The Time Machine - Page 3

**boka666999** · November 15th, 2009, 07:43 AM

I think that i would go back and change alot of myself as a teenager. Made a few dozen mistake. Plus i would like to see what i would have become.

**aphex1973** · November 15th, 2009, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buggeration

I believe you can only go back in time as far as the time machine was invented. i.e if the time machine was first tried at mid-day yesterday, then that's as far back in time as it would ever be able to travel - think about it. In the same context, time machines can never go beyond the point we are at now. It's impossible...Why? Because the future is undetermined. It hasn't happened. You can't go to somewhere that has never existed. That's my theory anyway. And I'm sticking to it

Regardless of whatever form of time travel is utilized, the act of traveling to a period prior to the creation of time travel device and/or your own existence necessarily creates a paradox. The minute you arrive at the intended destination in space/time, you have necessarily changed the course of events and therefore created an entirely different timeline... quantum uncertainties and alternate universes, etc. For instance, if you traveled back to a moment in your life and somehow influenced the course of events, your 'present' self, the one making the changes, would never be aware of the results in his/her timeline. 'You' may have made a different version of yourself have a better go of it, but 'you' would still be the same sad sack prat in 'your' reality.

I figure that since I mucked my life up the first time, I likely wouldn't fare any better if I did it over again. Just my thoughts on the matter.

MrKinkade · November 15th, 2009, 08:32 AM

Hang out in pre-Castro Cuba with Hemingway in the local bars discussing ideas for books and of course indulging in the delights of the girly scene there !

**aphex1973** · November 15th, 2009, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boka666999

I think that i would go back and change alot of myself as a teenager. Made a few dozen mistake. Plus i would like to see what i would have become.

By the way, I wasn't meaning to single you out. I think most of us made some really unfortunate choices as teenagers. My post came off a bit strong and you were not the 'sad' person I was referring to. I was just speaking in general. Open mouth, insert foot.

**squigg58** · November 15th, 2009, 08:50 AM

My pet theory (for what it's worth!) is that if you went back in time, it wouldn't change a thing! If you returned to (say) 1975, you'd be exactly the same as you were in 1975. Same knowledge, same memories, same experiences, so you'd end up making the same mistakes! You wouldn't know you'd returned ... you've have just rewound the same video. You couldn't take a note back with you saying "do this" or "do that" because if you didn't have it the first time around, you couldn't have it the second time around. There certainly wouldn't be two versions of "you" wandering about as my understanding is that the energy in the universe is a constant. An extra "you" going back to 1975 would add to the energy at that time, and having left 2009, there would be a chunk of energy missing today.

Nurse! Have you put something in my coffee?

**eelcat** · November 15th, 2009, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by squigg58

My pet theory (for what it's worth!) is that if you went back in time, it wouldn't change a thing! If you returned to (say) 1975, you'd be exactly the same as you were in 1975. Same knowledge, same memories, same experiences, so you'd end up making the same mistakes! You wouldn't know you'd returned ... you've have just rewound the same video. You couldn't take a note back with you saying "do this" or "do that" because if you didn't have it the first time around, you couldn't have it the second time around. There certainly wouldn't be two versions of "you" wandering about as my understanding is that the energy in the universe is a constant. An extra "you" going back to 1975 would add to the energy at that time, and having left 2009, there would be a chunk of energy missing today.

Nurse! Have you put something in my coffee?

Come on. Rational thinking has no place in a thread like this

If I could go back anywhere, I have always wanted to visit Victorian England to witness the new dawn in modern technology and medicine.

**blondifan** · November 15th, 2009, 09:49 AM

Got it in one eelcat.
As it's all purely hypothetical, who is to say that if one single event was altered or changed then the outcome would not be totally different.
I'm a great believer in "the Butterfly Effect", although the sequels were a bit lacking

Oh!, and aphex1973 if I'm the 'sad' person you refer to, the unrequited high school sweetheart is still a good friend, albeit distant, to this day.
Perhaps ironically I chose this friendship rather than risk impropriety when she initially split from her husband and took me dancing a few times...

Maybe we would not be friends, had we been lovers?

