h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Do you believe time travel is possible?"
NO

"If you could go back in time, where would you go?"
Nowhere, because it's impossible

"What period of history would you choose and why?"
None because (this may shock a some people) time travel is imposssible

"If time travel is possible, wouldn't it have always existed?"
May be may be not, but its a moot issue since it's impossible

"Are we, as a species, ready for time travel?"
No, since there's not such a thing as time Travel

"Is there anyone in particular you would like to meet?"
An awful lot, but alas I can't.

"Would you prefer to travel into the future? How far would you go?"
I didn't give much thought to this question since it has no practical purpose

"Is there anything in particular from the past that you would like to change?"
not particularly, but anyhow that won't happen.

Conclusion : Of all sci-fi fantasies this is the one that doesn't deserve to waste time on. I'm ready to bet One Milion Pounds to One hundred against anyone, that Time Travel won't exist in 10, 20, 30, 50, 99 years from now. Any suckers ?

Le calard rouge dans mon pantalon est un poisson jaune de morte. Ou est-il?

The red duck in my pants is a yellow fish of death. Or is it?

You didn't quite properly word that, my good sir. You also made a spelling error. Just thought I mention it. Here, have a blump-dom.

Oh yeah? Where? Huh? Wher? (BTW it was just a comic relief)

What? Really? Time Travel isn't possible? It's a good thing you're here to let us know this, otherwise we would all have been out looking for the nearest time machine and believing the crazy looking guy in the street who says he's from the future. Yes, it sure is a good thing we have smart people like you to set us all straight.

If time travel not posssible how can I have amnesia and deja vu at the same time? Alright, alright, credit for the quote goes to Steven Wright. I time travel everyday from "now" to "then" when it becomes "now" again, now and then. See what I mean? Time-tripping man, its a gas! Just like a Mobius Tube. Love it, love it, love it.

Micheal Jay Mole, Minister for Subterranean Lifeforms & ACE

I personnaly think that time travel is indeed possible; we already do it all the time. Whatever you see or hear and feel has already taken place and when loking at the cosmos, you might see things that arn't even in existance any longer.

However, if it were possible to time-travel in the science-fiction sort of way (meet John Lennon, perhaps, or stop some one from dying 3 years from now), I would HIGHLY advise against as this could dramatically affect the now. Does this make any sense at all?

I think Capt. Janeway said it quite eloquently, {or the writers did anyway} when she said "Take my advice, Ensign. Talking about quantum mechanics gives me a headache, imagine what trying to work out timelines does!"
Or words to that effect.

I think the question here is "If it WERE possible, what would you like to do, whom would you like to meet, where would you go," etc.

I'd like to travel back to the Jurassic and watch the dinosaurs but that would require an invisibility cloak too and they haven't been invented yet, so...

I'd love to have had a chat with Albert Einstein. He died just before I was born, so we could never have met in this life. There are a few questions I'd like to ask him. e.g. Don't you just hate your parents for naming you Albert??

Paul Simon said we could call him Al. Is that short for Albert? Or would it be Bert? I know! Lets go back and ask him or use the holodeck and ask his hologram!

MJM

I see we have some trekkers here... You should know that we can not go back into time nor go forward. I think it shall become possible but who knows what things would be changed? So, I don't think it should be legal (which is a strange thing to say seeing as it does na exist yet).

OK, OK, I gotta drop a few cents in here...

Time travel, in the literal sci-fi sense, as in literally traveling into the future or back into the past, is only impossible if you still view time as being a fixed and immovable item, which at this point is a rather deeply antiquated notion, as far as I can tell.

In point of fact, the US Army has technically succeeded in traveling through time -- known as The Philadelphia Experiment, there is a large body of substantiated evidence showing that they did in fact manage to --for lack of a better term -- 'shift' a warship from one particular date to another particular date that was nearly two weeks in the future of their original starting date. In other words, this massive warship just blipped out of existence and reappeared two weeks later by the observer's reckoning.

Several problems with the process, though: First, the ship reappeared in the Sahara desert, rather than the naval base where they had started.
Second, everyone in the ship was dead but one, who was so stark raving mad that his testimony is potentially suspect.
Third, there were clearly some flaws in the reckoning of the process, as they found crewmembers' bodies halfway through bulkheads, floors, and a few of the mechanical parts. I don't mean these people were /thrown/ through the walls, etc. -- rather they sort of /merged/ with them -- like the ship disappeared, then reappeared two feet to the left of where it had been, but the people stayed in the same place, so the walls of the ship and everything just sort of materialized right around them... freaky.

Of course, one has to consider that they weren't even /trying/ to do time travel when they did the Philadelphia Experiment -- rather, they were trying to develop 'cloaking' technology, like the Klingons have in the old Star Trek episodes, a "poof there it is, poof there it isn't " type of thing. The time travel was a side effect, so you can't really blame 'em for ING it all up.
It did, however, prove that time travel is a possibility, which makes sense if you actually think about it for a minute.

