Simple explanation why I think Time Travel does/could not exist...just my theory

All of this talk about time travel and scientists able to "peer" into the future got me thinking. I have ONE simple reason that this is not possible. The FUTURE can be altered based on decisions and actions committed by a person/persons. Time is NOT real. It is merely a marker we keep for marking events in our lives and daily activities. The Earth revolves on the same exact cycle every day, just as it always has. All humans have decided to do was to build an imaginary system that helps us to keep track of how many rotations the earth has made.
Now, back to what I was getting at earlier, lets just pretend for a moment that indeed time travel does exist. That would mean that there is already a "future" life being led as we speak. Lets just say that one DID have the ability to peer into this future time, and see themselves, or a loved one. WHAT IF, that person was to die in an accident in reality. Or perhaps they killed themselves. They would not be around in the future, right? Ones decision or actions NOW would be what alters the future of themselves, or perhaps the world as we know it.
So I guess my question is, how can the future already be happening,(and if time travel to the future DID exist, it would be), when there is so many variables that could indeed change that future? I guess that I am also saying that "time" travel can not exist if in fact "time" does not exist. Just my two cents. What do you think ATS'ers.
Cheers and enjoy the rest of your day.

My thoughts are that time is a man made concept, measuring the length between events.

The idea of traveling within a dimension of fictitious Time-Space is inconceivable to me.

Your paradoxical ideas are interesting, and have been thought up before.

Please don't think I'm being harsh. I love the idea of time travel. To think we could fix all the wrongs.... But unfortunately I believe it to be a dream, and nothing more.

a reply to: MentorsRiddle

Agree 100%. I am sure I am not the first person to have this line of thinking, just wanted to incorporate my two cents and have a little fun conversation. Maybe get others ideas and opinions as well.
ETA: No worries!! I totally concur that it is NOT possible as well. I am always open to debate

Ok, let's play the paradox game. I'll also give you my reason on why a paradox cannot exist.

For this game we will need to establish and understand a certain mode of thinking, and concepts:

* Past/Present - The past as perceived by yourself and others. (Cannot see Present/Present)
* Present/Present - The present moment perceived by yourself and others. (Cannot see Future/Present)
* Future/Present - the future, which is unperceivable to yourself and others.

Lets say that your present/present self time traveled to stop the assassination of President Lincoln. Once you time travel back you will be in your past/present (or a past time that your present/present self knows of).

Because you time traveled back, you will have existed in your present/present's past. The knowledge you have of Abe Lincoln being assassinated means that you cannot alter the past. Because if you would have altered the past, and stopped the assassination, then your present/present self would have no knowledge of it - and therefore your past/present self could have no knowledge of it.

Past time cannot be altered. It is already set - this can be proven by a time traveler's knowledge of past events. If those events were altered by the time traveler, he would have no knowledge of those events to begin with.

A paradoxical time line, like in Back To the Future is bogus.

a reply to: MentorsRiddle

Great points!!! Thanks for that input.

A simple question.

Why didn't anyone ask this author to post in paragraphs?

a reply to: boogeywoogey

His post wasn't that big....

I could have taken it with or without paragraphs.

In this particular situation, in my opinion, paragraphs aren't needed to read it - or understand it.

Reply to Boogeywoogey:

Better? Now, do you have anything to add to the thread or are you just here to troll?

originally posted by: thesmokingman
A simple question.



Why didn't anyone ask this author to post in paragraphs?



Better? Now, do you have anything to add to the thread or are you just here to troll?

I'm sorry.

Being new i wouldn't want to anger the 'older' members.

I was not trolling. I apologize for the offense.

Thank ewe for the improvement.

The way it was explained to me is that a person cannot travel back in 'time' as the future does not exist, therefore traveling back makes the person disapier, just for augments sake, if by some miracle the person did make it backwards in time, there would be nowhere to go, as in that time the future, once again, does not exist yet, the person is stranded in the past.

a reply to: thesmokingman

Just my opinion but going into the future is almost impossible.

We may be able to go back in time then return to our current time.

How can you go into the future if it hasn't happened?

The past has happened so....

C ya.

Personally I don't think Time travel is very likely, but I can see a couple of ways where it might be plausible.

1. Static Multiverses: past ,present, future are static points in time and we move accross those points.

2. Virtual. Artificial universes: We live in a simulation and if its programable with enough horsepower we can predict the future and go back in time.

3. cryonics: We go into a coma like state where our bodies are preserved and we wake up in the future. Obviously going back would not be possible.

originally posted by: pikestaff
The way it was explained to me is that a person cannot travel back in 'time' as the future does not exist, therefore traveling back makes the person disapier, just for augments sake, if by some miracle the person did make it backwards in time, there would be nowhere to go, as in that time the future, once again, does not exist yet, the person is stranded in the past.

