into time machines and wormholes, with some participants noting the speculative nature of such discussions and the lack of a solid theoretical basis for engineering time travel.
  • Some participants express personal motivations for considering the development of a time machine, highlighting the emotional and philosophical dimensions of the topic.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views on the feasibility and implications of time travel, with no consensus reached on the validity of specific models or the possibility of creating a time machine. The discussion remains unresolved with multiple competing perspectives presented.

Contextual Notes

The discussion includes speculative scenarios and philosophical considerations that are not grounded in established scientific consensus. Assumptions about the nature of the universe and the mechanics of time travel are debated without resolution.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may interest individuals exploring theoretical physics, the philosophy of time, or speculative concepts related to time travel and its implications.

Benzoate
Messages
420
Reaction score
0
Have physicists ever consider traveling into the future in order to travel back to the past? I know it sounds crazy, but one of the paradigms for time travel is Godel's closed time loop curve, where time I think is circular rather than linear. Special relativity permits travelers , if they travel at speeds closed the speed of light, to travel into the future. wouldn't travelers looped back into the past eventually as they are heading further and further into the future if time were circular?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Godel's solution only works in a rotating Godel universe, but there's no evidence that our own universe is rotating (according to the linked article it can't be totally ruled out that the universe could have a small rotation rate sufficient to allow closed timelike curves, though measurements of the cosmic microwave background do rule it out if you accept certain cosmological assumptions).
 
But if our universe were hypothetically rotating , then would we be able to travel into the future in order to travel back into the past
 
Benzoate said:
But if our universe were hypothetically rotating , then would we be able to travel into the future in order to travel back into the past
Yes, from what I understand this sort of thing would be possible in Godel's model. As the page I linked to said, "You enter a rocket, and you take a journey in the universe along a certain path. Then you will - after many billions of years - return to the starting point before you started."
 
Uni

I can agree more with you guys. Einstein's general relativity equations describes the possibility of time traveling into past and future. One thing though if one were to change the past that event has already happened. I believe that for the universe is very ease to compensate for any drastic changes we make if we were to travel into the past. People come with very absurd questions: what if I kill my father before I was born and other horrible
ideas..The truth is that if one were to do so the universe would make it logical. Meaning that if you were to shoot your grandfather then the bullet will just go through him but not harm him. Or if you try stabbing him (grandfather) the knife would just go through him and you would vanish. It's like trying to stab your younger self, you would vanish but not your younger self. See how ease that is..., it's base on the laws of mass..."same mass can't occupy same space in time" Anyway, I would love hearing your argument or perspective about this...
 
Riseneagle said:
I can agree more with you guys. Einstein's general relativity equations describes the possibility of time traveling into past and future. One thing though if one were to change the past that event has already happened. I believe that for the universe is very ease to compensate for any drastic changes we make if we were to travel into the past. People come with very absurd questions: what if I kill my father before I was born and other horrible
ideas..The truth is that if one were to do so the universe would make it logical. Meaning that if you were to shoot your grandfather then the bullet will just go through him but not harm him. Or if you try stabbing him (grandfather) the knife would just go through him and you would vanish. It's like trying to stab your younger self, you would vanish but not your younger self. See how ease that is..., it's base on the laws of mass..."same mass can't occupy same space in time" Anyway, I would love hearing your argument or perspective about this...
You might be interested in the Novikov self-consistency principle, a hypothesis that history is constrained to be consistent so a time traveler would be unable to "change" history (though he could influence it in self-consistent ways). In the case of attempting to shoot one's grandfather, this principle would suggest that instead of miraculous violations of the laws of physics like the bullet passing right through the body without affecting it, instead the time traveler would simply fail to complete his mission--maybe he would change his mind, or the gun would jam, or he'd shoot the wrong man, or the time police would stop him, etc.

But then there is also Stephen Hawking's chronology protection conjecture, which suggests that although general relativity seems to allow time travel, when quantum effects are incorporated into general relativity they will have the effect of making time travel impossible. No one can be confident whether this conjecture holds until physicists develop (and test) a theory of quantum gravity.
 
Is anybody working on a time machine? or warm hole?
 
Riseneagle said:
Is anybody working on a time machine? or warm hole?
You meant "worm hole" ... what you typed just opens the door for far too many bad jokes.

And no, no one is seriously working on such things because there is no solid theoretical basis for building one. The kinds of arguments referred to in this thread are far too speculative to start trying to engineer anything.
 
belliott4488 said:
You meant "worm hole" ... what you typed just opens the door
Well, not so much open the door, as ... relax it.
 
  • #10
But are there arguments that support a true development for a time machine anywhere in the world? Well I don't think time travel is impossible.
 
  • #11
Well, I have really deep personal reasons why I must think about building a time machine no matter what. If anybody wants to comment they are welcome to.
 
  • #12
Riseneagle said:
Well, I have really deep personal reasons why I must think about building a time machine no matter what. If anybody wants to comment they are welcome to.
Just don't be changin' nothin'. Your grandfather might have died so that my grandfather could get his job and feed his kids. You change stuff and I'll regret it...
 

Similar threads

High School Time traveling in the future and in the past
  • · Replies 23 ·
Replies
23
Views
3K
High School What Are Closed Timelike Curves and Common Misunderstandings About Them?
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
4K
Graduate Time Travel, General Relativity & Information Paradoxes
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
2K
Undergrad Can Time Travel Into the Future Really Happen?
  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
3K
High School Trying to understand what "time" is (layperson)
  • · Replies 21 ·
Replies
21
Views
3K
High School The expansion of the Universe and time travel (By a non-scientist)
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
High School If gravity was a force wouldn't going back in time cause us to float?
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
3K
Undergrad 2 objects of enormous volume each in relative motion very close to c
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
2K
High School Leave the science to Scientists. Just tell me what is SR.
  • · Replies 29 ·
Replies
29
Views
3K
Graduate Question about time travel to the past
  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
3K