Did I time travel today?

Before I share my thoughts on time travel and my thread question let's generically agree to the baseline definition of time travel as defined by Wikipedia:

From Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org...
Time travel is the concept of movement (such as by a human) between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space, typically using a hypothetical device known as a time machine, in the form of a vehicle or of a portal connecting distant points in time.

And before I go into my question I want to disclose that I do not necessarily believe or disbelieve in the possibility of time travel. Only that it is something I contemplate fairly frequently. Below is just one example of the deep thoughts I go into. I would appreciate any insight into what I am contemplating.

So back to my question which is based on what I write below...in your opinion did I travel in time?


Here goes...

Many times while driving at different speeds I have often thought about the concept of time travel. Basic question: If I am traveling 100 mph down the highway and arrive at my destination 5-10 minutes earlier than had I been traveling at 70 mph did I travel in time?

Before you resolve yourself to say, "No, you just arrived at your destination a few minutes earlier"...consider this.

If all around us there exist multiple points in time and each of those multiple points all have unique series of events tied to them and I increase my speed of travel between those points in time am I consciously traveling in time?

Let's say I am driving through a city and I have a 20 minute drive to my destination. Up ahead I see the stop light is still green. It's been green for awhile and I want to make the light because I know this particular light is the longest light in America (we all have that ONE light in our city we hate to get stuck at). So I hit the gas a little. Sure enough...as I approach the light turns yellow just as I hit the intersection. Victory! I just avoided a 10 minute delay.

By my increasing my speed did I effectively alter my future destination point in time? Let's say I got stuck at the light and as a result I would have arrived at my destination 10 minutes late. At that future point in time there would have been a series of events that is uniquely specific to that point in time.

But because I missed the light I would arrive at my destination"ahead of time" and now there is a specific set of events that is uniquely specific to that point in time.

Let's assume I know the future set of events for each time line.

Objective: Travel across town to get on the ferry to take me to the island for a day of fun

Scenario A: Leave home on time and expect to travel 20 minutes to arrive in time to make the ferry.
Set of events specific to that point in arrival time: Make ferry and travel to island for a day of fun

Scenario B: Leave home on time and expect to travel 20 minutes to arrive in time to make the ferry, however, I am unaware I will be delayed by an accident on the road which makes me arrive late and miss the ferry.
Set of events specific to that point in arrival time: Miss ferry and be forced to wait an additional hour before the next ferry departs. During that hour I meet my future wife where had I actually made the ferry I would have never met her.

Because both scenarios have their own unique set of events tied to that specific point in time is this a form of time travel?

Let's say Scenario B is the one that occurred then consider this. Since I missed the ferry and had I actually been on the ferry would I have effectively traveled back in time where the late me is meeting my future wife versus the future me which is sitting on a ferry traveling to the island?

Yeah I realize there are an innumerable number of scenarios of "what ifs" but in general I hope I am getting my point across. I admit I am not the best at crystallizing my thought process at times but in my mind it is vividly clear.

By the very definition of time travel I feel I am traveling (to some degree) "in time". Either forwards or backwards. Maybe our common definition of time travel needs revision.

Please lend thoughts.

Well...you are time travelling right now..always forward in time, by the second.

If you are asking if you "skipped" time or something of that nature..gonna say no. time is linear and we all trudge through it with perfect consistency here on this dustball.

Not sure why you are bringing in consequences for the what if's into the equasion. If you left 10 minutes earlier, you woulda been hit by a bus and not be writing this maybe..who knows..speculation on what if's have little to do with travelling in time..speculating about different paths is just that..speculation.

a reply to: Outlier13

Hmmmm. Never really thought of it that way. Is sleep a form of time travel? Am I teleporting myself to the next day? Please don't make me use my brain this late in the evening.

a reply to: SaturnFX

I've considered exactly what you are saying but by your example time stops if I no longer live which we both know is not true. Time is only a concept and cannot be proven to exist so saying it is linear means it is an actual thing which it is not.

If you or I were to die then the definition of linear time still goes on with or without you or I. My point of the OP is our definition of time travel seems to be off somehow. Traveling between two points in time. If I increase or decrease my speed I affect my "arrival" at that point in time and change my experience as every point in time has a unique set of events associated with it. Right?

a reply to: Outlier13

I don't want to say choices don't matter, but do you really know when you made the choice to speed? Perhaps you are just fulfilling destiny

originally posted by: Idreamofme
a reply to: Outlier13

Hmmmm. Never really thought of it that way. Is sleep a form of time travel? Am I teleporting myself to the next day? Please don't make me use my brain this late in the evening.