Very interesting point indeed! Plus, if one WERE to be able to travel back in time, that would mean one would be able to travel forward in time as well. Yes, definitely could not be possible in my opinion.

originally posted by: pikestaff
The way it was explained to me is that a person cannot travel back in 'time' as the future does not exist, therefore traveling back makes the person disapier, just for augments sake, if by some miracle the person did make it backwards in time, there would be nowhere to go, as in that time the future, once again, does not exist yet, the person is stranded in the past.

This goes back to my concepts that the past/present and present/present cannot see the future/present.

If you time travel, if it is even possible, I theorize that you will only be able to travel within the length of your existence, and all that has existed before you.

For example, if you are 32 years, 2 months, 1 day, and 12 hours, and 35 seconds old, and traveled backwards, you would only be able to return to the exact moment you left which was 32y2m1d12h35s - and not go any further forward. This is because you have not experienced it, and because you have no conscious knowledge of those moments, you cannot move into it.

originally posted by: boogeywoogey
a reply to: thesmokingman

Just my opinion but going into the future is almost impossible.

We may be able to go back in time then return to our current time.

How can you go into the future if it hasn't happened?

The past has happened so....

C ya.

But you just created a paradox. It's 2014. You say you can't go to 2015 because it hasn't happened yet. But what if you went to 2009... would that mean (by your logic) that you then couldn't go to 2010 because it hadn't happened yet even though it's in our past right now?

If it worked that way then it would have to be completely dependent on the time traveler's perspective since the people around the traveler wouldn't have experienced any time beyond their own.

If time travel is ever possible, even a million years from now, it's here now too...

a reply to: thesmokingman
First off, time does exist in a sense. It is the 4th dimension.

Consider the earth. In order to describe a location on it's surface you need x, y, z coordinates as well as a time coordinate. Where you are in the universe today, is not the same exact place you are tomorrow even if you stay in the exact position/location in your home without moving one inch.

Granted, time as we describe it is a measurement... a unit of time. It's like inches or centimeters. Inches and centimeters are constructs, made up units to describe a reality.

Since there is cause and effect, and cause always (we presume) precedes effect, there is by definition a linearity to time. At the very least, we have assigned a linearity. Anyone who has read Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut will know what I mean about "assigning linearity" to time lol.

I cannot say one way or another that time travel is possible, but I can say that I do not believe it has been discovered in the future. Seems that we would have seen some evidence of it. Of course...that is the subject of many a sci fi novel.

It's possible the only time traveling that is possible is to the future. A one way trip, so to speak, made possible by traveling at close to the speed of light.

a reply to: thesmokingman

I've always been torn on the possibility. I know fully well that divination works as well as glimpses into the past but physical travel to another time is one I've never been able to accept. I don't outright say it's impossible but it's never been explained to me in a way I can be convinced.

I see time as concentric but without lines. The middle (now) is seen with clarity but farther out is seen through hazy glass and fog. The farther you look towards the edges, the hazier it is but bigger actions look bigger and are visible from farther away. None of these things are permanent and if you can't see behind it or if what you see behind it is just as clear as what you are looking at, it is more "set in stone". Likewise, events seen surrounded by several ill-defined visions are very much up for grabs. At least, that's how I see it when scrying.

Given that understanding, it's very difficult for me to wrap my head around any scenario that would make travelling through that mist possible.

a reply to: Cuervo

Reading your post, it occurs to me that perhaps one cannot travel further back in time than when the machine was invented.....

Of course, any travel back in time would be problematic. Would one be able to change the present by making an alteration in the past? What would be the effect?

Shades of quantum physics multi-universes!! Holy alternate universes, Batman!

a reply to: thesmokingman

Time is an observation, and it is observed differently by people, as it is observed by animals, plants, rocks, etc... Time, as we humans observe it, is a creation of man. Aging and all of that would still exist at the same biological rate, regardless of how we humans choose to express and measure it. Because time is an observation, like cold and hot, time travel is not possible, because time is not tangible. C.S. Lewis had a very interesting observation on time, specifically on how God transcends time as we humans observe it. I will paraphrase... He stated that if someone were writing a book and it said "Mary was sitting in the chair reading a book, and there was a knock at the door, and Mary put her book down to answer the door." In the story, from Mary's perspective the transition from reading to answering the door was seconds... it was instantaneous. However, from the perspective of the writer it could have been minutes, days, hours, or even years. The writer could have written "Mary was sitting in the chair reading a book..." and then went to the store, took a nap, whatever. Then went back and wrote the rest. His point was that the writer transcends the measurement of time from the perspective of Mary, and exists in a completely different paradigm of time measurement, much like God transcends the human perception of space/time.