Philosophy Now Forum

I don't know if time travelling is possible, or if it will ever be possible, but what I know is that if that would ever be possible, we would never be able to know that. For a simple reasoning of mine: if time travelling would be possible, we should already be able to know that.
I think right now, in this precise moment, there are people living in 2136, or in 3125, or in 2089. So, if time travelling would be possible, someone had certainly come back. Not necessarily to our time, maybe in I century, or during French Revolution, or just to stop Hitler, and so on. In any case we could never be able to know that, because even if a "time policeman" had been able to kill Hitler, for example, we should already know this, but we don't, so, we have two possibilities: 1 - killing Hitler has started a new branch in time, not ours; 2 - killing Hitler (or someone else for him) causes a continuous, instantaneous changing on our contemporaneous history books, culture, memories, and so on.
In any case, we'll never know. So that would be like if time travelling was impossible, for us.

But seeing stuff that happened long ago should be possible with a bit of curved space, and a bit of luck...

David Handeye wrote:I don't know if time travelling is possible, or if it will ever be possible, but what I know is that if that would ever be possible, we would never be able to know that. For a simple reasoning of mine: if time travelling would be possible, we should already be able to know that.
I think right now, in this precise moment, there are people living in 2136, or in 3125, or in 2089. So, if time travelling would be possible, someone had certainly come back. Not necessarily to our time, maybe in I century, or during French Revolution, or just to stop Hitler, and so on. In any case we could never be able to know that, because even if a "time policeman" had been able to kill Hitler, for example, we should already know this, but we don't, so, we have two possibilities: 1 - killing Hitler has started a new branch in time, not ours; 2 - killing Hitler (or someone else for him) causes a continuous, instantaneous changing on our contemporaneous history books, culture, memories, and so on.
In any case, we'll never know. So that would be like if time travelling was impossible, for us.

The idea of time travel relies on a particular notion of time.

If the survey of time is understood as always occuring from now, travelling from now to now would be readily recognised as the status quo. In that same scenario, traveling from now to any not now would be meaningless.

There already are time travellers that went back in time.

GreatandWiseTrixie wrote:There already are time travellers that went back in time.

Are there? Tell me, I'm interested in.

Breath wrote:

David Handeye wrote:I don't know if time travelling is possible, or if it will ever be possible, but what I know is that if that would ever be possible, we would never be able to know that. For a simple reasoning of mine: if time travelling would be possible, we should already be able to know that.
I think right now, in this precise moment, there are people living in 2136, or in 3125, or in 2089. So, if time travelling would be possible, someone had certainly come back. Not necessarily to our time, maybe in I century, or during French Revolution, or just to stop Hitler, and so on. In any case we could never be able to know that, because even if a "time policeman" had been able to kill Hitler, for example, we should already know this, but we don't, so, we have two possibilities: 1 - killing Hitler has started a new branch in time, not ours; 2 - killing Hitler (or someone else for him) causes a continuous, instantaneous changing on our contemporaneous history books, culture, memories, and so on.
In any case, we'll never know. So that would be like if time travelling was impossible, for us.

The idea of time travel relies on a particular notion of time.

If the survey of time is understood as always occuring from now, travelling from now to now would be readily recognised as the status quo. In that same scenario, traveling from now to any not now would be meaningless.

If space-time is one only dimension, in the future people could be able to travel from point to another in space-time. Couldn't they?
Just like people of XIX century developed a technology for flying, and in XX century for travelling in the space. Those were unthinkable for people of XVI century, for example.

David Handeye wrote:

GreatandWiseTrixie wrote:There already are time travellers that went back in time.

Are there? Tell me, I'm interested in.

People go back in time, read my thoughts, then go back even further in time and make media about them. Of course they will deny this.

