will I be able to travel back in time? Will I be able to travel back in time only to be stuck there with no way home because the time machine doesn't exist yet?
What if it's portable? Won't it still have to run on something other than electricity, for going backwards?
2007-06-11 16:45:48 · 11 answers · asked by rebekkah hot as the sun 7 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
I have read "The Time Machine" and it is definitely a page-turner. Love it.
2007-06-11 17:15:00 · update #1
If the machine can transport itself, then you will have it with you so you don't have to worry about being stuck, just use a portable power supply (batteries?) . Even better, when you come back in time you can tell yourself how to make a time machine, so you don't even need to bother inventing it, the future you will already know from when the future you told the current you. I don't know why no one else has thought of that, but now that I have mentioned it, no doubt some one will go back to yesterday and be the first to have a time machine.
2007-06-11 16:57:33 · answer #1 · answered by tinkertailorcandlestickmaker 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Obviously, it depends on how you define a time machine (and under what theoretical basis you imagine it might operate). If you define a time machine as something that allows you to travel completely independently of the normal universe's time flow (whatever that is), then the answers would be "yes, you can travel back in time; no, you won't get stuck because the time machine hasn't been built; yes, it would be wise to have it run on a source of power that you expect will be available at your destination." Though I suppose you could just take along a big sack full of batteries.
But you could also imagine various restrictions on time travel (this goes back to the theory behind it, which is entirely fictional at the present state of the art). Some of the more plausible ones might be that you can only go forwards, or that you can only go backwards as far as the time the machine was built. It all comes down to the question: Is the past really fixed, or is it in principle changeable? And what about the future? At the moment even these questions aren't really well-defined - we all know what we mean, but it doesn't really translate properly into physical terms. Which probably means that we don't really understand the nature of time.
[tinkertailor: read Stephen Baxter's "The Time Ships", an authorised sequel to H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" - in which the protagonist does indeed wind up giving his younger self a start on the road to building the time machine. I also recommend Gregory Benford's "Timescape".]
2007-06-11 23:59:13 · answer #2 · answered by Scarlet Manuka 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
will I be able to travel back in time? Of course. You did assume you had a time machine, didn't you?
Will I be able to travel back in time only to be stuck there with no way home because the time machine doesn't exist yet? That depends on whether the machine goes with you, doesn't it?
What if it's portable? I guess then the answer would be yes. Be careful not to overshoot the present on the way back, though, you might run into some hungry Morlocs.
Won't it still have to run on something other than electricity, for going backwards? Bring extra batteries.
2007-06-12 00:29:15 · answer #3 · answered by Dr. R 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For fun, let's say you've already done it! What I would do is make two of everything, mainly the generator and the portable time-travel device. Those are some good questions that only philosophy and actual experimentation could resolve. But if you do have one, take another along... just in case. :)
2007-06-17 14:37:56 · answer #4 · answered by Chad 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is theoretically possible at least to view past things "live", even though we may not be able to interfere in any affairs. For examples many of the stars we watch today in sky exist back in time. Similarly if you go away from earth by a few light years and look here you may be able to see things that had happened so many years ago.
2007-06-12 00:04:16 · answer #5 · answered by Karoly 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Read H.G. Wells, The Time Machine. I garantee you find it interesting. Physical time machines have not been invented yet. It's still in the realm of fantasy and science-fiction so far.
2007-06-12 00:05:33 · answer #6 · answered by lotus1s 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No time travel is only theoretically possible and what would happen if one could travel in time is a speculation that even scientists don't dare make. Only sci-fi writers and hollywood movies hazard to take a guess and they are terribly wrong all the time
2007-06-11 23:52:03 · answer #7 · answered by Mock Turtle 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Let's worry about these problems after you invent the machine. I promise you the answers are easier than the invention itself.
2007-06-11 23:52:58 · answer #8 · answered by Brett2010 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Time travel makes for good science fiction but that is all it will ever be, it is impossible.
2007-06-16 09:57:35 · answer #9 · answered by johnandeileen2000 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well...the time machine might go with you...if it didn't then you could just click your heals together three times and say there's no place like the present repeatedly
2007-06-11 23:52:54 · answer #10 · answered by Brian M 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