Einstein and time travel

The different versions of Einstein's "theory of relativity" makes time travel not only possible, but something all of us exerience at any time. And. If you built a space ship with some sort of super propulsion that would enable a crew of astronauts to travel to the stars with a constant acceleration of 1G, this would enable the crew to travel accross the entire known universe in a lifetime. And more-- if they returned to Earth, billions of years would have passed on Earth while themselves would have aged only 100 years. Gravity and velocity is the key here. Because of this time moves at different speeds in orbit than on Earth, which has been proven in many experiments. Even on the face of the Earth time moves at different speeds depending on where you are, how fast you are moving relative to another:

en.wikipedia.org...

Found the following in the 11th book of the Corpus Hermeticum by Hermes Trismegistus ("Greek Thoth"):

"Become eternity and thus you will understand God. Suppose nothing to be impossible for yourself. Concider yourself immortal and able to understand everything: all arts, sciences and the nature of every living creature."

reply to post by Utnapisjtim

And the point of this thread is what exactly ? A misleading title for starters. What you are describing is time dilation not time travel.

You are correct! This is true

@YorkShire - time dilation, yes. But scientifically certain. And it has elements of time travel. So it is a good place to start.

The problem would be getting up to speed. And that could theoretically be done the best with some kind of ionized propulsion method, I am guessing.

A misleading title? Hardly. The O.P. promises time travel and then gives us a scientifically certain way to do it, even if it is only time dilation. I say that is better than other time travel threads.

OK just my opinion but I think all that energy would have been better spent trying to bring your sisters Barbie dolls to life.

Again just my opinion but time doesnt even really exist. Just a man made concept to know when to get out of bed lol....

yorkshirelad
reply to post by Utnapisjtim

 

And the point of this thread is what exactly ? A misleading title for starters. What you are describing is time dilation not time travel.

Can you please explain *REAL* time travel without time dilation? It's like saying walking isn't moving in space-time since you'd need a DeLorean.

darkbake
You are correct! This is true

@YorkShire - time dilation, yes. But scientifically certain. And it has elements of time travel. So it is a good place to start.

Indeed. It is observable and it works, both in theory and reality. With the right ship we could possibly reach Alfa Centauri and back and when we came back our children might actually be older than yourself when you return. If that isn't time travel, then what is.

The problem would be getting up to speed. And that could theoretically be done the best with some kind of ionized propulsion method, I am guessing.

If we made a fixed space port in zero- or low gravity, let's say on the Moon, we would not have to burn most of the fuel to slip out of Earth's gravitaty and we could reach much heftier accelerations and speeds using todays technology and burn mere drops compared to the fuel needed to escape the earth's gravity. From the Moon we could point the nose at the Sun and enter freefall towards the Sun to accelerate further and speed into space "falling" from star to star, thus reach further faster.

A misleading title? Hardly. The O.P. promises time travel and then gives us a scientifically certain way to do it, even if it is only time dilation. I say that is better than other time travel threads.

reply to post by tinner07


HA!

Technically time dilation is a form of time travel. As far as I know, it's the only "accepted" possibility of time travel by mainstream scientists. At this point, it seems to be the only feasible way of ever being able to travel extremely vast distances in our known universe. Personally, I believe there has to be some other method besides this, and the current alcubierre drive being developed (which, as awesome as it is, it's still "slow" considering the vastness of the universe).

My hopes are that we will be able to harness wormhole travel, hyperspace travel, space folding, etc. in the future. Regardless, any type of deep space travel would also have to include time travel. This type of time travel would appear different depending on the travelers, manipulation methods, etc. creating different types of the dilation phenomena for everyone involved.

I love thinking about this kind of stuff because I can literally feel my stretching lol. Its very fascinating.

reply to post by Utnapisjtim


One could possibly conclude that time simply exists to stop everything happening at once. Personally i dont think its even linear by nature, in the end its all about perspective I imagine.

To those who say this isn't real space travel:

In the Wikipedia article from the OP, scroll down to "Time dilation and space flight":

en.wikipedia.org...

Time dilation would make it possible for passengers in a fast-moving vehicle to travel further into the future while aging very little, in that their great speed slows down the rate of passage of on-board time. That is, the ship's clock (and according to relativity, any human traveling with it) shows less elapsed time than the clocks of observers on earth. For sufficiently high speeds the effect is dramatic.[2] For example, one year of travel might correspond to ten years at home. Indeed, a constant 1 g acceleration would permit humans to travel through the entire known Universe in one human lifetime.[20] The space travelers could return to Earth billions of years in the future. A scenario based on this idea was presented in the novel Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle.

I still think that time travel will be a serious possibility in the near future. I don't know why I have these specific thoughts on this, but clearly some of my dreams pointed this out to me. And when looking at today's science I truly believe they will achieve some kind of breakthrough within let's say now and 10/15 years.

andy06shake
reply to post by Utnapisjtim

 

One could possibly conclude that time simply exists to stop everything happening at once. Personally i dont think its even linear by nature, in the end its all about perspective I imagine.

That's a way of looking at it I suppose. To me time is movement between what I refer to as different "dimentional complexes", like if you walk a mile, up will no longer be up, and the other linear dimentions will also change relative to where you are on the globe. Time is the remedy that allows us to travel in physical space the way I see it. Time is a universal "connector" allowing us to move in space, and for space itself to move.

One clear example of what I mean is the New Jerusalem. If we one day build this enormous cubic structure and place it on the Earth, it's dimentions will be so enormous that eventhough it is perfectly square, seen from the ground the walls will cave inward relative to upwards, making it look like a giant pyramid, though with quite steep sides.

reply to post by Utnapisjtim


"If we one day build this enormous cubic structure and place it on the Earth, it's dimentions will be so enormous that eventhough it is perfectly square, seen from the ground the walls will cave inward relative to upwards"

The same effect can be achieved by placing a heavy sphere on a rubber sheet, the sphere distorts the rubber by way of mass. Time is simply the measurement of how much distortion is exerted upon the sheet by the sphere. At least thats how my old science teacher attempted to illustrate the space/time effect many moons ago in a secondary school, far, far away!

reply to post by andy06shake


Indeed, and that's one way of explaining how gravity works and curving of space-time proposed in the theory of relativity I suppose (see image below)....

upload.wikimedia.org...

While looking for material to substantiate this thread, I discovered an article about NASA scientists who are working on making a warp-drive capable of interstellar travel that could bring us to Alfra Centauri in a mere two weeks. Made a whole new thread for it:

www.abovetopsecret.com...