Poll: Time Travel is Impossible, or at the Very Best, Highly Unlikely

[thethingthatlurks]

Well the faster you go the slower YOUR perception of time is, so time would seemingly stand still at the speed of light. Past that, it could be plausible that you would go backwards. But it's only your perception of time, you aren't actually going back in time. Plus, it would be practically impossible to go past the speed of light.

Not quite, time actually slows down, not just one's perception of it. It's part of special relativity, and a fun little formula: t'=(1-v^2/c^2)t. Now, speeds greater than the speed of light are possible, if a particle
1) has imaginary mass
2) is incapable of interacting with anything
For example, Tachyons can technically travel backward in time, assuming they exist.

 

[Staskala]

Of course it's impossible, same thing goes for teleportation (of matter).
But what does it matter? Sci-fi in general is just dreaming about unlikely things, you don't care about actual science.
Speaking of which, here's another shocker: Real science is pretty fucking boring.

nope, teleportation is possible, and you'd be surprised just how fun really advanced physics is.

Oh, how so?
If you say quantum physics now, I'll have to slap you, because quantum teleportation is all about teleportation of information, not matter. It is not even applicable to teleportation of matter. Both have nothing to do with each other. Hence why I clarified this in my post.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Of course it's impossible, same thing goes for teleportation (of matter).
But what does it matter? Sci-fi in general is just dreaming about unlikely things, you don't care about actual science.
Speaking of which, here's another shocker: Real science is pretty fucking boring.

nope, teleportation is possible, and you'd be surprised just how fun really advanced physics is.

Oh, how so?
If you say quantum physics now, I'll have to slap you, because quantum teleportation is all about teleportation of information, not matter. It is not even applicable to teleportation of matter. Both have nothing to do with each other. Hence why I clarified this in my post.

And what do you think this information is? In teleportation, you entangle one particle with another, so that both share the same state (or rather, the state of one cannot be fully described without the other), in a sense becoming identical. If you were hoping for some Star Trek-esque McGuffin that lets you instantly go places, you're out of luck. Two bits of matter can become "identical/linked" but it's not as glamorous as sci-fi might lead you to believe.

 

[Staskala]

And what do you think this information is? In teleportation, you entangle one particle with another, so that both share the same state (or rather, the state of one cannot be fully described without the other), in a sense becoming identical. If you were hoping for some Star Trek-esque McGuffin that lets you instantly go places, you're out of luck. Two bits of matter can become "identical/linked" but it's not as glamorous as sci-fi might lead you to believe.

Which is what I said. I was always only talking about teleportation of matter being impossible.
State of a particle = information ≠ matter

 

[Dr. Whiggs]

I will not share my time-traveling secrets with you, trickster!

 

[Asdalan08]

Well we're all moving into the future... Just very slowly

 

[thethingthatlurks]

And what do you think this information is? In teleportation, you entangle one particle with another, so that both share the same state (or rather, the state of one cannot be fully described without the other), in a sense becoming identical. If you were hoping for some Star Trek-esque McGuffin that lets you instantly go places, you're out of luck. Two bits of matter can become "identical/linked" but it's not as glamorous as sci-fi might lead you to believe.

Which is what I said. I was always only talking about teleportation of matter being impossible.
State of a particle = information ≠ matter

No, the information is the key! otherwise you just have a bunch of elementary particles without any coherent...anything. It doesn't matter if you can transport matter. Matter is everywhere, you just need to present it with the correct information.

 

[ImprovizoR]

I think time traveling to the past could theoretically be possible if somehow we manage to develop some kind of wormhole technology. Who knows, it's only 2010.

 

[Wintermoot]

its impossible why? you go back in time with a purpose but once you resolved that you got no reason to go back in the future also there is a slight possibilty to preform a accidental Quantum abortion

 

[Aurora219]

If time travel backwards in time was possible, we'd have been visited by people from the future already. Forwards, maybe, but I doubt it.

 

[Hosker]

Every time I wonder if going back in time could be possible, I confuse myself.

 

[Red Albatross]

I don't think "time travel" is even the right word to use, since time is a human construct. Being fully aware of the first three spatial dimensions, we only perceive our motion through the fourth as a straight line, even though that may not be the case. Time travel as most people imagine it is a misnomer, because there are any number of terrible things in the past that potential chrono-heroes would gladly alter; the fact that it hasn't been done speaks volumes as to its viability.

It's much more likely that we exist in 10 or 11 dimensions, as per superstring theory, and the closest to time travel that we could get would be to travel to separate universes with timelines slightly different from our own. How this could be accomplished is anyone's guess.

 

[thethain]

I was under the impression that time-dilation is accepted as fact currently. Which is forward time travel.

Going back however.. that is trickier..

 

[Staskala]

No, the information is the key! otherwise you just have a bunch of elementary particles without any coherent...anything. It doesn't matter if you can transport matter. Matter is everywhere, you just need to present it with the correct information.

But in that case you only shift the problem from teleportation to creating artificial biological matter in less time than it would take to bring it there the "normal" way, which is equally ludicrous.

 

[crudus]

No joke poll options up in this thread!
EDIT: Okay guys, I'm seriously enjoying the discussion we have going on. I read a little about Multi-Dimensional travel. Do multiple dimensions even exist? And if so, how could we even get to them?

Counter question: why are you picking at problems when we haven't even proven they will be an issue? Time travel is theoretically possible. Physicists are currently working on it. Right now the math says you can't go to a point before the time machine was made. That is about as far as they have gotten. The first step is to send a particle through time and go from there. We aren't just going to start with a human and figure out calibration from there.

As far as the second one, do you mean multiple dimensions or multiple universes?

 

[crepesack]

Steven Hawking asked:
If there are time travelers why do we not see them today?

A pretty damning assertion.

 

[Nazz3]

That doesnt make it impossible, you would just die right after you'd have traveled back / forth.

Besides, traveling in time doesnt necessarily mean that you would stay in the exact same position.

 

[Randomperson9999999]

if time travel were possible we would see people from the future and it would create a time paradox people are stupid for thinking its possible

 

[Randomperson9999999]

you can go fowards if you go fast enough listen to stephen hawking