Time Travel

Few topics can capture the imagination of people more than the idea of time travel. From scientist, philosophers, science fiction writers, and daydreamers alike. I think the reasons are endless, but mostly people would like to change things that happened in the past so that their present or future would be better. If someone could go back in time they could be rich beyond belief, they could save lives, they could essentially have endless do-overs in life. Who wouldn’t want to have that power?

Travelers from the future

So the question remains is it possible? Stephen Hawking postulated that it is impossible to travel to the past because we have never met a person from the future. Genius for sure, however he did not address the question why it is impossible. I believe the question of time travel to the past is a philosophical question. I’m not talking about the endless paradoxes that arise. We’re all aware of the grandfather paradox, where if you travel back in time and kill your grandfather you would have never been born to go back in time to kill him. My argument lies in the way we view our physical reality. Time travel believers assume that the physical world we experienced in the past actually exists. This might be a bit difficult to explain.

What is reality

The world we experience is made of stuff elements, molecules, forms, shapes, light, energy and space among other things. So these things how do they relate to time? Are they eternal and unchanging? I think we all can agree that the world of the present is not the same as the world of the past. The thermodynamic principle of entropy explains why once you crack an egg it will not go back into its shell. Certain events are irreversible.

What is the relationship to the stuff and time

My theory is that the “stuff” that makes up our experience of the world can only exist in the present moment. Our reality is built and destroyed within a nearly infinitely small period of time. As sentient beings we travel along the wave of time constantly moving from the past towards the future but always trapped in the present. I believe that the bast way of visualizing this process is the infinity symbol. As the future becomes reality the past ceases to exist in anything but our memories. The reason the question is philosophical is that science require empirical evidence. I can’t imagine any experiment that would prove this theory to be true, therefore it is relegated to the land of philosophy.

Can we travel to the future?

The answer according to physics is yes. The theory of relativity asserts that the faster you travel the slower your experience of time is. Therefore without violating any physical laws a traveler speeding faster and faster approaching the speed of light what might seem to be minutes could be years to an outside observer. So when you come to a stop you have lived a few minutes while the rest of the world has aged years. You have traveled to the future the only problem is there is no going back. The world you left no longer exists.

Welcome to the future

We are all time travelers. Always in the same direction we can adjust how soon we get to the future, but the past is set there is no going back. We learn from our pasts, but we cannot dwell on the past. The focus needs always be on the future because that is the only thing any of us has any ability to effect. While you read this article yo have arrived from the past to your present. Where will your future be?

Discussion

Please comment below.
What would you do if you could travel to the past?
What type of future excites you?
Do you agree or disagree with my assertions?