Straight out of science fiction: Physicist discovers that paradox-free time travel is mathematically possible

submitted by Drewski from rt.com

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[–]Intuit 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

The concept of time travel is flawed. If you can travel in time, then time is just another physical dimension. But then to be able to move in that dimension, you need another dimension of time. It's also flawed in that it posits that in every moment of time there is a copy of the universe. Time is really just a way or organizing change in a system. The past doesn't exist. There aren't infinite copies of the universe in various states.

[–]TheJamesRocket 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It's also flawed in that it posits that in every moment of time there is a copy of the universe.

Not quite. That supposition comes from a particular interpretation of quantum mechanics, which most call the Many Worlds Theory. This is a very controversial position among scientists.

[–]Intuit 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm not even talking about indeterminism. A classical universe with time travel still posits infinite copies of the universe existing all at once for every moment of the past (and future).

[–]TheJamesRocket 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This paper seems to be re-treading the same path as the Novikov self-consistency principle. The conclusion is the same in either case: Time travel is not possible when it creates paradoxes. It says nothing about possibility, only about impossibility.

For all that we know, all attempts at time travel may be impossible, since they may always lead to paradoxes. In this case, even if you could build a time machine, it would automatically shut down every time you tried to use it.

[–]Drewski[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Germain Tobar and Fabio Costa - Reversible dynamics with closed time-like curves and freedom of choice

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Hi, it's me from the future.

[–]hennaojichan 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

So it could be like Groundhog Day—keep going back to your younger days and try to get it right.

[–]hennaojichan 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

They say the movie with Marty and the Doc was originally going to star Eddie Murphy and would've been called Black to the Future. That is called humor however low it is, and is certainly not intended as racism.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

If anyone else is unable to access rt.com because, I don't know, their ISP decided to block it, I made an archive on archive.org, you can view here.

[–]iDontShift 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

it is a mind virus, spread by msm... and has no reality beyond that which you give it.