Time/Dimension Theories

So, I've become very interested in String Theory as of late. I was going to make just a ST topic, but I think we'd have a lot more discussion if I put all theories up for debate here.

*Looking for more info on String Theory? Click here

*Looking for information on Time or Dimension Theories in general? Click here
If you have any questions regarding String Theory, M theory, or any others; feel free to ask on this thread!

As an aside, watch the movie or read the book Flatland. The movie is simpler to understand, but both stress the need to open up to the possibility of a fourth and even a fifth dimension (We live in the 3rd-that explains the 3D movies and stuff). Any questions on a fourth dimension, look up visuals and images of a hypercube. Pretty mind-blowing.
What is your opinion on the universe repeating cycles after a trillion years? I've conversed with people at least saying it isn't impossible. That is if time and space can remain stable.

Apparently doing laps around a black hole slows time. What could we gain from this?

Edit: I'm sorry if this brings up sensitive material.
(May. 04, 2012  5:14 AM)Apply Without Wrote: What is your opinion on the universe repeating cycles after a trillion years? I've conversed with people at least saying it isn't impossible. That is if time and space can remain stable.

Apparently doing laps around a black hole slows time. What could we gain from this?

Edit: I'm sorry if this brings up sensitive material.

the thing with the black hole idea is that if we wanted to lap one the projectory would have to be perfect to robit it and not be sucked in. also there would have to be a way out of orbit to get home again, so this idea is a bit risky in my opinion.
What? I'm getting a headace? People are actually planning to suck themselves inside of black holes to travel through time!? Chocked_2
To slow it down by two minutes, and we will eventually find a way before the year 9999. It's a form of time travel to slow it down at the least, because we already know going back is impossible. That or I'm believing too many things at once.
There are numerous theories of relativity that state--while it MAY be possible to travel forwards (Assuming we are looking at time as if it is a line) in time--it is physically impossible to go reverse. However, compared to how massive the Universe is and how it is ever-expanding, we know very little. Therefore there may be ways to do so, but we either 1) Are not and will not be able to grasp the concepts (Nice way of saying we are dumb) 2) May evolve to be able to understand them. Either way, with our current knowledge there is no way to travel backwards.
I think it is impossible to move at the speed of light through space. It would require all the energy in the universe to displace that kind of mass at the speed of light Uncertain
(May. 07, 2012  11:28 PM)Psylent Wrote: I think it is impossible to move at the speed of light through space. It would require all the energy in the universe to displace that kind of mass at the speed of light Uncertain

It's not possible to travel at the speed of light, not because of what you explained, but because if you did, you'd just disappear. Yep. Just bye bye. I don't remember the exact equation, but if your velocity is the same as that of light, the result is zero. Therefore, zero existence, haha.



Oh, and by the way homies, we ain't gonna figure out how to travel back in time anywhere in the near future. How do I know? Well, if we had travelled back in time, someone from the future would be here right now! Haha
(May. 07, 2012  10:49 PM)Sparta Wrote: There are numerous theories of relativity that state--while it MAY be possible to travel forwards (Assuming we are looking at time as if it is a line) in time--it is physically impossible to go reverse. However, compared to how massive the Universe is and how it is ever-expanding, we know very little. Therefore there may be ways to do so, but we either 1) Are not and will not be able to grasp the concepts (Nice way of saying we are dumb) 2) May evolve to be able to understand them. Either way, with our current knowledge there is no way to travel backwards.

I remember hearing the opposite, actually. I've heard that it may be possible to go back, but going forward is incredibly unlikely. Now, this was a few years ago, so theories may have changed, or we may have just heard from different sources.
Well, you have to understand the time contraction stuff or whatever the hell it's called. And I don't feel like explaining it to you.

Guys, I think we should just let this topic die. Nobody has anything to support what they have to say.
Shabalabadoo, I do have something to say XD.

Well, in my Physics lecture today our professor was discussing about irreversible and reversible thermodynamic processes. During that, he told us, some things regarding time-travel.
If we are to move at a speed faster than light and travel at large enough speed and distance, we can actually see the past because on moving faster than light, you will actually be seeing the light that has been reflected some years back. in simpler words, if you are to go at a speed faster than light, you will be seeing the light reflected from you while you were moving in the process and hence looking back in time. Technically, the sun we see is how the sun looked 8 minutes back so we can still look back in time Tongue_out. But, sound is much slower than light so we cant talk to the things we see if we travel back in time.
Of course, such a thing can be possible in future so people might be watching us but would be unable to talk XD however, I dont think such a thing is really feasible in the near future.
As for dimension, according to Einstein's theory, spacetime is supposed to be 4th dimension and a huge enough mass(few times heavier than sun) can distort spacetime. This has also been one of the best explanation for why Mercury orbits differently than other planets. Of course a black has such a huge gravitation that it might be weighing way too much. So, the distorting effect produced can cause changes in spacetime.
But the issue is just that. Moving faster than light would cause one to come into contact with anti-matter. You'd be instantly nullified or counter-acted by the antimatter. I might have the equation on me if I can dig out my Stephen Hawking books.
Yeah, let's not forget that the acceleration even just to 1200 or so miles per hour obliterates most things that aren't billion dollar space-age materials.

One hundred and fifty times that speed wouldn't totally atomize you or anything.

