The problem with time travel

I posted this a couple of years ago on myspace and I’m going to migrate it over here.  I was reinspired to repost this since I started watching The Big Bang Theory.  So, the original post begins now:

January 2007

Back to the Future is a great movie.  Probably the greatest time travel movies ever made.  The Time Machine was, well, not Back to the Future.  The BTTF movies really made it interesting, fun and mind-bending occasionally.  The sad truth is that I don’t think it’s possible; particularly in a Delorean.  I’ll explain.

In science there are methods of gathering data, compiling data, analyzing data, running numbers, doing calculations, etc.  All this is done over and over to either prove something will work, won’t work, might work, etc.  Well I thought of a way to prove or disprove time travel!  It’s so simple that someone entrapped in complex mathematics or quantum theories could easily miss it.  It would take years, or, so you might think.

This is how it would work:

Today Wednesday, January 31st, 2007 a worldwide committee has announced their plans to disprove/prove time travel.  A special secure place is to be designated for the event to occur at.  In this case we’ll choose the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming.  At the base of this tower will be constructed a solid facility, meaning that it can endure even the mightiest of years worth of punishment from elements.  It will be a simple structure as well, no doors, windows, etc.  More or less it will be a landing pad for the time travelers.  Say what? More on that soon.

Now the documents.  Lots of them.   A whole hell of a lot of them.  A worldwide public relations extravaganza.  Why is this necessary?  Well if you tell 5 people in a super secret location the plan then it’s likely to be forgotten, lost, etc.  If the entire civilized world knows the plan then it’s not likely to get lost, barring a cataclysmic event like an asteroid.  Lets assume that won’t happen.  Now what will this documentation say?  Something like this:

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Mankind, on this day, January 31, 2007 an experiment was put forth that only you can take part in.  Your reading this means that you are of the future if only by days or weeks.  This is a request and nothing more.  The request is to know whether or not time travel is possible in our universe and dimension.  You are commissioned by all governments of the world and the people of this planet to return to the location of [Latitude and Longitude] once you have discovered a safe reliable way to traverse time.  You are to return to said location on July 1, 2007.  If you are unable to reach this location, a map is provided for various locations which can allow us to communicate and bring you to the site.

Showing up to the location, alone, is not nearly enough proof.  Additionally we request you bring a few items with you. [it’s at this point you might request a CPU of the future, some drastic advance in medicine, a droid, anything that overwhelmingly exceeds what we’re capable of now.  Currency can be faked, IDs can be faked, photos can be faked.  Solid hardcore evidence of an advanced future civilization requires more proof than saying ‘we come in peace’]

Godspeed you and the future of our race.

–  The World

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Ok so there you have it.  Now what happens on that day when the world is watching?  Will a gigantic time traveling ship materialize?  Will crickets continue to chirp?  Will cheese continue to age?!  Wrong state…

You get my drift.

How can this fail? There are a few ways:

  • Man deems it too dangerous to expose our minds to the reality of the future and negates the effort.
  • Man DOES invent time travel but instead it goes to an alternate past and we’re left waiting for nothing while an alternate reality does the obligatory “OMG WTF was THAT??” when the future persons appear over Devil’s Tower.
  • Man is too incompetent to invent it.
  • Man invents it but instead of materializing on earth at this exact time and location, they’re off by a few hundred billion miles and end up in the blackness of space.  Better make that time travel ship air-tight just in case!  Oh and don’t forget to put a reverse gear on it either.

I’m simply trying to entertain here and if nothing else, make you think about it and wonder ‘what if?’  I could be from the future, trapped in the past!  So could you.  Are the UFOs we see, us, from the future or other universes/dimensions?  Ever have something freaky happen that caused an avoidance of something very bad?  Did someone comeback to stop it?  Ever had something go dreadfully wrong?  Did someone come back to cause it?  I am convinced that someone has come back in time to follow me around at red lights and push a button that makes them turn red, non-stop.  Ok, well maybe not all the time, but too frequently…

So enjoy time as it is now and remember to stop and smell the roses.  Life moves quicker than eyes can ever see.  Now, I’m going to go and track down that s.o.b. that keeps turning the lights red for me!

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Needless to say, on July 1st, 2007 – there was no time traveler appearing at Devils Tower.  Then again, I didn’t wage a worldwide campaign to promote it.  Money is an issue.  Maybe there is a gaping hole in my plan.  Nonetheless, it’s fun to think about.