Yes! I've thought about this as well. Or what if we were cryogenically frozen for 1000 years? Do we effectively stop "time" for our physical bodies yet our consciousness somehow exists in a different state? I think our common definition of time travel is off somehow.

originally posted by: onthedownlow
a reply to: Outlier13

I don't want to say choices don't matter, but do you really know when you made the choice to speed? Perhaps you are just fulfilling destiny

I think that's why I added into my OP the statement we could "what if" this an innumerable number of ways but I have considered what you are saying here. I think the choice we make is only relevant to that specific set of events tied to a specific point in time. Maybe the concept of "choice" is irrelevant? I don't know. Again...I think our definition of time travel is off somehow.

a reply to: Outlier13

Anytime you are in motion you are time traveling. For further info look in to relativity. Einstein explained a faster an object moves the slower time they have relative to others.

originally posted by: Outlier13

originally posted by: Idreamofme
a reply to: Outlier13

Hmmmm. Never really thought of it that way. Is sleep a form of time travel? Am I teleporting myself to the next day? Please don't make me use my brain this late in the evening.

Yes! I've thought about this as well. Or what if we were cryogenically frozen for 1000 years? Do we effectively stop "time" for our physical bodies yet our consciousness somehow exists in a different state? I think our common definition of time travel is off somehow.

No you simply delay the breakdown of tissue. your lifespan is extended because you slowed down the breakdown of DNA.

originally posted by: dragonridr

originally posted by: Outlier13

originally posted by: Idreamofme
a reply to: Outlier13

Hmmmm. Never really thought of it that way. Is sleep a form of time travel? Am I teleporting myself to the next day? Please don't make me use my brain this late in the evening.

Yes! I've thought about this as well. Or what if we were cryogenically frozen for 1000 years? Do we effectively stop "time" for our physical bodies yet our consciousness somehow exists in a different state? I think our common definition of time travel is off somehow.

No you simply delay the breakdown of tissue. your lifespan is extended because you slowed down the breakdown of DNA.

Yes we delay the decay of our physical bodies but our consciousness doesn't stop. Unless you relate the concept of "self" solely to the physical body alone. What if after the 1000 years there was a way to forever preserve our bodies so death was avoided? That negates the argument we delayed decay of our tissue.

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: Outlier13

Anytime you are in motion you are time traveling. For further info look in to relativity. Einstein explained a faster an object moves the slower time they have relative to others.

I understand Einstein's theory of relativity but it only relates to physical mass. Time travel is relative to points in time. Points in time have no physical mass. I think our common definition of time travel is off.

If you could see future outcomes, based on speed of travel, you could avoid the drunk driver that kills you, because he ran a red light. Drive 1mph faster, or slower, and you live.

When are you not time traveling; is a better question. Such a thing can be controlled... however one needs to understand relativity on more than just a rote level of grasping it.

When one is sitting somewhere and they think of something past? Both times are occurring, you are there and yet not there like an OBE dejavu is a good sign to know when such is occurring. Best to stay out of the past altogether, as it opens wormhole sots of energy waves in which not only you own can be dragged through with you as a hitchhiker... one's attachments can be mapped with current technology like a neural net and then timed to "jump" with you.

So leaving past past and ceasing to have intent of either a positive or negative one towards a future... this sot of thing creates a thought form or karmic bubble in which to carry things forward.

Avoiding both of those activities then the present remains in a stasis a right then and right there for however long... in such a manner one can sit in the exact same spot and watch everything form dissolve and reform around them through countless re-iterations as those waves of energy settle out.

The grasping occurs from attachment which becomes an anchor and name and form given up as consciousness allows time slips and jumps but it is energy or light traveling anywhere to any point at the speed of thought... of course not a good thing, as when someone is lost in thought or awareness? Then one can leave their vehicle unlocked and who knows who may be wanting or tying to inhabit it without ones consent... of course it is just a form but the uninvited has a way of trying to drag habits with them not one's own. Kinda like "the company you keep sort of thing" those dwelling in nothing but past pain? Become an easy channel o jump for such toxic energies forwards.

This is why meditation that most all religions have said to lean to do both day and night meaning while awake and asleep... the irony means awareness never leaves it is never lost in mindlessness and ones vehicle travels with them.

So ethical conduct of course means not having all of those thoughts that are rapey and non-consensual as then it is more like you then become the demonic possession.

Many people aware of form, many less unaware that thought is also a world of form although it may seem to be formless, it isnt.

I did.
We took a drive through the Yorktown battle fields where General George Washington with the help of General Lafayette won the battle for our freedom and our nation was born. Most of it is untouched. Old buildings have been allowed to crumble and no new construction save for fences (pine log) and very narrow roadways(aggregate pebble) to tour the area are allowed. The fields are keep fields and the woods are left untouched as are the swamp areas. The redoubts are still visable throughout the area.
Anyway off topic I know but it was like going back in time.

a reply to: Outlier13

You make a good point. The only way we measure time is by motion. Whether it's the hands of a clock, the vibration of a crystal or atom, the only way we know that time has passed is that something has moved.

