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Originally Posted by Williamlk
I'm starting this topic based upon a show I recently saw discussing how theoretcally time travel is possible.
I've long been interested in the concept of time. Is time real? Is it just an illusion?
I was wondering if anyone has read anything that discusses these implications, or wants to weigh in with an opinion.
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I enjoy time travel stories, and I'm currently reading a comic book (Booster Gold) where time travel and keeping history intact is the central point of the series.
As far as time itself, I think of time as the fourth dimension, on par with height, length, and width. I base this on the requirement for existance, meaning that in order for an object to exist it must have all four dimensions. If you set any of the four dimensions of an object to zero, then an object can't exist.
I think the reason time seems different from the other dimensions is that our consciousness operates along it. Also, we have an ability to move in the three physical dimensions under our own power, but we are basically stuck in the stream of time without an ability to alter our rate of travel or our direction of travel. Via technology it is possible to alter our rate of travel forward in time (such as accelerating to near the speed of light) but we are basically limited in what we can do.
When considering the possibility of time travel, I think that travel into the future might be possible. One factor in its favor is that it doesn't have to deal with the issue of time paradoxes. As far as methods to accomplish this, one simple way is via the use of some type of status (such as cryogenics) where you are basically put on hold and then released when you arrive at your destination.
More complicated is travelling backwards in time. This is when you have to deal with the issue of time paradoxes such is if you travel into the past and change history in a way where you suddenly couldn't exist yet you had to to make the change in history.
In many of the stories I've read, one way to deal with this is the branching timelines theory (this is my favorite theory). When you make your first trip through time you disappear from your native timeline and the timeline splits at the point where you departed and the point where you arrive. In one branch you didn't arrive, and in the other you did arrive. At that point, you can never return to your original timeline (from the point of view of someone there you just disappeared) and you can't eliminate yourself even if you travel back into the past and kill yourself. Your personal timeline becomes like a line of string that connects all of the points that you jumped from and to.
Just my thoughts and opinions, thanks for reading.