Is Time Travel (going backwards) Possible?

Morrus · Oct 20, 2012

Iosue said:
Here are two of my favorite takes on the killing Hitler issue.

The thing about using the non-death of Hitler as proof of no time travel is we have no idea how our current timeline is supposed to be different. Maybe Hitler is relatively small potatoes, and we don't know about anyone far, far worse because time travelers have already taken them out. Maybe John F. Kennedy led us to worldwide nuclear holocaust, with a death count in the billions, so...

Sure, we can invent fanciful stuff to explain anything we want. We're talking about time travel, after all - if any of us actually know, I'm sure we'd find better things to do than post on a D&D forum. So we post what we think sounds reasonable to us, and the more invention you have to introduce, the less reasonable it sounds to me. But I agree - anything it possible.

Nellisir · Oct 20, 2012

Bullgrit said:
In your opinion or educated knowledge, is it possible to travel through time (backward and forward again)? [I don't mean possible with current science, but possible to do at all, even in the far, advanced scientific future.]

No.

(I typed some qualifications here, but really, just no.)

Fast Learner · Oct 20, 2012

Morrus said:
Even one person per thousand years until the end of the universe is still billions and billions and billions and billions of people.

How rare are you suggesting something can be kept forever?

Again, that suggests that mankind somehow survives forever, or even a million more years. Far, far from guaranteed.

Fast Learner · Oct 20, 2012

Morrus said:
Even one person per thousand years until the end of the universe is still billions and billions and billions and billions of people.

How rare are you suggesting something can be kept forever?

Big assumption that mankind makes it to "forever", much less even another million years.

Morrus · Oct 20, 2012

Fast Learner said:
Big assumption that mankind makes it to "forever", much less even another million years.

Unless you have some special information about the future that the rest of us don't, I'm afraid you're going to have to settle for this thread containing nothing but guesses and assumptions. You're gonna be horribly disappointed if you're hoping that a thread about the invention of time machines in the future is anything else.

Fast Learner · Oct 20, 2012

Morrus said:
Unless you have some special information about the future that the rest of us don't, I'm afraid you're going to have to settle for this thread containing nothing but guesses and assumptions. You're gonna be horribly disappointed if you're hoping that a thread about the invention of time machines in the future is anything else.

I'm with you on assumptions and guesses. Precisely why I think the "no one has killed Hitler" line of reasoning is full of holes, my assumptions and guesses, and yours.

Scott DeWar · Oct 21, 2012

my assuptions and guesses

Maybe we are just so insignificant on the history line that we are not visited by time travelers.

Derren · Oct 21, 2012

Steven Hawking made an experiment about it.
He threw a party for time travellers and no one showed up.

Starbuck_II · Oct 21, 2012

Morrus said:
What, and every person from the invention of time travel until the end of time abides by that?

But Nazi sympasizers would also go back in time to prevent that. They would be the time roaches ofdthe universe.
Who says Neo-Nazi's wouldn't be the one to create the machine?
Hitletr did many great things without him, we would have less tecnologfy related to medicine.

In fact, if you are saved by a life threatening operation, Hitler probably saved your life. What he did in the Holocaust was horrible, but humanity benefited by it far beyond anything we have done since.

It helps when you can use trial and error on subjects closer to human than animals (humans are closest), so yeah.

Janx · Oct 22, 2012

Fast Learner said:
I'm with you on assumptions and guesses. Precisely why I think the "no one has killed Hitler" line of reasoning is full of holes, my assumptions and guesses, and yours.

I think Morrus's Hitler ain't dead concept is an independent variant of a view I espoused on some other stupid thread of mine.

Which is, if time travel existed in the basic form that Bullgrit espoused (just plain old poof, you're in the past, not a forked quantum reality, etc), then eventually, the future would consist of enough time travellers that ONE of them would travel back in time and screw up in a way that spilled the beans.

Some traveller would get hit by a car, have his arrival witnessed, people sieze his gear and figure out its a time machine.

timeline violators are likely to be ahead of the curve compared to time cops.

As such, BECAUSE there hasn't been an obvious detection of accidental time travel/manipulation, it likely isn't possible.

Not very scientific, but couched in the overall confidence in the human race to invent something cool, and have somebody screw up with it.