- #1
Whitestar
- 90
- 4
Time Travel has been a common staple in the science fiction genre and a topic that I always found interesting. In movies and books I learned that there are three types of time travel: paradoxical, parallel and repetitive. The first type of time travel is known as being paradoxical, where the time traveler goes back into the past to prevent his or her parents from meeting. If the time traveler succeeds, he or she will disappear and never have existed. But if the time traveler never existed, then how could he or she have been able to go back in time in the first place? Clearly, a paradox has taken place.
The second type of time travel is known as the many-worlds or many-universes interpretation. If a time traveler goes back into the past to prevent their own existence from occurring, time will automatically fork into another timeline or form a parallel universe where in the second timeline, the time traveler would never have been born because it hasn't happen yet. Therefore, the time traveler's life is in no danger of erasing his or her existence, afterall, he or she had to come from somewhere!
Finally, the last type of time travel is known as repetitive. That is, if a time traveler goes into the past, he or she can never change it because the laws of time will prevent them from doing so, therefore, they can only FULLFILL the past.
Personally, I don't think time travel into the past will ever be possible because quite simply, there is no frame of reference to begin with. The past is forever gone, there is no going back. The future has not happened yet, therefore, our cherished concept of free-will is secured. The past and future cannot exist simultaneously with the present. Hence, the only thing that remains constant is the present.
On the other hand, if our descendants discover time travel to be possible with the aid of some extremely advance technology, the one type of time travel that will never be possible is the paradoxical one. Why? Well, Einstein stated that all living things have what is called a worldline. Think of a worldline something akin to a film negative. One end represents your birth, the other end, your death. If a time traveler were to travel back into the past to prevent you from being born, your worldline will disappear and you would cease to exist like in the movie, "Back To The Future".
However, according to Einstein, wordlines can never be cut or altered. Paradoxes by definition CANNOT HAPPEN. Any time travel paradigms that result in paradoxes are inherently flawed. It should be the responsibility of any theory worth two cents to provide a paradigm that does NOT result in paradoxes.
Another sign of a lousy theory is any that requires something as implausable and unproveable as the creation of an entire universe every time someone makes a left turn as opposed to a right, just to avoid situations that are impossible in the first place! (Parallel Universes). Which leaves Repetative, or Self Consistancy. This is of course the only theory that makes sense.
Thoughts anyone?
Whitestar
The second type of time travel is known as the many-worlds or many-universes interpretation. If a time traveler goes back into the past to prevent their own existence from occurring, time will automatically fork into another timeline or form a parallel universe where in the second timeline, the time traveler would never have been born because it hasn't happen yet. Therefore, the time traveler's life is in no danger of erasing his or her existence, afterall, he or she had to come from somewhere!
Finally, the last type of time travel is known as repetitive. That is, if a time traveler goes into the past, he or she can never change it because the laws of time will prevent them from doing so, therefore, they can only FULLFILL the past.
Personally, I don't think time travel into the past will ever be possible because quite simply, there is no frame of reference to begin with. The past is forever gone, there is no going back. The future has not happened yet, therefore, our cherished concept of free-will is secured. The past and future cannot exist simultaneously with the present. Hence, the only thing that remains constant is the present.
On the other hand, if our descendants discover time travel to be possible with the aid of some extremely advance technology, the one type of time travel that will never be possible is the paradoxical one. Why? Well, Einstein stated that all living things have what is called a worldline. Think of a worldline something akin to a film negative. One end represents your birth, the other end, your death. If a time traveler were to travel back into the past to prevent you from being born, your worldline will disappear and you would cease to exist like in the movie, "Back To The Future".
However, according to Einstein, wordlines can never be cut or altered. Paradoxes by definition CANNOT HAPPEN. Any time travel paradigms that result in paradoxes are inherently flawed. It should be the responsibility of any theory worth two cents to provide a paradigm that does NOT result in paradoxes.
Another sign of a lousy theory is any that requires something as implausable and unproveable as the creation of an entire universe every time someone makes a left turn as opposed to a right, just to avoid situations that are impossible in the first place! (Parallel Universes). Which leaves Repetative, or Self Consistancy. This is of course the only theory that makes sense.
Thoughts anyone?
Whitestar