Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Time Travel Into Past Not Possible Says Philosophy Professor


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Fanciful ideas of time travel to the past were dispelled by modern philosopher Ned Markosiah at Tuesday night’s (October 29) “Philosophy Today” lecture at the University of Alabama.

“So my argument is that time travel to the past is not possible if a certain theory of time is true. Namely, the dynamic theory of time, which I do think is true,” Markosian, a philosophy professor at Western Washington University, said. “So, I do think time travel to the past is not possible. As for time travel to the future, that could still be possible.”

The talk compared two competing schools of thought about time: static time and dynamic time.
According to static time, all times are equally real. So what happened a few days ago still exists in the same way as what is happening right now.

According to dynamic time, time is like a moving spotlight that shines on certain moments, and only the moments that are under the light exist. The spotlight keeps moving and cannot be stopped, just as time cannot be stopped.

Markosian said time travel to the past is impossible according to dynamic time theory for several reasons.

More - Link >>> http://cw.ua.edu/2013/10/30/visiting-philosopher-declares-time-travel-to-past-impossible/

Source: The Crimson White of the University of Alabama.

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8 comments:

  1. Awesome post. It´s only possible to travel to the future, because we the "arrow" of time points onwards.

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  2. If Einstein's relativity is correct, and there are no known reasons to think otherwise, travel to the future is easy - just travel far enough at very close to light speed. In my latest SF novel, I give two arguments why travel to the past is impossible, the most important being the second law of thermodynamics, which requires entropy to increase with time. If any object travelled back, it would transfer entropy from the present to the past, in direct contravention of the law. Nevertheless, I suggest an alternative - that as long as all energy is expended in the present you might be able to transfer information to the past because it contains no mass nor heat, nor energy. This, of course, still allows paradoxes - you cannot kill your grandfather, but maybe you can send a message that leads to someone else at the time to do it. That would only work if time was multidimensional, and a number of parallel timelines were possible. An example I used in the novel to prop up this hypothesis: how did the Delphic Oracle know Galba would replace Nero?

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    Replies
    1. Good point Mr. Miller. I read your comment on this topic. Yes I am totally agreed with you because you have much learn through your future. I like your thought. Thanks for nice sharing.

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  3. I agreed that time travel to the past is not possible but travel to feature is possible. Because time never stops and wait for anyone. It passes continuously.

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  4. Your all discussion points that are related to the impotence of time are appreciable. I agree with the above members takes care of time is very important for us to get success in our life. The time is run with the passing of every moment. Single moment is very worthy for us. We need to walk according to the time speed because time is not wait for non.

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  5. Amazing post which shows us the importance of time. Time plays very important role in our lives. If we want to success we should take care our time. We should try to save our time because it passes and never wait for anyone.

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  6. I am also impressed from your blog post and I agree for all above members. This information is very useful for all blog users. Time is very important in our life. We should try to save time and no waste in unnecessary work.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I used to reach late my office because I have to go through bus tours from boston to washington dc. It’s a long journey that I have to do on daily basis and my boss blamed me for this but now I’ll take care about it. Your blog is awesome with lots of useful information. Hope you’ll share some more suggestions with us in future.

    ReplyDelete