GPL's Blog

I think I spend too much time obsessing about time.  You might think I have too much time on my hands to be so engrossed in such a timeless subject.  But then how do you spend your time?  Time is a subject that takes hold of the imagination of many of us.  I think it is safe to say that most people would love to not only think about time, but control time.  Think of the power one could wield controlling the movement and the speed of time.

Anyway, again I got to thinking about “what if” backward time were possible.  And, my thoughts went further than time travel, and I thought to muse over the ramifications of backward-time travel.  I do not believe backward-time travel possible, but I believe most physicists will agree that there is nothing mathematically that definitively discounts the possibility of backward-time travel.  S0, for the sake of the following discussion let us say backward-time travel is possible.  But, rather than focusing on scenarios like the time-travel exploits of Captain Picard or Doug and Tony through the Time Tunnel, I want to explore a particular idea that has permeated my mind for some time now.  What if we are all in a Universe where time is traveling backward now?  Would we know it?

I find nothing to dismiss the possibility of matter moving in more than one direction; up, down, forward and “backward.”  Time is tied to space and just as the clock can be rewound, the space (matter) connected to time can be “undone.”  But, would we know it?  As I live my life, and when I take the time to think about how I am living my life and how I am using my time, I have the ever-present feeling that I am doing so in a forward direction.  But would I know otherwise?  If time were running backwards would I be aware it was running backwards?  Every event that happened would unwind.  Every event that happened would cease to be as if it never were.  How would I know this?  I do not believe I would.

Too often the motion of time is compared to a filmstrip; a timeline.  But when I look at a filmstrip; when I look at each cell on that film strip, forward and or backward, I am doing so from the outside.  I am an outside observer.  I am not an object on one of those cells on the filmstrip.  Just as we observe the many SCI-FI TV shows and movies about time travel, we do so from the advantage point of an outside observer.  We are not on the TV show.  We are not a character in the SCI-FI movie.  We are outside.  But, if our time is traveling backward as I write, it is our time, and we are within that space and time; we are inseparable from our film, our space and time.

I think a better comparison pertaining to this thought than film is that of paper and an eraser.  If I total my life from birth to death and set it out on paper, and I then start erasing my life from death to birth, the paper will only evidence as much of my life as still remains on the paper at any given time.  What is erased is gone and for all purposes, it never was.  Or, maybe a better object of comparison is a tape recorder and my voice recorded thereon.  As an outside observer, I can listen to my recorded voice in a  forward or backward directi0n, but as the voice on the tape itself, i.e. to say, if I examine the rewinding of the tape from the vantage point of my recorded voice on the tape, and not as an outside observer listening to the recording, I am only aware of what is playing as it is playing and what has played vanishes from my reality as quickly as played.  Our minds are predisposed to think of time as having direction, forward and backward, but maybe direction is our way of labeling time and forward is backward or forward, all dependent on one’s relative perspective.

If our time is running backward, all evidence of our movement in that direction is being erased as time moves backward.  No different than if time is running forward.  We live in the present.  Once an event occurs it is done and gone; erased, but still in our memories.  So, one might believe that if time is running backward we would remember the future and the past would be the new unknown future.  But, what if that is not how it works?  What if causation is fixed relatively and what if relativity exposes another “t.”  What if time moving backward is relative to time moving forward?  And, what if time affects our memories in only one direction?  Then our moving backward in time would leave us oblivious to what just occurred in our past, which is the future for someone living in forward moving time.  We would only remember the moment; the present.  And, we would remember the past, which in reality is our future.  But, we would perceive time as moving forward and past as having occurred, when in reality our past has yet to happen.  “Deja Vu.”

We grow accustomed to our environment and we accept that which makes life manageable; physically and psychologically.  We perceive time as moving forward; causation intact and moving one direction, and maybe causation is intact.  But, if our time was such that our time was moving backward, we would perceive that as “the norm” and adjust our thinking and rationalizations accordingly.

For time to exist in the sense of being traversable, I think it necessary to believe that events which are destined to happen, have happened.  Destiny.  Fate.  And, if that is so, causation is preserved.  But, we have no perception that we are moving in reverse.  No perception that our futures have occurred and our futures are unraveling into our pasts which, for us, have yet to occur.

I leave this topic with this request.  Record your voice and play it back in reverse.  And as you listen to your soliloquy unravel, image being that voice on the recording; separate from the you who recorded it.  Imagine your world, your memories, unraveling and think about the possibility of living your life in reverse.

