Time

[Lee]

Raven's 'Space' topic got me thinking about time.

1. what is time really? i mean really really?!?!
2. is it even possible to travel through time?
3. can we go to the past or future?
4. if we do figure out how to travel through time will we disappear from this time?
5. if we go back in time and kill our mother before we're born will we just randomly vanish?
6. when did time begin, and when will it end?
7. is time infinite?

aren't we all slowly moving forward in time? yes we are. but i wouldn't call it traveling. to travel would be to jump ahead into the future. does this mean that we are slowly traveling into the future? no. because no matter where we are in time, whether going forward or backward, we are still in the present. the future will always be something ahead of our current time, thus making it unaccessible.
but i don't believe in time travel. to me, time is just a measurement created by man. it is not something that can be altered, simply because it doesn't exist. it's just a word.
you roll a ball from point x to point y, and 5 seconds has passed. so what? it's just measuring how long it takes for the ball to roll from this point to that point. you can not say that there actually is another force that is consistently keeping things in play. it just doesn't make sense. things exist as they are and can not be reversed.
but saying this makes it hard for me to think how long things have existed for. was there ever a time where nothing existed at all? how does that even make sense? if nothing existed that means that nothing would ever happen, and clearly something did happen. to think back that far to the beginning of time before the milky way even existed is just a mystery that will never be solved.

argh, my words don't even make sense anymore. :S now i'm thinking about time being infinite and i can't even be bothered to try to understand.
please, shed your thoughts on time. remember what i said is only my opinion, so go easy on me if i seem noob about this.

[Igge]

Off to school soon so only doing short answers.

1. what is time really? i mean really really?!?!
Time is something invented by man to measure how long certain things take. It has nothing major to it really. It's even a pretty faulty measurment, and fails in some circumstances. However, it's the best we've got. Time is also an incredibly epicly amazingly awesome song by Pink floyd.
2. is it even possible to travel through time?
Yes. Travel fast enough.
3. can we go to the past or future?
Time travelling by closign up on the speed of light might be a bit 'lame' compared to hollywood time travel. Basically you can freeze yourself in time, and have the rest of the world continue at it's normal pace. Then when you return, it will be like you've travelled into the future - Your friends will be older than you are, but you will stay the same.
4. if we do figure out how to travel through time will we disappear from this time?
Depends on how you define time travel. Like I described it above, the person travelling won't disappear.
5. if we go back in time and kill our mother before we're born will we just randomly vanish?
No. If we go back in time and killed our mother, that is what always would have happened, and thus you were never born. It's simply impossible. You can't change the future. If you go back in time and changed something, you ALWAYS went back in time, even before you actually go back in time. The thigns you're about to change have already changed when the time you're travelling back to was the current time. Likewise, if you did go back in time from the year 2011 to the year 199 and changed something, you would -always- go back in time in 2011, no matter what you did. If you did it, you did it. Whatever happened, happened.
6. when did time begin, and when will it end?
Time, which again, is only a simple method developed by man for measuring how long things take, Begins further back than we can imagine. It spans beyond the big bang, and beyond the end of our planet. Time, as we have defined it, is limitless. There's no end to time, nor a beginning.
7. is time infinite?
Yes.

[Grace]

i fucking hate time, i'm always running late.

[pawq]

i fucking hate time, i'm always running late.

fantactic just like kowal's "new?" after someone's lecture about masturbation
actually your 6th question is very interesting for me. very closely linked to space topic, what was before the big bang, or watever started our worlds. where had matter got from, and where so had done the time, why had the time begun to flow... unsolvable mistery

[Raven]

It's even a pretty faulty measurment, and fails in some circumstances.

What you mean with this?

[The_BoneLESS]

Haven't taken the time to read Jappe2's link but i will sure do so eventually.

For my perception of time, here it is:

We are, at this exact moment, in a space state X. Right after this X moment, we'll be in the X+1 state. The variations from one to the other are the results of different factors (gravity, any force/vectors, anything). These previous factors only affect the physical world, we can therefore add to these factors everything everyone says, does, hears, etc. These factors also modify the universe as it can change the thoughts of a person. Any event will change the course of time as the classic saying that "if a person were to go back in time, anything he does or says will affect the present" stipulates.

This said, i don't believe travelling in time is possible (well, at least travelling back in time). As time (spacetime) is the fourth dimension, it is one dimensional. Spacetime being a one-dimensional point in space, there is no room to change direction, spacetime would have to be 2 dimensional.

And as for if time is finite or not, i would have to say infinite. As every point in life can be represented by X. And that X is the result of X-1 and its consequences, time has to be infinite. Life as we know it might end someday if Earth dies or if whatever happens to the human race, but time will still continue to be and advance.

[Memphis]

Hmmm, I don't belive you can travel too the past but the future seems more realistic. Stuff like if a star dies 4 light years away and you are able to travel faster then the speed of light to go see it and then come back to earth and tell everyone that the light from this star will go out in 10 days then people think you can see into the future but really your just one crazy fast mofo. Time is realitive to different peoples surroundings. It's crazy listining to Einstien's theorys so long ago and how accurate they were. If another one of him came along today maybe we would be able to travel faster then the speed of light with technology. Watching Star trek movie was pretty cool with time travel through the black hole.

