Hus Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 If the US/UK Govt scientists, for example, successfully developed time travel ability, would they keep it secret and flout any relevant international laws pertaining to torture or the Geneva convention to travel back to a specific point in time, and change history politically and militarily in our favour? If so, which point in time would they travel back to? And change what? Maybe to the pre-medieval era to convert or dilute Islam? To the 1930's and kill Hitler? Or nothing? It would depend upon whose opinion or policies it was based upon, or whether, like the difference between ghosts and poltergeists, they were able to interract with anyone, ie to be seen or heard, or whether they would just simply be 'witnesses' to historic events? And, hypothetically (maybe this topic will be a consiuderation in the future?) what if a coalition of the reasonably wealthy but 'unstable' (ie. not necessarily Western or Developed) nations achieved this ability? What might they try to change, if they could? On a practical level, if they shared this technology with trusted (by the West) international heads of state, what kind of team/s or experts would they put together? Historians? Archaeologists? Armed bodyguards (Special forces)? Doctors? Linguists? Clerics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmo Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 Changing the past is impossible even in theory because of the causality paradox. If you go 100 years back and kill your grand grandpa you would have never existed so nobody would have killed him etc. My favorite sci-fi on the topic is G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viggen Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 ...aside from the causality paradox, changing just a tiny thing can cause such huge shifts in developement, just thinking of my own life, how often how tiny details changed the whole course of my life, so i would say 99% of the time the goal to alter a historical event to get a certain outcome would be totally unpredictable, think of your own life is all i am telling, its impossible to predict... cheers chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hus Posted July 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 I accept that we know the dangers, but avaricious Governments might think on another level entirely, devoid of much morality and sense of law, their ambitions for an 'edge' could know no bounds, risks thrown out of the window? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viggen Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 ...the thing is, by trying to do something good, you might create something worse or completely unintendent, for example maybe witout Hitler most of Europe were still communist maybe not, maybe the americans would have never gotten out of their economic depression without the second world war, maybe this maybe that, no way you can change on tiny detail and not be faced with a totally different world... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldrail Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 (edited) Changing the past is impossible even in theory because of the causality paradox. If you go 100 years back and kill your grand grandpa you would have never existed so nobody would have killed him etc. My favorite sci-fi on the topic is G Edited July 18, 2011 by caldrail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Neil Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 Time travel into the future is possible if travel at speeds approaching light speed is achieved. For example, a theoretical space ship travelling at 90% light speed would get to Alpha Centauri and back almost instantaneously from the point of view of the crew; however, on return all their friends and relatives would have aged 9 years. I seem to remember something in quantum theory called the 'many worlds theory' which allows infinite but slightly different versions of our world to exist side by side, but to be forever inaccessible. Maybe a time traveller into the past, by changing events, would simply access one of these many alternative futures? Going back to the original question, I believe that if a government did find a way of travelling into the past, it would be folly to change things that happened more than a decade or so ago. The further back in time an event occurs, the more profound an effect it has on the future, no matter how seemingly unimportant. Just think: Altering the outcome of the korean war would not, neccessarily, effect our own existance (unless you live in Korea). Preventing a peasent or slave couple from having children in 3000 BC could however result in a totally different future for all of us - and a different 'us' as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursus Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 I remember reading a physics experiment a while back where sub atomic particles were accelerated at 300 times the speed of light, and they arrived at their destination at a point in time seemingly before they left to begin with. Don't ask me the details because particle physics is not my strong suit. But as to the original question, I think time travel in the sense used by the original poster is impossible, and simply do not care to speculate. I have enough to worry about with weapons of mass destruction, overpopulation and environmental destruction, and simple fiscal mismanagement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldrail Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 Time travel into the future is possible if travel at speeds approaching light speed is achieved. No, that's not right. You are correct about time dilation but remember that the universe is relative to the observer. As a fast traveller, your life continues as normal even if everyone has long since ceased to be. You can only travel into a future if it's possible to get back. Otherwise the relative movement in observational sequencing is meaningless. You're simply... there. Going back to the original question, I believe that if a government did find a way of travelling into the past, it would be folly to change things that happened more than a decade or so ago. Unfortunately the presence of an observer in another time would automatically 'change' things irrspective of how far they went back. As for folly, governments like them a lot. Many of us said it was folly to build massive stocks of nuclear weapons but it diodn't stop two factions aiming thousands of the things at each other for decades. The further back in time an event occurs, the more profound an effect it has on the future, no matter how seemingly unimportant. An assumption. Would moving a rock six inches cause profound changes in the far future? If so, I'm staying well away from butterflies from now on. Preventing a peasent or slave couple from having children in 3000 BC could however result in a totally different future for all of us - and a different 'us' as well! Possibly, but then, possibly not. given human behaviour is spread across certain alternatives in a bell curve, the changes over great lengths of time might not really affect things significantly, especially when you consider that the location of an event is often more important than who set it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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