Tough Time Travel questions

[Gregory]

I was riding in the car and the topic of time travel came up and the question was posed: "If the US launched a nuke to go back in time and bomb the nuke site one hour before it was supposed to launch, what would happen?"

What do you think would happen?

[Mr.Vicchio]

www.johntitor.com According to this, there is no such thing as a time paradox.


Persoanlly I think using a time machine to launch a nuke is a bit much,

[MerlinsByte]

(by Gregory) was riding in the car and the topic of time travel came up and the question was posed: "If the US launched a nuke to go back in time and bomb the nuke site one hour before it was supposed to launch, what would happen?"

Remember all that follows are theories only, but most aspects of time dilation and “other time distortion events” , are supported by lab experimentation.

This question has perplexed anyone one who has entertained the idea of time travel. This "perplexing" also vexed Einstine, who wasn’t too cozy with faster than light travel.

However, we not break Einstein’s “universal” light speed limit. By “folding or warping" space time we could in theory move back in time just by a 3mph side step. Hmmm' the power source required to warp fold, or manipulate space time would require a generous power expenditure. The gravity well of a super massive black hole might suffice, you go first !

The “backwards” (1.) time travel theory that I am most comfortable with,and that solves the grandfather murder paradox, is the string and the many (2) universe theory.

Simply stated ; If you were to go back in time and killed your gramps, your current universe would split in to at least two separate universes! Your space time line would start anew, and, seemingly identical (to your old universe)

In your new universe your granddad would be dead. Your old universe would go merrily along with a non-murderous you in it.

The bad news? You could never return to the old universe. This is a abstract for brevity and simple description , but it illustrates the the main aspects.


(1). Some theories that you may want to read about that relates to time travel (a.) Wormholes (b) Rotating cylinder (c.) Cosmic Strings. From these three there will be references that lead to a thousand more. Science can sometimes be like religious belief, there are many flavors out there just choose one you like.

(2). The many universe as opposed to the infinite universe theory. Both are a take off of string theory, but I happen to believe in the many universe and not the infinite universe theory for “god” reasons.


(many) Gods speed to you Gregory

mb

[Samildanach]

As soon as you have time travel then every conceivable thing that could possibly happen at some place and time can happen. All that is necessary is for you to alter the past to make it occur. As you can fly intothe future to see things occur you can go back in time and interfer to make the key event happen earlier. Also no one ever dies if time travel is possible. You can go and visit anyone anywhere anytime. In fact how do you know that just as people die in the real world that a time traveler doesnt pop back grab the live person while no one is looking and substitute them for a dead facsimile and transport them back into the future where everything is bright and happy. Thats maybe why people see the bright light when they are about to die. Basically its all a big guess and time travel is possible just incredibly difficult to achieve.

[lobeworm]

Time= Linear. If you go back in time it will no longer be the past. In this regard it continues on as being the present. An alternate reality splits back from this branch in time and the place from where you left to arrive back in time will never exist again to you exactly the way it was because you fucked everything up. However it will keep on existing in the absense of you. In that way their are 2 seperate worlds
--------------------------(time travel)*--------------------------------------------(world without you)
(Arrival back in time)-----------------------------------------------------------(World with you)

[MerlinsByte]

[quote]by lobe...Time= Linear...quote excerpt....>However it will keep on existing in the absense of you. In that way their are 2 seperate worlds



I think we are on the same page lobe. But time isn’t linear. But can be envisioned as such. Go forward (in time) as far as you like (with near light speed velocity) along your personal time line. (Earths time line will be radically different.). Then,

return on the same line but different leg of the triangle you will be perhaps a few years older, but earth would of aged exponentially compared to you, hundreds thousands even millions or billions of years more than you. the base of the triangle could be envisioned side step though time.

Now go back in time via warping space time. You kill your grandfather. This is a paradox, because if your dad now doesn’t exist and neither do you. Nature (according to the best a theoretical physicists today) solves this by splitting the universe into one universe that has your grand dad and one that has your granddad murdered, actually most theorists think a infinite of universes exist (a theory that has serious obvious flaws in it, so I subscribe to the many universe theory) .

mb

[mr.perfecto]

Quote by: Samildanach Basically its all a big guess and time travel is possible just incredibly difficult to achieve.

Not that I am disagreeing with you, but why do you think time travel is possible?