I love how the physical aspect of this part of lightspeed travel is basically always ignored: friction does not go away. Surface entries at 700mph involve things bursting into flame. Walking six inches at the speed of light would involve bursting into nothingness. You can coat yourself in teflon, baby oil, and a Gundam, and you will still stop existing before even reaching half the speed of light.
(May. 05, 2012  12:51 AM)Apply Without Wrote: To slow it down by two minutes, and we will eventually find a way before the year 9999. It's a form of time travel to slow it down at the least, because we already know going back is impossible. That or I'm believing too many things at once.

it may be possible that we can go back in time.
Requirements:
a supersonic vehicle with a huge fuel capacity(i mean god capacity)
Method:
the international dateline is a long vertical imaginary line down one side of the earth.going from one side of it to the other u subtract one from the current date so circling around it a lot of times can take us into the past or future
We can even live an extra moment by flying on a concorde jet from india to usa
Of course. It is impractical but I was just pointing out that theorotically if you have all ideal conditions, it can be made possible to go back in time.

Fun theory to go ahead in time: Just stay at the same place forever and you'll magically go ahead in time after a few minutes/days/years XD XD.
(Jun. 01, 2012  10:13 AM)echoes of hell Wrote:
(May. 05, 2012  12:51 AM)Apply Without Wrote: To slow it down by two minutes, and we will eventually find a way before the year 9999. It's a form of time travel to slow it down at the least, because we already know going back is impossible. That or I'm believing too many things at once.

it may be possible that we can go back in time.
Requirements:
a supersonic vehicle with a huge fuel capacity(i mean god capacity)
Method:
the international dateline is a long vertical imaginary line down one side of the earth.going from one side of it to the other u subtract one from the current date so circling around it a lot of times can take us into the past or future
Actually, that would not affect time at all. It's an imaginary line that simply points out the connect between one half of the time zones and the other. Kind of like a gap between AM and PM.
(Jun. 01, 2012  10:13 AM)echoes of hell Wrote:
(May. 05, 2012  12:51 AM)Apply Without Wrote: To slow it down by two minutes, and we will eventually find a way before the year 9999. It's a form of time travel to slow it down at the least, because we already know going back is impossible. That or I'm believing too many things at once.

it may be possible that we can go back in time.
Requirements:
a supersonic vehicle with a huge fuel capacity(i mean god capacity)
Method:
the international dateline is a long vertical imaginary line down one side of the earth.going from one side of it to the other u subtract one from the current date so circling around it a lot of times can take us into the past or future

but if you go backwards you're still technically going forwards, its hard to explain but time goes forward in a certain manner. going from one place to another may take away a couple of hours but you're going forwards going backwards. its hard to explain. you're not technically going back in time as in going back to certain events. like you could never go meet Leonardo da Vinci. because you are going forward past that date.

Also it might be hard to go forward in time because any choices made change the future in drastic ways, so if you come from the past and go into the future then things might change in the real future and it will end up being different. so when you end up there you might have just have done something bad to the future. also the term future is a loose term because any time after any time is the future.

sorry if its hard to understand what im saying but basically im saying the whole idea of time travel is extremely flawed at the moment with our knowledge.
Since time is thought to be directly tied to space, time travel would likely cause someone to cease existing. I mean, tampering with space itself, which is needed for even vacuums, is plain idiocy. If you happen across a space where even a vacuum cannot exist, how can a human, which is made of matter? Poof, human gone.
of course, we make to many choices in our lives of even the most minute detail to say that time travel would drastically change someones life somewhere in the cosmos at some point. Any thing we do leads into a tree of infinite possibilities that at the moment we cant choose between.
For that to even be a factor, you would have to ignore the physical impossibility. That said, there are supposed to be neutrinos that can surpass the speed of light. I doubt it, but there will be research and studies going into this for the next ten years or so.
Well just to weigh in if anyone cares with a couple of ideas in a more philosophical direction. I wonder how many people believe in a deterministic future and how that affects time travel. The general consensus in modern philosophy is that the universe is indeed deterministic but inside a model that allows for our choices to have real effects (separating them from hard determinism and fatalism.) String theory is almost completely at odds with this at points and since many of you undoubtedly know more about it than I do I wondered what you thought.
Well, if the future is determined by what we do, then traveling to the future would either already compensate for what you do, or simply wipe you from existence. Especially if you impact your future/past life. However, if the universe if predetermined, then time travel is quite possible. However, I cannot see how something such as free will can be predetermined. I think that nothing is predetermined. That would defeat the purpose of any sort of "Fight-or-Flight" mentality, or any impulse that shapes out actions.
Future being pre-determined.. That somehow reminds me of astrologers like Nostradamus. I know, you can't relate him with time travel. But, what I'm trying to say is, if an astrologer makes a prediction, his prediction can never have 100% efficiency(2nd law of thermodynamics XD). In short, future can be pre-determined but not to a very great extent. That is what leaves us with the choices and the 'Fight or Flight'. Of course, these choices won't be affecting your future too much. But they will still have a slight effect on the pre-determined future. So, who knows, astrology may be a sort of time-travel into future for a very brief duration with some 60-70% accuracy.
Or, maybe, they are just mind games. Tongue_out_wink

However, I still feel that actual time travel is theoretically and practically impossible. And, unless some big discovery takes place allowing us to explore more about time travelling and stuff, all we can do is to look at the sun and enjoy looking 8 minutes back in time :p

Disclaimer: If the things stated above do not make any sense, please igore them. N0body says such things.
I kinda get it. The closest we get to time travel is by seeing events occur just now that happened a significant duration of time ago, correct? Like watching a star. That star has likely died. (Minus the sun.)