Tales of the Fedora

So it’s time to throw everyone off and make another post … heh, I’m really evil. This time I’m going back to the old topic request comments and I’ve picked one I was really hoping to write about.  If only because of my extensive knowledge on the topic.

The original suggestion was thus: “what is your opinion on time/space travel? is it possible to travel through time? is it possible to travel through space faster than the speed of light (teleport)? if it is possible, would you recommend trying to alter the past/future using this … let’s call it a TARDIS?” posted by Jew.

Well, Jew, let’s take a look at the concepts of time travel with regard to a temporal transit point of view.  Now, time travel is essentially some process of entering a time vortex within a capsule, vehicle, or other system and emerging at a predetermined point in multi-dimensional space and time.  In this case, a traveller from, say, the year 200,000 would set travelling coordinates to arrive at, say London, England, Earth, the Solar System, and at, or around December  25, 2005.  Give or take a year.

The heart of this capsule, or vehicle if you prefer, would be a quantum singularity — a microscopic black hole, this and other fragments of particles of history suspended in orbit provide the power to punch into the time vortex.  This vehicle would have to be smart enough to navigate the time vortex, almost sentient itself, since even a genius would have trouble keeping all the space/time variables and shifting coordinates in check.

That’s not to say it’s impossible, mind you.  A relatively simple device for manipulating the time vortex could be created that would allow travel, presumably through a capsule, or without — although that’s got to be a killer ride.

Now, as to the rest of the suggestion: Changing past and future events.  When existing within one’s own timestream, the effects of causality are self-evident.  Cause is followed by effect.  But from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint everything you know about time is wrong.

For starters, effects can precede cause, making the process of changing events quite disconcerting.  However, it takes a certain degree of knowledge of the flow of time, and a bit of intuition to be able to properly discern what can safely be changed without causing the entire universe to implode as a result of a paradox.  Therefore, unless one is properly trained, and fully exposed to the intricacies of the time vortex — perhaps even seeing the unfiltered time vortex in person — then choosing to change events is unwise.  Who knows what may result from a paradox that cannot be reversed?

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 11:33 am and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.