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wildbill83 · 36-40, M
no; because time travel would violate causality and/or create a paradox that can not exist in linear time. The grandfather paradox for example; If you could go back in time and kill your grandfather before your father was born; you could never have been born; and as such, would not have the opportunity to travel back in time to kill him to begin with.
However, it may be possible if the multiverse theory holds true; whereas any travel forwards or backwards through time would result in arrival in an alternate universe so similar to this one, that you wouldn't even be aware that you were in a differing universe; one in which causality would diverge from this one upon your point of arrival (basically, you'd be stuck in a universe/universes of your own creation/influence)
But of course, there are plenty of other problems regarding time travel, a few examples;
1) the butterfly effect; even the slightest, seemingly inconsequential changes to the past could have a massive effect on the future (creating numerous paradoxes); something as simple and benign as being in the wrong place at the wrong time could create a chain of events throughout time that prevent you from ever having been born
2) time travel would have to take location into account as well; given the rotational speed of the planet, it's revolution around the sun, the solar systems movement through the milky way galaxy, the galaxy's movement through the universe, etc. that even when standing still, you're moving at over 1.3 million miles per hour (2.1 million km/hr) through space itself; In other words, without knowing the location of relevant moving celestial bodies based on a fixed position (that does not exist as far as we know), even traveling forwards or backwards a few seconds could result in being hundreds or even millions of miles away from Earth upon arrival...
3) Fermi Paradox; if time travel were possible/becomes so at some undetermined point in the future, then why has no one ever met a time traveler?
4) how would a time machine even look/function? For starters, it would need the ability to accelerate an object with mass (you) beyond the speed of light; something that is physically impossible in quantum physics. The energy requirements to accelerate a mere subatomic to just near/sub light speed are astronomical, so you'd probably need more power than the entire planet/all of mankind could generate in a given amount of time.
However, it may be possible if the multiverse theory holds true; whereas any travel forwards or backwards through time would result in arrival in an alternate universe so similar to this one, that you wouldn't even be aware that you were in a differing universe; one in which causality would diverge from this one upon your point of arrival (basically, you'd be stuck in a universe/universes of your own creation/influence)
But of course, there are plenty of other problems regarding time travel, a few examples;
1) the butterfly effect; even the slightest, seemingly inconsequential changes to the past could have a massive effect on the future (creating numerous paradoxes); something as simple and benign as being in the wrong place at the wrong time could create a chain of events throughout time that prevent you from ever having been born
2) time travel would have to take location into account as well; given the rotational speed of the planet, it's revolution around the sun, the solar systems movement through the milky way galaxy, the galaxy's movement through the universe, etc. that even when standing still, you're moving at over 1.3 million miles per hour (2.1 million km/hr) through space itself; In other words, without knowing the location of relevant moving celestial bodies based on a fixed position (that does not exist as far as we know), even traveling forwards or backwards a few seconds could result in being hundreds or even millions of miles away from Earth upon arrival...
3) Fermi Paradox; if time travel were possible/becomes so at some undetermined point in the future, then why has no one ever met a time traveler?
4) how would a time machine even look/function? For starters, it would need the ability to accelerate an object with mass (you) beyond the speed of light; something that is physically impossible in quantum physics. The energy requirements to accelerate a mere subatomic to just near/sub light speed are astronomical, so you'd probably need more power than the entire planet/all of mankind could generate in a given amount of time.