Some guy went back in time and admitted it though. He went to The LHC and tried to sabotage some experiements. They detained him and could not identify him save for a smoothie maker he was carrying along with him. He claimed the thing that looked like a smoothie maker was a time machine device and he had to stop them from doing an experiment at the LHC so they put him in the mental ward in a straightjacket and locked the door. They put the smoothie maker in a seperate secure (sharps) room. Soon later they checked the locked room (which was still locked) and he was gone. Then they checked the locker room, and smoothie maker was gone too.

How about flying quickly from New York to Sidney ?
Then you would arrive on the day before.

GreatandWiseTrixie wrote:

David Handeye wrote:

GreatandWiseTrixie wrote:There already are time travellers that went back in time.

Are there? Tell me, I'm interested in.

People go back in time, read my thoughts, then go back even further in time and make media about them. Of course they will deny this.

Some guy went back in time and admitted it though. He went to The LHC and tried to sabotage some experiements. They detained him and could not identify him save for a smoothie maker he was carrying along with him. He claimed the thing that looked like a smoothie maker was a time machine device and he had to stop them from doing an experiment at the LHC so they put him in the mental ward in a straightjacket and locked the door. They put the smoothie maker in a seperate secure (sharps) room. Soon later they checked the locked room (which was still locked) and he was gone. Then they checked the locker room, and smoothie maker was gone too.

Well, I think he could have been just a little more clever, in the sense that before trying to sabote the LHC experiments he could have made some kind of bet, before.

David Handeye wrote: Well, I think he could have been just a little more clever, in the sense that before trying to sabote the LHC experiments he could have made some kind of bet, before.

Bet? I don't understand. Do you mean jump a few days earlier and play the lottery? I don't think he would be entertained by human money or material things.

Also, it seems like the machine was on an auto-timer, it might have only be only set to allow for a maximum of a few hours before auto-jumping. (This would be a safety feature to decrease the chances of something going wrong.)

duszek wrote:How about flying quickly from New York to Sidney ?
Then you would arrive on the day before.

yep, but very quickly

GreatandWiseTrixie wrote:

David Handeye wrote: Well, I think he could have been just a little more clever, in the sense that before trying to sabote the LHC experiments he could have made some kind of bet, before.

Bet? I don't understand. Do you mean jump a few days earlier and play the lottery? I don't think he would be entertained by human money or material things.

Also, it seems like the machine was on an auto-timer, it might have only be only set to allow for a maximum of a few hours before auto-jumping. (This would be a safety feature to decrease the chances of something going wrong.)

How about John Titor? What do you think about this story?

David Handeye wrote:

GreatandWiseTrixie wrote:

David Handeye wrote: Well, I think he could have been just a little more clever, in the sense that before trying to sabote the LHC experiments he could have made some kind of bet, before.

Bet? I don't understand. Do you mean jump a few days earlier and play the lottery? I don't think he would be entertained by human money or material things.

Also, it seems like the machine was on an auto-timer, it might have only be only set to allow for a maximum of a few hours before auto-jumping. (This would be a safety feature to decrease the chances of something going wrong.)

How about John Titor? What do you think about this story?

Legit, plain and simple. However, it is clear that he did not come from this dimension, the place he comes from is a significantly different timeline. Nothing he has predicted, or predicts will likely come to pass. I have doubts his time machine sent him to the right future, I believe it malfunctioned.

GreatandWiseTrixie wrote:Legit, plain and simple. However, it is clear that he did not come from this dimension, the place he comes from is a significantly different timeline. Nothing he has predicted, or predicts will likely come to pass. I have doubts his time machine sent him to the right future, I believe it malfunctioned.

Have you ever known any of these time travellers?
so, in any case, you believe what is been saying about this Titor...

David Handeye wrote:

GreatandWiseTrixie wrote:Legit, plain and simple. However, it is clear that he did not come from this dimension, the place he comes from is a significantly different timeline. Nothing he has predicted, or predicts will likely come to pass. I have doubts his time machine sent him to the right future, I believe it malfunctioned.

Have you ever known any of these time travellers?
so, in any case, you believe what is been saying about this Titor...

Seems legit. But I wouldn't bet money on it.