[Bismuth]

I believe time is as distorted as dimensions are, everything is just beyond comprehension, at least for now. Time is relative to speed, but what is speed? Position / time? so the higher Position / time is, the slowest time passes? Just too weird, just too much for me. I spent an hour talking with some guy about imaginary numbers and just numbers and maths in general and it's really something that can drive you mad, or as Memphis would say, something that could turn you into one crazy mofo.

[Bismuth]

actually they would not notice it after 10 days as 4 light years means it takes light 4 years to travel from the place of origin

Well you know if you go faster than light, it doesn't mean it takes you 0 second to travel 4 light years. If you go slightly faster, it may take 3 years and 355 days.

Pawq Pawq Pawq

Fail.

[Lee]

bizmuff not unter proppr engrish. keep on tropik.

i just hate it when i watch a movie about time travel where some guy goes back in time. not only is it impossible but it is also retarded for anyone to even consider writing a movie about it.
season 8 of smallville just introduced time travel; a ring that clarke got from some guys from the future. and the writers must have been on crack because it just didn't make any sense at all. it was 100% illogical.
clarke went back in time 2 days, and when he arrived there was still only one clarke in the time he went to. yet when lois accidently went back in time with the ring she completely disappeared from the current time. which means clarke disappeared from the time he came from. what happened to the clarke who was already in the '2 days ago' time period? where has he gone? how can there be two of the exact same people in two different times, and then all of the sudden there is only one of them? what happened to the other guy? he was just canceled out of the equation of time. the writers seriously screwed up the whole series because of this and i don't like smallville anymore.

unless someone could explain the reasoning for this?
2=1, wtf how???

[Bismuth]

I remember when playing Chrono Trigger (I was like 9), the part where Marle (ugly name) disappears because her grand^7-mother is kidnapped and they mistake her for the queen and she is not saved like she was in the history, anyway, when I saw that I was like "OMG AWESOME", funny nab


I think time really is something different than what we see it is. We see it like unmovable dimension, it flows, period. If you travel faster than light, you may see what happened in the past, but it won't be the past. I'm not so sure about that. Maybe time really is distorted and the speed of its flow is determined by the speed you are travelling at. Let's say at 0, time = 1, and at c, time = 0. If you go at 2c, time would be -1, you would live everything in reverse. if you go at 8000c for some time then stop, you will have travelled in time. But also in place, and what the hell and everything. I just believe it's completely impossible.

[Kazeta]

5. if we go back in time and kill our mother before we're born will we just randomly vanish?

thats why i think travel in time is not possible...

i mean, if u killed your mom, then u wudnt exist, and u wudnt had never traveled in time :S

or it makes a parallel universe

[Mushroom]

I think time really is something different than what we see it is. We see it like unmovable dimension, it flows, period. If you travel faster than light, you may see what happened in the past, but it won't be the past. I'm not so sure about that. Maybe time really is distorted and the speed of its flow is determined by the speed you are travelling at. Let's say at 0, time = 1, and at c, time = 0. If you go at 2c, time would be -1, you would live everything in reverse. if you go at 8000c for some time then stop, you will have travelled in time. But also in place, and what the hell and everything. I just believe it's completely impossible.

So we just assume that the relation between time and velocity is linear? Why would you live in reverse? You'll just be able to know for sure about things which will happen in a little while. Or maybe im mistaken something

1. what is time really? i mean really really?!?!
Time is something invented by man to measure how long certain things take. It has nothing major to it really. It's even a pretty faulty measurment, and fails in some circumstances.

Time is one of the variables you can measure most precise. When does it fail except at black holes and other singular shit?

@Boneless: A dot is 0 dimensions while 1 dimension is a line with no width.

[Igge]

Time actually fails the minute you start accelerating. Even if you move at insignificant speeds, time varies. It might not be much, but this makes it unprecise and inaccurate.

[Mushroom]

Time actually fails the minute you start accelerating. Even if you move at insignificant speeds, time varies. It might not be much, but this makes it unprecise and inaccurate.

No it doesn't! Unfortunatly I haven't had any course in accelerating systems but I assure you that it is possible to switch from one system to another and get the time correct.

[Igge]

Syncronize two atomic clocks. Take one of the clocks, put it on a plane, have it fly around for a while. The atomic clocks will now show different times. The clock will now show that less time has passed by.

Time passed by slower because it was moving.

[Mushroom]

But that doesn't make it inaccurate. It just have another reference frame.

[JaenZ]

I share Boneless' opinion for the most part.
Moreover I would add that the time do its job highlighting each moment of a prefabricated loaf. (I say this not on account of any religion or sth like that (I'm proud being an atheist:P). But having thought about the destiny-problem some time ago, I draw to the conclusion that such a discussion won't really make sense. If you stand in front of crossroads and ask yourself whether you should turn left or right and eventually make your decision, it isn't possible anymore to proof if the other determination could have been feasible, too. But that's another point:P).
Well, therefore it wouldn't be able to move in time, as you only had the illusion to have travelled, though the time has been going on. (-> It means that the prefabricated loaf has already known about your time-travel and was formed that way.) The seeming paradox about the memories of the people around, which seem to have changed suddenly, is easy to explain. They're only memories.
But maybe everthing is different, and the time is only a physical fact at the end. That would calm me anywise.