Time Travel’s Not Possible, Say Scientists

• Lan wrote on 2011-07-26 07:20

  A team of physicists has determined that we'll never, ever be able to visit bygone eras, because nothing can travel faster than the speed of light—just like Albert Einstein said. Guess you'll never get to tackle Gavrilo Princip and thwart World War I or make out with Clark Gable after all.
  
  Based at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the scientists focused on measuring how quickly a photon—"the fundamental quanta of light"—can travel. Not as fast as light can, they concluded:[QUOTE] "By showing that single photons cannot travel faster than the speed of light, our results bring a closure to the debate on the true speed of information carried by a single photon," said [research team leader] Du [Shengwang], assistant professor of physics.
  
  "Our findings will also likely have potential applications by giving scientists a better picture on the transmission of quantum information."
  

  The scientists' research paper appears in Physical Review Letters, a journal that you can find at most drug store chains and also here. While you're reading, you might want to keep in mind that the researchers do live in a country that harbors anti-time travel sentiment. So even though This Is Science we're talking about, political pressures possibly affected their research. It's also possible that the photon they were monitoring was fatigued or lazy and out of shape, and therefore slow.[/QUOTE]
  
  http://gawker.com/5824259/time-travels-not-possible-say-scientists
• Mrlucky77 wrote on 2011-07-26 07:23
  Well looks like we'll just have to fold the universe to get to that star across the universe. No biggie.
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2011-07-26 07:27
  Nah, the real reason why scientist denies Time Travels is because a group called SERN is controlling all time traveling technologies.
  
  [SIZE="1"](Steins;Gate reference)[/SIZE]
• Yoorah wrote on 2011-07-26 07:28
  It's common knowledge (among those interested in the topic) that you cannot travel back in time. Travelling forward in time is very possible, however. :)
• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2011-07-26 07:31
  well yeah...
  Stephen Hawkings (or w/e his name was) said that time travel back isn't possible but time travel forward is
  although the cat thinks he said to a small extent
• Lan wrote on 2011-07-26 07:31

  Quote from Yoorah;527292:

  It's common knowledge (among those interested in the topic) that you cannot travel back in time. Travelling forward in time is very possible, however. :)

  
  
  Yeah using a black hole ._.
• Phunkie wrote on 2011-07-26 07:57

  Quote from Lan;527303:

  Yeah using a black hole ._.

  
  
  Many other ways too.
  
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1269288/STEPHEN-HAWKING-How-build-time-machine.html
  
  Time travel to the future is certainly possible.
• Zid wrote on 2011-07-26 08:08

  Quote from Yoorah;527292:

  It's common knowledge (among those interested in the topic) that you cannot travel back in time. Travelling forward in time is very possible, however. :)

  
  
  

  Quote from BobYoMeowMeow;527302:

  well yeah...
  Stephen Hawkings (or w/e his name was) said that time travel back isn't possible but time travel forward is
  although the cat thinks he said to a small extent

  
  
  This.
  
  If one considers time as a straight line with 0 being "stop" and 1 being "normal", then negative values don't work, since there is a rate of change has to be stuck on a positive (or forward) value. This also means we cannot stop time either, AKA "0" rate of change value.
  
  But slowing down (0 < rate of change < 1) or fast forwarding (1 < rate of change) time are indeed within human's understanding of the laws of the universe.
• Chiyuri wrote on 2011-07-26 15:55
  Getting close to a certain speed can produce a slow down in time but you can't physicaly bring it to 0, even less go in negatives.
  
  
  Anyway, the past is non-existant, the present exist, the future will exist. So the only place people can live in is in existance, the present.
• MrMs wrote on 2011-07-26 16:06
  What if we get super powers?
• TA wrote on 2011-07-26 16:11
  Guess that kicks our dreams of FtL travel like in Battlestar Gallactica, Star Trek, etc. right out the window.
  
  Jerk scientists.
  
  Wormholes, go! (We still have SG-1, yay!)
  
  ..er, wait... that's not time travel.
  
  Oh but wait... If we go through the wormhole past another that goes directly through a sun flare at the precise moment..!
  
  edit: Besides, it's not like exotic particles can't travel faster than light. Tachyons gogo!
• Time wrote on 2011-07-26 16:16
  >.>
  "People assume time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non linear, non subjective viewpoint, its more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey...stuff."
  
  THESE SCIENTISTS KNOW NOTHING!
  
  But really, lol, I like the end there that the research could be flawed.
• Osayidan wrote on 2011-07-26 16:18
  Traveling faster than light will probably be possible. Eventually we might not even need to "travel" (as in crossing a distance).
  Scientists who say we'll never be able to do something don't deserve the title.
• TA wrote on 2011-07-26 16:22

  Quote from Osayidan;527551:

  Traveling faster than light will probably be possible. Eventually we might not even need to "travel" (as in crossing a distance).
  Scientists who say we'll never be able to do something don't deserve the title.

  
  
  /agree
  
  Though I don't think time travel will be possible in the sense of the Grandfather paradox, I think time will fork for each change, so that going back in time and killing your grandfather would only affect that fork of time. Though, return through time would be impossible. That's my theory anyways.