Hey.  While I have your attention, I have a query I would like to present to you for thought.  I am not looking for an answer, merely opinions and thoughts.  I have been interested in the subject of “time” for some time now (no pun intended) and, I am curious what the professional-scientific mind thinks about time traveling in reverse.

Minkowsky, after analyzing Einstein’s theory of special relativity, tied space and time together and banished absolute time to Newton’s past.  The two dimensions of space and time now considered to be forever intertwined.  Some physicists, and scientists in other fields of science, as well as novelists and science-fiction enthusiasts, believe this link between space and time leaves open the possibility of moving through time in reverse.  Their thought being, there is nothing in physics, or science in general, that precludes the possibility of moving in both directions on the timeline.  I disagree.

Einsteinian time looks to specific relations of objects in space-time in which to make its measurement of time.  The train against the platform.  The rocket against the rocket.  The ship against the port.  But, what if there is no train or platform.  No rockets.  No ship or port to dock a ship.  If all material objects are removed from space-time.  If all elements are removed from space-time.  If the very last atom is removed from space-time.  What happens to time?  Time ceases to exist.  Time is a measurement of movement.  If something exists, but does not move, time still exists.  The measurement of non-movement is the equivalent of the Indian (east, not west) creation of “0.”  But, if nothing exists, there is nothing to measure; no object in relation to another.  Even Einsteinian then time ceases to exist.

So, what does this have to do with time travel?  Time travel suggests a separation of time from space.  For a man to travel backward in time, he would have to rip a piece of space (himself) apart from a specific point in time and paste himself over another piece of space in another point in time elsewhere.  Doesn’t this violate the  First Law of Thermodynamics?  Unless, the plural times is considered the true closed unit.  What about the hole in space and the space pasted over?  Does one supplant the other?  Backward-time travel has more problems than causation (although that certainly is a major hurdle – but discussed so much by others, I will not discuss it here).  To travel backwards in time, there must be a backward space-time destination.  Time travel seems to suggest that matter does not modify itself into a future self, but replicates itself similar to a replicating cell; the past never ceases and so the future always has been.  This seems very difficult to grasp as reality.  This thought leads to parallel universes, which may exist, but again, that is another topic which requires much discussion; although, not here.  It seems logical that objects move in a direction.  We label this direction “forward.”  We define “forward” by the use of such words as “causation.”  But whether an object moves forward or backward, it moves in a direction.  When the object moves, we measure that movement by time.  The ability to measure said movement does not equate to an ability to “un-do” said movement, which is an equivalent of backward movement in time.  Backward time travel is tantamount to undoing the movement made.

It is very easy with the electronic marvels we have today to confuse film with reality.  Movies look extremely realistic these days; especially with HD screens.  But, because a movie can be rewound does not mean reality can be rewound.  Movies are the captured images and sounds of reality on a medium from which they can be shown over and over again.  But that is not Clark Gable on the movie being watched.  That is the captured reflection of photons off of Clark Gable and the captured sound waves that emanated from Clark Gable; a Clark Gable who has been dead for some years now.  Just as so many of the stars seen in the night sky are reflections of light bounced off celestial bodies; celestial bodies that have long since changed since the light first bounced off of their surface.  To further the analogy, backward-time travel would imply that that which was still is and always will be, or at least was “captured” and recorded somehow, somewhere.

Worm holes are another interesting subject associated with the possibility of time travel.  The bending of space upon itself such that the future cone of one space-time overlaps the past cone of another space-time.  and, a tunnel exists or is made between the future and the past creating a shortcut not only through space, but time.  First, I see how the bending of light (photons) or gravity (a force) changes time (movement).  That lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) man who rockets off into space at near the speed of light, then subsequently returns to Earth some twenty years later to find himself (relatively speaking) two-hundred years in the future; his family and friends long since deceased.  The movement of the rocket man at the speed of light slowed his movement (timed alias: growth/aging) relative to his family and friends on Earth.  But, the rocket man’s movement was slowed, not reversed.  There is a difference between slow movement forward and movement in reverse.