We can see an object moving from point A to point B in say, one second. We know there were intermediate positions the object occupied at, say, half second, quarter second, etc.

Now consider the prospect of quantum time, the smallest unit of indivisible time. I don't remember the number off the top of my head, but it's some ridiculously low number. Observing a moving object in terms of one unit of quantum time, it would appear to teleport from location X to location Y, because we couldn't observe it at any point between X and Y.

In that sense, everything is constantly teleporting through time in little micro-jumps.

Of you've traveled through time, you would notice it, believe me...

Many times, I've contemplated exactly what you're referring to.
Heading into work one night, i was frustrated that my wife hadn't stopped for fuel earlier. This added a delay into my plans but had she stopped earlier, I wouldn't have, and would have been dangerously close in time and space to a triple fatality mva about 7 miles up the road. By not getting fuel for one reason or another, she quite possibly saved me from serious injury or death. As it turned out, I wound up helping with the aftermath. For personal reasons, thats as far as the story goes. The point is that, that one little delay that we each experience on a daily basis may be critical to our future.

I dont think its as much time travel as it is random events vs destiny. For that matter, is anything random?

A clock is merely a ruler that we use to measure time as it is happening. Past events exist only in our memory ,or, if we used some device to record to media, they exist as a representation. I personally believe that there is no way to "time travel" and interact with past events. Possibly observe but thats it. For good or bad, the past is what it is.

As my favorite little green sci fi guy Yoda says, the future is always in motion. There are many different outcomes and all are equally valid. This in of itself would make future time travel virtually impossible. What we call destiny is the actual future path taken and is only for God and true prophets to really know.

These are my thoughts about it anyway.

originally posted by: Outlier13

originally posted by: dragonridr

originally posted by: Outlier13

originally posted by: Idreamofme
a reply to: Outlier13

Hmmmm. Never really thought of it that way. Is sleep a form of time travel? Am I teleporting myself to the next day? Please don't make me use my brain this late in the evening.

Yes! I've thought about this as well. Or what if we were cryogenically frozen for 1000 years? Do we effectively stop "time" for our physical bodies yet our consciousness somehow exists in a different state? I think our common definition of time travel is off somehow.

No you simply delay the breakdown of tissue. your lifespan is extended because you slowed down the breakdown of DNA.

Yes we delay the decay of our physical bodies but our consciousness doesn't stop. Unless you relate the concept of "self" solely to the physical body alone. What if after the 1000 years there was a way to forever preserve our bodies so death was avoided? That negates the argument we delayed decay of our tissue.

Still has nothing to do with time other than you live longer. But ill tell you this we may extend life but we will never stop dying unless we learn to time travel and turn back out internal clocks.

originally posted by: Outlier13

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: Outlier13

Anytime you are in motion you are time traveling. For further info look in to relativity. Einstein explained a faster an object moves the slower time they have relative to others.

I understand Einstein's theory of relativity but it only relates to physical mass. Time travel is relative to points in time. Points in time have no physical mass. I think our common definition of time travel is off.

Relativity has nothing to do with points in time. Relativity tells us time is a dimension and in fact needed to find a point in our universe. Also it means that the past present and future already exists. And as we travel through space time we are simply moving to a new location and time.

originally posted by: eql612


Many times, I've contemplated exactly what you're referring to.
Heading into work one night, i was frustrated that my wife hadn't stopped for fuel earlier. This added a delay into my plans but had she stopped earlier, I wouldn't have, and would have been dangerously close in time and space to a triple fatality mva about 7 miles up the road. By not getting fuel for one reason or another, she quite possibly saved me from serious injury or death. As it turned out, I wound up helping with the aftermath. For personal reasons, thats as far as the story goes. The point is that, that one little delay that we each experience on a daily basis may be critical to our future.

I dont think its as much time travel as it is random events vs destiny. For that matter, is anything random?

A clock is merely a ruler that we use to measure time as it is happening. Past events exist only in our memory ,or, if we used some device to record to media, they exist as a representation. I personally believe that there is no way to "time travel" and interact with past events. Possibly observe but thats it. For good or bad, the past is what it is.

As my favorite little green sci fi guy Yoda says, the future is always in motion. There are many different outcomes and all are equally valid. This in of itself would make future time travel virtually impossible. What we call destiny is the actual future path taken and is only for God and true prophets to really know.

These are my thoughts about it anyway.

If you believe in physics there was a version of you that died in that crash.