tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post2144192682391530015..comments2023-10-31T10:28:50.158-04:00Comments on The Zeray Gazette: Time Travel, Physics, and Free WillJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04854543617806427302noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-34631586184255105902010-02-08T21:18:03.588-05:002010-02-08T21:18:03.588-05:00I used to have Discover in my RSS reader, but it w...I used to have Discover in my RSS reader, but it was so political all the time that it left a bad taste in my mouth.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04854543617806427302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-46608854903157165992010-02-08T19:52:16.988-05:002010-02-08T19:52:16.988-05:00I have usually found Discover magazine to be a div...I have usually found <i>Discover</i> magazine to be a diverting and thoughtful read, although perhaps taken with a few grains of salt. It is one subscription I intend to seek one day, if I build up the financial capacity.Richhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09091246964133101706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-9481783673698810322010-02-08T12:43:36.759-05:002010-02-08T12:43:36.759-05:00If time travel is possible in our future (and ther...If time travel is possible in our future (and therefore something that could impact us today), would there be a way of knowing? If one were in an altered timeline, how would one know?Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04854543617806427302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-65766125037506068972010-02-07T12:56:02.435-05:002010-02-07T12:56:02.435-05:00My theory is that time travel is possible, and a n...My theory is that time travel is possible, and a natural development of any rational progression of technological civilization. And, therefore, all of history -- past, present and future -- is a solid mass of time paradoxes. The time paradox is the building block of reality.<br /><br />This follows from Niven's Law, which states: if time travel is possible in the universe of discourse, it cannot be invented. If it is invented, then people will travel into the past and change the past, until they introduce a change that prevents the invention of time travel. Then they can't introduce any more changes. <br /><br />But if the invention is a natural, even easy development, preventing Marconi from inventing it only means that Dr. Wang will invent it a bit later, and when he's prevented, Edison will do it a bit later yet. And so on. Preventing time travel is a never-ending job. <br /><br />This theory explains why technological civilization does not progress rationally. That's a side effect of preventing time travel. History has been systematically distorted from its natural progression.<br /><br />You have a better explanation?Bob Hawkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06384565746734984949noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-53029153621525063772010-02-07T11:13:05.737-05:002010-02-07T11:13:05.737-05:00It's also the case that the guy will age - 24 ...<i>It's also the case that the guy will age - 24 hours for every 24 hours he 'loiters' around the gate. As does the Guardian who is observing it. So saying this is a loop is wrong too. It is more like a chain of loops progressing into the future, one new loop each time the guy steps through the portal again.</i><br /><br />This makes a lot of sense, and I suspect that only through the creation of multiple, independent timelines could one account for the endless duplication that would result from starting the loop on another cycle.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04854543617806427302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-40605748100565282852010-02-07T11:10:48.102-05:002010-02-07T11:10:48.102-05:00Oooh, I hadn't heard of Einstein's Dreams....Oooh, I hadn't heard of <i>Einstein's Dreams</i>. That looks like a neat idea for a novel.<br /><br />Graham wrote:<br /><br /><i>Your time traveller in the 24-hour loop is, in fact, a paradox. You still want to hang on to causality in your cosmology, I suppose, so you need to have a chain of events that led up to this person being a fully grown adult and standing in front of the gate so he could step through. Saying he sprang into being when he stepped through the gate 24 hours ago, just isn't good enough. Once he's in the loop, fine. He will keep going round. But somehow, he got there and that's the paradox.</i><br /><br />So even envisioning the paradox is, itself, a paradox?Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04854543617806427302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-74780868087456007412010-02-05T23:24:40.484-05:002010-02-05T23:24:40.484-05:00It's nice to hear someone talking sensibly abo...It's nice to hear someone talking sensibly about time travel for a change :-) Sadly, there are a couple of nits I'd like to pick in what you wrote. <br /><br />Your time traveller in the 24-hour loop is, in fact, a paradox. You still want to hang on to causality in your cosmology, I suppose, so you need to have a chain of events that led up to this person being a fully grown adult and standing in front of the gate so he could step through. Saying he sprang into being when he stepped through the gate 24 hours ago, just isn't good enough. Once he's in the loop, fine. He will keep going round. But somehow, he got there and that's the paradox. <br /><br />It's also the case that the guy will age - 24 hours for every 24 hours he 'loiters' around the gate. As does the Guardian who is observing it. So saying this is a loop is wrong too. It is more like a chain of loops progressing into the future, one new loop each time the guy steps through the portal again.<br /><br />Finally, since I and 24-hours-older me can chat through the gate, information about the future is flowing back to me which I should be able to use to make decisions about my future. If, while we're chatting, I see future me being stabbed to death, I might decide to get away from the gate and never go near it again. This case doesn't necessarily break your predestination hypothesis, but the kind of convoluted story you'd have to come up with to explain why I'm there, 24-hours later, chatting amiably, even though I know I'm going to be attacked and have done my best to avoid it, certainly makes it look suspect.Graham Storrshttp://www.timesplash.co.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10760709.post-90063473929473744312010-02-05T22:56:26.831-05:002010-02-05T22:56:26.831-05:00This makes me want to read Einstein's Dreams a...This makes me want to read Einstein's Dreams again. Having fun with time concepts never gets "old."Johnny Cathttp://johnnycat.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com