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Orpheus Rex

Member
Messages
479
And just fyi, that word doesn't mean what you think it means. A world line is an object's path through spacetime. A closed timelike curve is a world line that loops back on itself allowing for time travel, which is what all those tipler cylinders and moving wormholes are supposed to create.
Don't fool yourself. A closed timelike curve is only associated with worldlines in Lorentzian Manifolds and is only required for certain kinds of time travel. Additionally, remember that the multiple worlds is an interpretation and is one of the easier ones for lay people to understand and so when among lay people, their definition is dominant for the writer carries the burden of communication.
Do you use a singularity of any kind?
Is your machine WEC-respecting?
How did you stabilize your time machine against vacuum fluctuations?
 

Ayasano

Member
Messages
407
And just fyi, that word doesn't mean what you think it means. A world line is an object's path through spacetime. A closed timelike curve is a world line that loops back on itself allowing for time travel, which is what all those tipler cylinders and moving wormholes are supposed to create.
Don't fool yourself. A closed timelike curve is only associated with worldlines in Lorentzian Manifolds and is only required for certain kinds of time travel. Additionally, remember that the multiple worlds is an interpretation and is one of the easier ones for lay people to understand and so when among lay people, their definition is dominant for the writer carries the burden of communication.
Do you use a singularity of any kind?
Is your machine WEC-respecting?
How did you stabilize your time machine against vacuum fluctuations?


Finally, someone who's actually done their research. Many Worlds is an interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, whereas CTCs are a solution to General Relativity, so the two aren't mutually exclusive. The term "world lines" doesn't appear in MW at all, and I don't agree with using incorrect terms when it causes confusion. "Universe" is the word they're looking for, which is fairly unambiguous and well-known, whereas "world line" causes confusion between people using the term correctly, those using it incorrectly and those who don't know of the phrase at all. It might seem like a nitpick, but in a subject as vast as physics, using the correct terminology can avoid a lot of confusion.

It's worth pointing out that in MW, time travel isn't the only time new universes are created. Me changing my mind about which words to use in this post would have created several new universes, for example, not to mention the millions of universes created every time an atom decays or doesn't decay. It's also worth pointing out that MW is inherantly unprovable. (Though not unfalsifiable as some assert, when you take into account time travel) Take the classic example of going back and killing your own grandfather. I can currently think of 6 different possible outcomes. (7 if you experience #6 from the point of view of doing the deed yourself, but I feel that it would play out like #1 from your perspective)

  1. You go back and kill your grandfather. You live out your life and observe that you're never born. It's possible that you're in a new universe, but this outcome can also be explained by a single universe where a change in the past overwrites the future.
  2. You go back and kill your grandfather. You instantly vanish. This outcome can be explained the same way as above, but the universe just has a different method of handling paradox.
  3. You go back but you can't kill your grandfather. Either you get the wrong person, or he just plain survives through deus ex maxchina. This can be explained by either the chronology protection conjecture, where it's simply impossible to change the past, or one of my personal favourites, a single timeline where the change would overwrite future events and some unhappy time travellers from the future would very much like for you to leave things alone and stop you from changing history.
  4. You send someone else back to kill your grandfather. Nothing happens. This can be explained the same way as either #1 or #3. In MW, you wouldn't notice a change because the person sent back would end up in the new universe, not you. With a single timeline, if you're still around it means the person you sent back failed for either of the reasons from #3.
  5. You send someone else back to kill your grandfather. You instantly poof out of existence. Basically the same explanation as #2, just from a different point of view.
  6. You send someone else back to kill your grandfather. Next thing you know, no one remembers you. Someone else is living in your house. Someone else is doing your job. You've been erased from history but are somehow still around to notice. Same explanation as #1 and #2 but the universe has yet another way of handling paradox.

It's worth noting that I believe #3/4 is the way things would play out, although I won't know for sure until I get the chance to test it.

To answer your last few questions, I don't own a time machine. If I did, I wouldn't be risking blowing my cover by posting on a forum that allows non-time-travellers access to it. (Unless I was sent back specifically to help/misdirect)
 
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Einstein

Temporal Engineer
Messages
5,413
Diablos made the claim that he was a time traveler. But he has yet to come forward with anything that would substantiate that claim.
 

AETERNAM REX

Junior Member
Messages
95
The whole discussion is in the context of presuming actual physical time travel as depicted in movies.

What if it isn't?

What if the parameters are a bit different than what most are considering?

What if the means are metaphysical rather than physical?

What if it is a blend of something of an ESP nature, with the assistance of technology ...or something to that order?


Humor me with a hypothetical for a moment...


What if, in the future, scientists discover a way to send some sort of trans-dimensional pulse? You couldn't remotely view, or appear as a hologram, or communicate telepathically or anything so amazing. ...but you can send something that will cause a static disruption to radio frequencies in the past. ...which could be used to send Morse Code.

It is then a question of how to manage it.

If you knew just about the time and place Tesla was figuring out radio waves, you could send him a message. Put it on repeat transmit and direct it to where he will receive it while tinkering with radio equipment.

You could give instructions on how to confirm the message was received, ...like where to put a time capsule of information. If confirmed, from that point on, you have an open line of communication with the past. The possibilities are vast.

YOU COULD EVEN SEND SOMEONE A MESSAGE WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO ANONYMOUSLY POST THINGS ON THE INTERNET.

If there were some kind of reception equipment that was better suited than a radio, you could send Tesla instructions on how to build one. What could you do with that?


It is more perceivable to me that communications, rather than physical time travel, is a more realistic explanation as to the means/method. Even the capability to send a Morse message could be enormously powerful.

If there were a way to send physical objects, but not biological entities, and not things that would explode or malfunction, etc ..in the process, the possibilities increase exponentially.
 

Aryeandris

Active Member
Messages
741
Read Ayasano's last paragraph above my question, is it just me or..are both of them claiming to be time travelers?
 

Einstein

Temporal Engineer
Messages
5,413
Read Ayasano's last paragraph above my question, is it just me or..are both of them claiming to be time travelers?

Well the part where he says unless he was sent back to misdirect might be interpreted that way. But he never directly made the claim that he was a time traveler. And my discussions with him show he does strictly adhere to the theoretical science we are taught in school. I strongly believe what we are taught in school is designed to misdirect us away from true understanding. But there are lots of people that will strongly adhere to theoretical science. So I kind of doubt you could claim they are all time travelers.
 

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