[lobeworm]

[quote=MerlinsByte]

by lobe...Time= Linear...quote excerpt....>However it will keep on existing in the absense of you. In that way their are 2 seperate worlds I think we are on the same page lobe. But time isn’t linear. But can be envisioned as such. Go forward (in time) as far as you like (with near light speed velocity) along your personal time line. (Earths time line will be radically different.). Then, return on the same line but different leg of the triangle you will be perhaps a few years older, but earth would of aged exponentially compared to you, hundreds thousands even millions or billions of years more than you. the base of the triangle could be envisioned side step though time. Now go back in time via warping space time. You kill your grandfather. This is a paradox, because if your dad now doesn’t exist and neither do you. Nature (according to the best a theoretical physicists today) solves this by splitting the universe into one universe that has your grand dad and one that has your granddad murdered, actually most theorists think a infinite of universes exist (a theory that has serious obvious flaws in it, so I subscribe to the many universe theory) . mb

I kill my grandfather? Why? What good does this do?

In all seriousness though, time is linear when you are looking from the present into the past.

[SlySpy]

There is also another solution to this paradox, but I forget what it's called.
It states that any action performed by an entity from the future has already happened. This means that it would be impossible to go back in time and kill your parents, because you wouldn't exist to do this. Thus, any action performed by a person traveling back in time will necessarily lead back to his own time line, since his actions have already been performed before he has even stepped into that time machine.

[bendyfriend]

Ugh, people just forget about caring about all this crap, go and buy a video game, its more fun than yapping on and on forever about thing you really shouldnt care about

[JamesMcBride]

Slyspy - I think you're referring to a quantom paradox.

I like talking about time travel - but only because I find it amusing to try and talk myself into making it theoretically possible. Trying to develop an acceptable set of physics to allow me to travel around in time is a fun challenge to wittle away an afternoon but I always concede that it's just fun and the challenge is made ever-so-great when I consider that it is ultimately impossible.

[RickSp]

Who cares? John Delorean is dead. There is no car to ride in.

[JamesMcBride]

Hahaha.

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: Gregory I was riding in the car and the topic of time travel came up and the question was posed: "If the US launched a nuke to go back in time and bomb the nuke site one hour before it was supposed to launch, what would happen?" What do you think would happen?

The answer lies in parallel realities.

Here is the chain of events:

1) The missle is launched.

2) In mid air it engages some time travel machine and disappears from the reality that it was in when it launched. It is now completely gone forever. The mass from the missle and everything inside is forever gone from the reality it launched in.

Note that the total mass of all parallel realities is constant, so conservation of mass still works. Just not localized to one reality.

3) The missle arrives mid air at a new reality that is an exact copy of the missle's originating reality except it's 1 hour earlier and now it has this missle in mid air. There are now 2 copies of this missle in this reality and none in the originating reality.

4) The missle strikes the launch site destroying the unlaunched missle and the site completely.

From the POV of the originating reality, it would look like a missle was launched and this it simply disappeared in mid air. That would be it. They would feel no effect from the missle disappear nor any effect from any events caused by the missle in any parallel reality.

From the POV of the 2nd reality, it would look like a missle all of a sudden appeared in mid air and struck the launch site where an exact copy of the missle was sitting ready to be launched in an hour.

[JamesMcBride]

All very well and good but if a missile was to be created, then fired, then go back in time, then destroy itself - surely then the missile would destroy itself before it was fired and thus never have been fired so it could then never go back in time to destroy itself.

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: JamesMcBride All very well and good but if a missile was to be created, then fired, then go back in time, then destroy itself - surely then the missile would destroy itself before it was fired and thus never have been fired so it could then never go back in time to destroy itself.

If you actually read what I wrote, the missle would destroy itself in a different reality.

[Haik]

Quote by: bendyfriend Ugh, people just forget about caring about all this crap, go and buy a video game, its more fun than yapping on and on forever about thing you really shouldnt care about

while we're at it, why don't we all get frontal labodomies? i personally find it interesting to read about this stuff even though i haven't got enough credentials in this to contribute to the thread.

[JamesMcBride]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 If you actually read what I wrote, the missle would destroy itself in a different reality.

Very true - you did. One thing though - Surely a hypothesis such as the one you provided rests on the existence of alternate realities...

And if a rocket leaves this reality (R1) and destroys the rocket in another reality (R2) then surely the rocket in this reality (The one we are trying to stop) would still exist and have been fired as normal.

[tman_ndsu08]

You can't stop yourself from launching a time traveling rocket by having that rocket destory itself in the past because of these parallel realities.

[JamesMcBride]

so what point would there be in even launching a rocket in the first place?