The future, of course, is rather tricky -- it hasn't happened yet, so it is still in the realm of possibility. The problem in traveling to it, of course, lays in that you can never be entirely sure that the future possibility that you travel to is actually the future possibility that IS going to happen. It has to be kind of a guess -- whatever future possibility looks the most likely to occur is the one you go to. If it's important, you can then go into the past and move a few things around to give that future possibility a better chance of being THE future... if that makes sense.

The past, however, isn't nearly as difficult, as it has already happened, so there can be no confusion about which one to go to. It is no longer possibility, but has instead become "reality". Past reality, but reality nonetheless. What many people are afraid of as far as traveling into the past is concerned is the possibility that, in changing some small aspect of the past, you could horribly alter the present.
This is extremely unlikely. The most popular view of the space - time structure today is sort of as a river. If you're standing at the edge of a river, consider where you're standing to be the present. If you chuck a rock downstream, into the 'future', it has no effect on the 'present', although it does ripple the water in the future. If you chuck a rock upstream, into the 'past', it does cause ripples which may flow down to where you're standing, in the present, but the overall effect upon the river itself is virtually nonexistent. It keeps flowing as it always did. If you toss a huge rock into it, you can have longer - lasting effects, but you would have to REALLY something up to accomplish any kind of vastly significant change in the present time.

Now, I'll be accused of being a kook if I go more into detail here, but let me just say that the US, at this time, has an EXTREMELY good indication that we will possess portable time - travel units by NO LATER THAN 2035 A.D.
I'm not saying /everybody/ will have these, or that it'll even be available to the public. But, mark my words, the US Military WILL have portable time travel units by 2035. They will fit into a normal - size military Jeep type of vehicle, with a handheld remote that's about 4" wide by probably 10" long. The system will operate on a gravity - distortion principle, essentially focusing the power of gravity around a certain limited radius, and it will use the gravitational energy to open a 'portal' to either past realities or future possibilities, depending on where you want to go.
The extent of the gravity distortion around the radius in which the portal exists can be determined by beaming a laser PAST the radius when the machine is in operation: The laser will bend, and shoot around the side of the radius. Those who consider this for a moment will see the significance of the laser.


SO THERE!!! Let this be a lesson to those who are so foolish as to dismiss ANYTHING out of hand as an impossibility. NOTHING is impossible. You just haven't thought about it long enough.

IMHO, I do not think that the Philladelphia experiment really happened that way; it was most likely some kind of explanable anomally. Now if, hypothetically it did happen, then, it is obviously still too dangerous to utilize. Concerning the militairy having time-machines (if you will) by 2035, I think not. It simply does not make logicall sense. But, please, prove me wrong. I'd love to have some literature on this topic. Any good books or web-sites?

Well, you have to keep in mind that the Philadelphia Experiment was a long time ago. There have been incredible advancements in technology since then that would presumably make the process safer... and, keep in mind that it WAS a side effect -- they didn't actually /intend/ to travel through time, if in fact that's what they did. I think that if they had actually been /trying/ to send the ship through time, they might not have had as many problems. But yes, I do have a number of sites for you -- unfortunately I am at wo*k and the addresses are on my favorites of my home computer -- I will retrieve them tonight and post here tomorrow, for I feel there is really a vast body of compelling evidence here.

I guess I'm sort of a conspiracist though -- I really genuinely believe that we have a vast array of technology that is working and fully operational, that we as the civilians of the Earth simply have not been told about yet, you know? Unfortunately, that view really tends to decrease my credibility.... ::sigh::

I believe there is lots of tech stuff out there being withheld from the public (heck, the internet was created by the Department of Defense): The NSA recently acknowledged its ability to monitor, using Cray super computers, every communication coming in or leaving the USA. And we all know about the satalites that can read the band on Castro's cigar. But time travel, naw I just don't buy it. I have seen lots of the literature because my brother does believe the Gov't is withholding time tech. I'm not convinced. You will have to get me into Dr. Who's phone booth before I'll believe. No offense, I'm just a "doubting Thomas."

MJM ACE

Ok. I can see both of your points. I would just like some scientific evidence from a competant scientist/;physicist or any other proffesion as such. I can na personally explain where is this ship now? Destroyed? Oh, how convenient. But, if some one could give me solid evidence, I would have to believe them. Some things huymans simply can not yet understand.

Ok. I can see both of your points. I would just like some scientific evidence from a competant scientist/;physicist or any other proffesion as such. I can na personally explain where is this ship now? Destroyed? Oh, how convenient. But, if some one could give me solid evidence, I would have to believe them. Some things huymans simply can not yet understand.

Ok. I can see both of your points. I would just like some scientific evidence from a competant scientist/;physicist or any other proffesion as such. I can na personally explain where is this ship now? Destroyed? Oh, how convenient. But, if some one could give me solid evidence, I would have to believe them. Some things huymans simply can not yet understand.

Steven Hawkings said that time travel might be posible "in theory" but there is no way to test the theorm. I'll have to go with him. Give me some empherical proof. Time-tripping instead of time-travelling Arch-Blump?

MJM ACE

ps I wish the BBC search button could be moved, it has wiped out several of my postings.

Aye! Most assuredly. However, I donpt see why we would na be able to travel. It makes logicall sense. But, it shall take a lot of time.