User blog:SouthWriter/Time Travel and/or Alternate Universes

This discussion began on the "Atheist's Objections" blog, and I thought it would be better suited here. Please feel free to continue along these lines here.


 * Oerwinde 2010-08-12T08:10:25 hideThe only way to prove what happened at the beginning of time would be to develop time travel and go there. But if we develop time travel and go there, witness it and come back to the point of origin, that would prove that time is pre-determined and vicariously prove the existence of god, because if the future is not pre-determined then travelling from the past could leave you in any number of infinite alternate futures, and the present is the future if you're in the past. Blah.


 * Anonymous user 2010-08-12T12:29:29 hideTimetravel is not possible! AAAAAAAAAGH! -ProfessorMcG


 * Anonymous user 2010-08-12T12:29:30 hideTimetravel is not possible! AAAAAAAAAGH! -ProfessorMcG


 * SouthWriter 2010-08-12T14:30:49 hide editX8, I have not studied what Orthodoxy has become, which is what most who criticize it are concerned with. I respect what it historically tried to do. I believe much of the misunderstanding is due to the trappings of ceremony. However, some very good protestant scholars find doctrinal disagreements similar to those they have with Catholicism. Personally, I would rather have the unencumbered worship patterned after the ekklesia of the first century (house churches styled after synagogues).


 * SouthWriter 2010-08-12T14:54:42 hide editOer, I'm with McG (who couldn't wait to sign it to let out his 'Aargh!'), time travel is impossible. The very principles that make time possible make time travel impossible. The corollary to relativity known as "quantum theory" is based on the unpredictable behavior of particles that we cannot see directly. These subatomic particles are only known by what they do to their environment when they are disturbed. (That's like you being only known by the damage you do if lose control of your emotion!)

Anyway, if time travel were possible some day, and the travelers were able to interact with the past, I am convinced that they would only be part of an unrecorded past which results in our present. The eerie thing about alternate history is that we are in effect "time traveling" in alternative universes. I like community involvement in time lines, and even the TSPTF, which keeps us accountable when considering the consequences of a changed past. Only one time line is possible, for there is indeed a God in control of every bit of His creation. He has even seen fit to let us in on the beginning and the end of the story! So that is where we should go if we want to understand what is wrong with the world around us, and what can be done to be on the "right side" when it all comes to an end some day.


 * Yankovic270 2010-08-12T15:04:44 hideWho says time travel can't become possible some time in the future?


 * SouthWriter 2010-08-12T15:14:47 hide editBasic physics, Yank. Even utilizing the theory of special relativity, which ties gravity to time, I believe, there is no justification for traveling back in time. In quantum theory particles appear to be in two places at the "same time" or perhaps transverse intervening space instantly, but even with that, there is no travel back to a previous point in history. Part of quantum theory makes alternative histories possible, but not time travel.


 * Yankovic270 2010-08-12T15:34:16 hideThen could it be possible that we could travel to these alternate universes some time in the future? After all, the laws of physics aren't set in stone. They change and develop as our understanding of physics changes and develops.


 * Frymon 2010-08-12T15:51:52 hideWe could use Anti-matter to travel in time, that stuff can be used in an interesting manner


 * Red VS Blue 2010-08-12T16:14:12 hideUm, have any of you ever seen a time traveler? Here's an idea, take a stone tablet, carve the exact time and place of a party you'll have into it, and put it in a metal container (so its easy to find) and leave it in the ground somewhere. If you want, leave hundreds of these to be sure that at least one survives. I'd be very surprised if any time travelers showed up to this. (Credit to Stephen Hawking for the idea =P)

I think the problem, Yank, with time travel is that its not just scientifically impossible, its LOGICALLY impossible. Cause precedes effect and not the other way around. I've yet to hear a good argument for how we can time travel.

Interestingly enough, anti-matter is what might be able to PREVENT us from time travelling. I don't really feel like explaining that here though, since giving a short explanation will probably just make no sense, and I don't feel like giving a long one lol


 * SouthWriter 2010-08-12T16:15:23 hide editWhile it is true that the "laws" of physics are only our understanding of the way things seem to work, I doubt if they actually leave room for alternate universes. However, if alternate universes exist, I believe they are all tied to the same creation event. While not arguing the point, I assume that One who creates also controls things wherever they may occur (the Biblical illustration is of a potter over his clay). Since such a God is infinitely powerful and infinitely knowledgeable, it stands to reason that in whatever universe you found yourself, He would still be in control.

If inter-dimensional travel within a 'multiverse' were possible, we would have to be careful. The assumption is that each of these universes have a common beginning, with points of divergence based on either chance or decisions of men and women. Therefore, many of the universes would have versions of ourselves which would have a common history. Existing along side them on the same plane would probably cause problems.

On the other hand, each dimension of a multiverse might be independent, "evolving" as it were along parallel lines until there is a different event or decision. This would be the most likely scenario, given the theory that the "dimensions" exist on different "vibrational" planes. In this theory, as I understand it, these planes are "connected," existing in the same space (held by gravity?). If that were the case, there would be infinite dimensions to visit, with no consequences for visiting them. These would then have "parallel" histories to some point and then the versions of each of us that exist there would be totally different beings! If I had to chose which theory to go with, I'd go with this one.

Like the "sliders," we could find ourselves in a reality that is "messed up" and do our little bit to "make it right." If time travel was possible, by either theory, any changes we might make in the past would not be in "our past" if it were a true change. The present we returned to, if ours, would not have changed. If, for some reason, we can only return to "our" time in the altered time line we would be faced with existing beside or double (unless the change eliminated that possibility). In other words, time travel to change things would be a fruitless exercise.

I'm rambling. So I will go now. (this discussion should be on another blog).