Back to worm holes.   Curious no one mentions how the Universe can be so warped, so bent over itself, that a future cone can overlap a past cone and a worm hole can find itself opening a door between the past and the future.  That seems quite a bend in the Universe.  If there was a warranty on the Universe (valid past the first 5 billion years {thousand years if you are religious}), something should have called it in for repair before the warranty expired.  But even if worm holes do exist, more logically, a connection would be made between two areas of space occupying, relatively, equivalent measurements of movement (time).  Causation …  and, the connection(s) would be between close areas of space-time effected by gravitational warping in that area; or, the connection(s) would be between extremely separated areas of space-time in a curved Universe.

And, what about that well-known Star Trek trick of sling-shooting around the Sun into the past.  It is fact the sling-shot effect, using the gravity of celestial bodies such as the Moon and Jupiter (to name a couple) has enabled NASA to explore the farthest reaches of our Solar System, but it has not propelled space craft into the past.  And, what about that long sought after, faster than light particle, the tachyon; Star Trek, the Next Generation, made storyline use of tachyons quite often.  Can tachyons send messages to the past defeating causation?  Imagine a man made of tachyons (big leap here).  T-Man is traveling forward on the time line at his usual tachyon speed; out racing all other objects/particles that are denied the ability to travel at or near the speed of light.  T-Man is even out speeding light itself.  So, T-Man (when he looks back at us turtles and light also traveling forward on the timeline) sees us moving in reverse.  It appears to T-Man he is witnessing time moving backward.  But what T-Man is actually witnessing is the late reception of the photons making their way to him.  T-Man is so much faster than light that his movement in relation to our movement, and light, does not allow the light to catch up, and so it appears in reverse.  But T-Man’s movement (timed) and our movement (timed) and the movement of light (timed) are all moving forward.  This effect is similar to our reception here on Earth of the light from long-ago stars in the night sky.  And, similar like playing two movies in a forward direction on a timeline, but at different speeds; from the perspective of the faster playing movie, the slower playing movie is moving in reverse.  Both movies, however, are moving forward.

The bottom line is this:  time travel into the future is possible with the right technology, but only into a future that is yet to exist.  It is made possible by slowing a man’s movement relative to that of other men.  Time travel into the past, however, is not possible.  Movement, although it can be in a forward or backward direction, is always measured (timed) in a forward direction.  Even the movies we watch over and over again; the movies we rewind to hear the joke the comedian made while our kids were talking; are rewound in a forward (timed) direction.  Causation preserve us.

It would be great to travel into the past.  Personally, I know I would have been President if I could travel back in time and get an “A” on that third-grade quiz; well, maybe not … but it would be a great way to spend my vacation.  Think of the fun I could have and the trouble I could get into and then back out of again.   And, the best part,  I could come home before I left; it would not cost a dime in vacation pay.

What are your thoughts?

note: the following is my reply to an ongoing conversation regarding candidates and how to use one’s voting power.

Life has left me jaded regarding politics and people in general.  But, I cannot in good consciousness, throw my political support to a candidate I do not trust and or relate.  I understand, and agree, with your belief that spreading support amongst a large number of candidates lessens the possible support for each; and as a result, can change the balance of support between the “front-running” candidates.  But, who is to say who is a viable candidate?  The corporate controlled media dictate to the American people who is the viable candidate.  My personal thoughts are that nothing will ever change politically if I allow the media and those entrenched in power to dictate to me who I must vote into the Executive Office as President.

This issue brings to mind the recent events in the Middle East, particularly Egypt.  It has never amazed me at how dictators gain control over entire nations and their people, but it has always amazed me at how dictators retain control for long periods of time and seemingly with little resistance.  I have always thought, “why do the people not rise up against the dictator?  There are more people than a dictator and his armed forces.  And, I could never understand why the armed forces would remain loyal.  I can understand some soldiers remaining loyal; those favored with assets and privileges.  But, most of the soldiers would rank no higher than citizens.”  Then along comes the Egyptian uprising.  The Egyptian people figured it out.

My point being, if I decline to vote my conscience; if I turn my back on a candidate who appears to be the candidate with the potential to turn my hopes and dreams into reality; if I vote for a candidate merely because the media and those who follow whatever the media dictates (and realistically, most do); then I feel I have given up on my hopes and dreams that America might be what I would like to see it become.

In summation, I understand your line of reasoning; and, I give it merit.  But, I cannot in all good conscience vote for a candidate whose stated ideals differ from mine, and who I do not trust and whose veracity I do not believe.  When I come across a Presidential candidate who states ideals similar to mine (not very often), and who I feel I can trust (relatively speaking) and whose veracity I find difficult to question, my gut tells me, “vote for this guy.”