The Briefing Room

General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Topic started by: rangerrebew on May 21, 2017, 09:04:46 am

Title: Researcher uses math to investigate possibility of time travel
Post by: rangerrebew on May 21, 2017, 09:04:46 am
Researcher uses math to investigate possibility of time travel
April 27, 2017


After some serious number crunching, a UBC researcher has come up with a mathematical model for a viable time machine.

Ben Tippett, a mathematics and physics instructor at UBC's Okanagan campus, recently published a study about the feasibility of time travel. Tippett, whose field of expertise is Einstein's theory of general relativity, studies black holes and science fiction when he's not teaching. Using math and physics, he has created a formula that describes a method for time travel.


Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-04-math-possibility.html#jCp
Title: Re: Researcher uses math to investigate possibility of time travel
Post by: DB on May 21, 2017, 11:37:54 am
TARDIS... Really...

I tend to believe traveling back in time is impossible. If it were possible it would be done and the temptation/consequences of being able to change the past would likely result in rampant paradoxes that would be wildly out of control quickly.
Title: Re: Researcher uses math to investigate possibility of time travel
Post by: Gefn on May 21, 2017, 11:41:00 am
Quote from: DB on May 21, 2017, 11:37:54 am
TARDIS... Really...

I tend to believe traveling back in time is impossible. If it were possible it would be done and the temptation/consequences of being able to change the past would likely result in rampant paradoxes that would be wildly out of control quickly.


Like the "I'm my own grandpa", paradox?

There are a few periods I'd love to live in. Just they had no indoor plumbing. I never felt I belonged in this period, but I love being able to use an. Indoor toilet 🚽
Title: Re: Researcher uses math to investigate possibility of time travel
Post by: Gideon300 on May 22, 2017, 01:06:54 am
Quote from: Freya on May 21, 2017, 11:41:00 am

Like the "I'm my own grandpa", paradox?

There are a few periods I'd love to live in. Just they had no indoor plumbing. I never felt I belonged in this period, but I love being able to use an. Indoor toilet 🚽

I think time "travel" to the past is possible, but only as an observer, not a participant.  It would be like watching a holographic movie, but with no ability to interact.  The future, I'm not so sure.  There's nothing a anchor onto.

And indoor plumbing?  Don't sell the past so short.  There's places even today that have no indoor plumbing, while the ancient Mayas of Copán had indoor running water that could be turned on or off at will, bathtub/spas, and a sewage flushing system.  And if I've read my history correctly, I believe the Romans has some very good plumbing systems.
Title: Re: Researcher uses math to investigate possibility of time travel
Post by: DB on May 22, 2017, 08:56:26 am
It would seem stasis would be much more practical/likely than actual time travel forward. And to the person in stasis for some long period, what's the difference?