**eelcat** · November 15th, 2009, 10:13 AM

The paradox to me is this....do you think in 100, 1,000, 5,000 years from now there would be such thing as a time machine? It is very possible but not very likely as by now there would surely have been some evidence of someone from the future having visited in the past (providing they have made themselves known).
Anyway I'd like to think it is possible one day.

**aphex1973** · November 15th, 2009, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blondifan

Got it in one eelcat.
As it's all purely hypothetical, who is to say that if one single event was altered or changed then the outcome would not be totally different.
I'm a great believer in "the Butterfly Effect", although the sequels were a bit lacking

Oh!, and aphex1973 if I'm the 'sad' person you refer to, the unrequited high school sweetheart is still a good friend, albeit distant, to this day.
Perhaps ironically I chose this friendship rather than risk impropriety when she initially split from her husband and took me dancing a few times...

Maybe we would not be friends, had we been lovers?

Err... I really wasn't referring to anyone with the sad comment. I was just speaking in generalities. I could easily be the sad sack I referenced. With regards to your situation, I actually understand quite well and have had a similar circumstance. Well, not that similar but close enough that I get what you're saying. Oh... there are definitely things I could change in my life.

**blondifan** · November 15th, 2009, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eelcat

The paradox to me is this....do you think in 100, 1,000, 5,000 years from now there would be such thing as a time machine?....
Anyway I'd like to think it is possible one day.

I would imagine the government would be so "Down" on time travel.
Imagine the potential instability to world economies as we read tommorrows race results yesterday

Quote:

Originally Posted by aphex1973

Err... I really wasn't referring to anyone with the sad comment...

Sorry if I seemed a little oversensitive.
I'm personally facing some big decisions concerning property in the 'real world' which is causing me to look back a little while pondering the great unknown which may be my personal future ...

Where are these damn time machines when you need one?

November 15th, 2009, 07:43 AM	#21
boka666999 Vintage Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 819 Thanks: 3,602 Thanked 44,415 Times in 792 Posts	I think that i would go back and change alot of myself as a teenager. Made a few dozen mistake. Plus i would like to see what i would have become.

November 15th, 2009, 08:32 AM	#23
MrKinkade Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 211 Thanks: 467 Thanked 1,452 Times in 205 Posts	Hang out in pre-Castro Cuba with Hemingway in the local bars discussing ideas for books and of course indulging in the delights of the girly scene there !

November 15th, 2009, 08:50 AM	#25
squigg58 Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: My own little world Posts: 2,476 Thanks: 14,113 Thanked 25,970 Times in 2,473 Posts	My pet theory (for what it's worth!) is that if you went back in time, it wouldn't change a thing! If you returned to (say) 1975, you'd be exactly the same as you were in 1975. Same knowledge, same memories, same experiences, so you'd end up making the same mistakes! You wouldn't know you'd returned ... you've have just rewound the same video. You couldn't take a note back with you saying "do this" or "do that" because if you didn't have it the first time around, you couldn't have it the second time around. There certainly wouldn't be two versions of "you" wandering about as my understanding is that the energy in the universe is a constant. An extra "you" going back to 1975 would add to the energy at that time, and having left 2009, there would be a chunk of energy missing today. Nurse! Have you put something in my coffee?

November 15th, 2009, 09:49 AM	#27
blondifan Vintage Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 4,406 Thanks: 55,001 Thanked 60,211 Times in 4,401 Posts	Got it in one eelcat. As it's all purely hypothetical, who is to say that if one single event was altered or changed then the outcome would not be totally different. I'm a great believer in "the Butterfly Effect", although the sequels were a bit lacking Oh!, and aphex1973 if I'm the 'sad' person you refer to, the unrequited high school sweetheart is still a good friend, albeit distant, to this day. Perhaps ironically I chose this friendship rather than risk impropriety when she initially split from her husband and took me dancing a few times... Maybe we would not be friends, had we been lovers?

November 15th, 2009, 10:13 AM	#28
eelcat Vintage Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Australia Posts: 660 Thanks: 2,389 Thanked 6,300 Times in 648 Posts	The paradox to me is this....do you think in 100, 1,000, 5,000 years from now there would be such thing as a time machine? It is very possible but not very likely as by now there would surely have been some evidence of someone from the future having visited in the past (providing they have made themselves known). Anyway I'd like to think it is possible one day.