NationStates Jolt Archive

because it just makes sense.


now go support my proposal.

Didn't we already pass this?
:shock:
Someone must have gone back and altered our history!

uh oh... we must find the time traveller... i think it was you collaboration and your just trying to cover for it by realizing it first... im watching you :D

Even better

It really was Collaboration, but he hasn't done it yet (or, better worded, his future self has already done it, but not his current self). This allows him plausible deniability.

The funny thing is if I develop time travel, how would you know?

I wonder if Gallifrey is part of the UN....

The funny thing is if I develop time travel, how would you know?

we wouldn't so we'd just have to guess. And my magic monkey says that you did, and he hasnt failed me yet... Lets arrest him

too bad. i sent an aindroid back in time to destroy your majic monkey. ummm... you did not just hear that.

How do you know we haven't already tried to ban time travel, only to have someone travel back in time and change the course of events?


EDIT: oops...joke's already stale. :oops:

How do we know that our actions aren't the result of a mistake in the future, changing the past, and ruining the world?

Any form of time travel that actually matters isn't possible.

I.E. You go back in time to stop WW2, you suceed, but in the future you would have never gone back in time to stop WW2, so then it would happen again, so you would go back in time to stop it, but then if you suceeded you wouldn't have gone back in time because it wouldn't have happened and on and on and on.

Any form of time travel that actually matters isn't possible.

I.E. You go back in time to stop WW2, you suceed, but in the future you would have never gone back in time to stop WW2, so then it would happen again, so you would go back in time to stop it, but then if you suceeded you wouldn't have gone back in time because it wouldn't have happened and on and on and on.

Alot of modern astrophysicitis believe in what Hawking calls the Many-Histories Theory now, which basically says that there are infinite possible histories that are simulated in different universes. Otherwise, free will would be impossible because everything would be predetermined.

An implication of this theory is that time travel is possible... you just effect another universe.

well then your really not travelling back in time but rather travelling to a different universe.

The way i see it the only way time travel could work is if there was fate in which case you aren't changing anything but rather fulfilling fate.

Since lets say you changed something in the past and you got it right and everything is all better, you wouldnt have a reason to go back and so you wouldn't go back and thus your back where you started

Many worlds makes sense if you're going to run with time travel, otherwise you'd rip sodding great holes in the fabric of the universe with even the smallest of actions in the past. And there's no point arguing with me because my future self told me I'm right ;)

because it just makes sense.


now go support my proposal.
Why?
and
No.

Any form of time travel that actually matters isn't possible.

I.E. You go back in time to stop WW2, you suceed, but in the future you would have never gone back in time to stop WW2, so then it would happen again, so you would go back in time to stop it, but then if you suceeded you wouldn't have gone back in time because it wouldn't have happened and on and on and on.

The way i see it the only way time travel could work is if there was fate in which case you aren't changing anything but rather fulfilling fate.

Since lets say you changed something in the past and you got it right and everything is all better, you wouldnt have a reason to go back and so you wouldn't go back and thus your back where you started

Another way to think of it is as follows:

1) You go back in time to change something. Events then unfold in a new way, but when those changes reach the present, there's a logical contradiction between the new events and the event that prompted the initial trip.

2) Those changes then follow your original path back through time and affect the past again. Events again unfold in a way that's different from the original history. Those changes reach the present again, but again there are contradictions between the new history and the event that prompted the initial trip back. So, hose changes again follow the path back through time.

Time goes round and round like a dog chasing it's own tail until events finally converge on a logically-consistent loop of events.

...


Confusing? Let's go through an example.

Let's suppose that I'm the Director of United States Temporal Warfare.

In the original history, there was an attempt on Hitler's life that almost succeeded. A German official decided to plant a bomb at a high-level meeting to kill Hitler. The assassin placed a bomb-in-a-briefcase Hitler only survived because the bomb placed at the meeting had been moved behind the support of a very heavy table, sheilding Hitler from the blast.

I go back in time and tell the assassin to place the bomb in a slightly different location; one that will definitely kill Hitler. I also visit President Roosevelt and give him a letter and tell the President that it must be given to the Director of United States Temporal Warfare in 2003.

I then return to my time.

In the new history, there is no reason for me to go back in time and help an assassination of Hitler that already succeeded. After all, I grew up learning that Hitler was assassinated in 1943 (or whatever year it was). Then, one day, the President call me into his office and gives me a letter saying that it had been handed down to him (or her; it is an alternat timeline), Prez-to-Prez, from President Roosevelt. The letter says that the assassination succeeded because of future help, help from my time. So, to make sure that no logical contradiction occurs, I should go back in time and give the assassin advice needed to make the assassination succeed. I should also make a letter identical to the letter I'm reading now and deliver it to President Roosevelt.

So, I follow the instructions, go back in time, and give the assassin the needed advice. I also deliver the copy of the letter I read to President Roosevelt.

History changed. No logical contradiction.

"Think about it for a moment."

--The Democratic States of Cogitation
Founder of The Realm of Ambrosia

look douchebags,

im trying to protect the SPACE TIME CONTINUIUM here.

you should too.

Like you're going to get more support by calling everyone "douchebags"

Any form of time travel that actually matters isn't possible.

I.E. You go back in time to stop WW2, you suceed, but in the future you would have never gone back in time to stop WW2, so then it would happen again, so you would go back in time to stop it, but then if you suceeded you wouldn't have gone back in time because it wouldn't have happened and on and on and on.

Alot of modern astrophysicitis believe in what Hawking calls the Many-Histories Theory now, which basically says that there are infinite possible histories that are simulated in different universes. Otherwise, free will would be impossible because everything would be predetermined.

An implication of this theory is that time travel is possible... you just effect another universe.

That is why I said any form of time travel that actually matters, if the many histories theory was true all you could do with time travel is go to see how things happened and screw around with an alternate universe that doesn't matter to you.

That's a cool idea. If someone wanted to kill someone, they can just go to one of the many "realities" and fulfill their wish.

I believe that time itself is actually partially controlled by perception of reality. For instance, the more aware we are of time, the slower it seems to get (in my case, because I'm always running from place to place).
The more we concentrate on other tasks, the more time seems to 'slip' and we suddenly discover a whole ten minutes or so of time have disappeared.

I also believe our consciousness is somewhat tied to the future, after all, we all suffer from 'Dream Precognition', where you dream of events that happen in the future. Our subconscious may be connected to the foundations of real time, and as a consequence, we're constantly seeing the future. The concept of time as linear is outdated and incorrect, as one can change the future, which in turn changes future decisions and so on.

As beings affected by time, and those who affect it, it could be said that in some small ways, each of us create a collective idea of 'Time'. And the strength of conviction is what keeps the continuum of time running.

So perception of time is more important than time itself, as time is immaterial except when concentrated upon.

*Head aching*