ALL SCI-FI

[Tom]

Excerpt from a discussion I had...

Some of the biggest issues I have with Time Travel Stories...

Displacement- The Earth, Moon, Sun and stars all move thru the Universe. We are not and never will be again in the same place as we ever were. This is a definite problem when traveling in time. Traveling to the past wouldn't be as big of a problem because we could calculate where we have already been. Traveling to the future becomes an issue due to unforeseen circumstances. The farther one travels in time from the present the higher the transportation technology must be.

The Earth doesn't just rotate, it travels thru space around the Sun. Meanwhile, The Sun movies up and down in the Galactic Plane while it travels thru galactic space around the galaxy. The Galaxy travels around the barycenter of the Local Group while moving thru the Super-cluster and the Super-cluster moves about the Universe. Nobody knows if the Universe moves as a unit?
So, even if you have the time correct, figuring out where in coordinates that time occurred will be a computing nightmare. Then If you can figure out where you need to be you still have to be able to get to that spot.

That spot might be covered with deep ice or water, your departure may need to be 11,000ft in mid air or 200 ft below the surface.

Physiology- Lets say you have figured out how to arrive at your destination. Are you inoculated against every and all forms of viruses and bacteria? Can you breathe the atmosphere? Is the ambient temperature conducive to your present physical limitations. So you arrive in a special atmosphere suit. Lets just say that works without issue (erm...). So you are protected by this special suit with technology to match. Lets say it runs on gravitational energy. No need for bright sun or gas. What do the inhabitants think when they see you? Are they even friendly or is a dinosaur going to bite you in half, suit and all?

Communication- Are you fluent in all languages? Language is ever evolving and words gain different meanings over time. Lets say you employ nano-tech to provide you with a safe environment and suitable attire. How do you communicate? How can you react to the civilization you are visiting? What monetary system is in use? Do they even have a system? What are the chances that your race or gender is even accepted at that time and place?

Speculation- What if time travel already exists? What if the most common time traveler is the Alien Grey? What if the Alien Grey is a future form of human that visit us to try to gain a genetic marker from us that has been lost over time. Their time ships are equipped with high speed transportation devices that allow them to compensate for the displacement. Just think about it...

One of the issues with time travel is the infinity universe. Each instant creates an infinity of possible outcomes. That is the basis behind the TV series Quantum Leap. It is also an area of actual hypothesis in the multiverses indicated by quantum theory.

Humanity's understanding of the Universe is very limited. Nobody can say with certainty that a force won't appear one day and destroy the Sun. It might be as easy as a wormhole opening in the Sun's center from a distant super-cluster or something even stranger. Not likely but not impossible (as we do not have all the knowledge about all the Universe). Until we KNOW EVERYTHING about everything everywhere there remains a possibility that anything could happen.

One second would be all that it takes to change the Earth.

Example:

A close proximity supernova.
A close proximity GRB.
A CME with more mass than our magnetosphere can deflect (Ok, 8 Minutes from now)

Point is, We cannot currently know the future, whether 1,000,000 years from now or in the next instant. We cannot know whether the past still exists, 10,000 years ago or one instant ago. It won't be possible to know these things with certainty until time travel has occurred. Even then we will still need a probe to bring the information back to us in a current instant. Setting the probe to return in the past will violate paradoxes. Setting the probe to return in the next hour could prove fallible if reality bites the dust in 59 minutes. Also consider that the action of the probe violating space-time might create the catastrophe we are looking to avoid.

As a point of this - try to unblink your eye. Try to not blink your last blink.

We as humans have the ability to foresee possible future events. Yes you can change your next blink. Can you predict the next flap of a fly's wing? Perhaps, as long as it follows the path of action you predict. However, there are unlimited things that could make the fly's wing not flap. Have you predicted an outcome for every possible variance?

No, issues in time travel are numerous no matter the period.

The Sun is scientifically thought to be 4.5 billion years old. It is a G2V star that is in its main sequence. Our star still has enough fuel for another 4 to 6 billion years.
Source = Zoom astronomy

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/...rs/startypes.sh tml

I probably got stuck on the OP's term...Realistic

Realistically (At our present understanding) Time travel is impossible, for any given amount of time. whether it is one picosecond or a Gogol of years. Since it is unrealistic then I would suggest the OP invents technology or natural laws that allow for time travel. However, understanding what makes it improbable and inventing ways around it might give the OP fodder for additional elements of the story.

Science might be on the edge of a time travel break-thru. Using the LHC to rip a wormhole to another time. It will not be controllable or predictive but it actually might happen.

See: Large Hadron Collider Could Create Wormholes: a Gateway for Time Travelers?

http://www.universetoday.com/12732/large-h...r-could-create- wormholes-a-gateway-for-time-travelers/

Just as an exercise in the effects of a tear in the space-time fabric of the universe, lets imagine what could happen.

The LHC tears a hole in space-time at 00:00:01. The tear is a rupture in the fabric of the Universe at a specific time. Does the rip happen and evaporate (Self-healing Universe) or does the rip continue on the timeline?

(Catastrophic failure Universe)

Since it is both in space and time we know when and where the tear started. If the event has duration it has crossed a threshold of time. As the motion of the Universe continues the tear gets bigger and travels in the direction of the movement like a shadow upon the Earth only Universally. It would move incredibly fast in relation to us as the observer. The rip might go thru the planet or off into space. As it travels thru its duration the fabric of space (reality) would have a slice thru it.

The First Law of Thermodynamics says that energy under normal conditions cannot be created or destroyed, simply transformed from one type of energy to another.

Everything of mass in the Universe is composed of energy. What we see as reality is Vacuum energy that did not evaporate back into the Universe base energy. Matter being torn would reveal the underlying vacuum energy to the material Universe.

Now lets say the LHC creates a wormhole in space-time. A wormhole might be an application to the Universe's space-time. An appendage, not a tear. It could be a structure that loops across the Universe thru another dimension and returns to our plane of reality in another time or place. Like a solar flare of prominence. The hole in the Worm Hole could be a corridor that is an opening in the space-time that moves with the Universe as a whole. If that were to occur we would detect the hole now but would not detect the touchdown hole until a later time. At best, the discovery would be that they detected a hole. Then a later discovery would detect another hole at another time and/or location.

Time Cop was fairly good at the wormhole time travel aspect. They created a steerable wormhole large enough for a device to be sent thru. But the device didn't gain entrance to the destination, only the person did. That was the flaw with that scenario. Everything that entered the wormhole should have emerged at the destination.

The OP might use a type of steerable wormhole as long as they figure out some way to create it. Perhaps a lunar collider or something bigger and more powerful on the scale of a Dyson ring. They would need a Singularity of computing ability to control all the factors as well. Since it is a fiction story the OP would have the liberty of assumption to allow extreme technology into the mechanics.

Our Galaxy ??? the Milky Way is spinning at a rate of 225 kilometers per second. In addition, the galaxy is traveling through space at the rate of 305 kilometers per second. This means that we are traveling at a total speed of 530 kilometers (330 miles) per second. That means that in one minute you are about 19 thousand kilometers away from where you were. Scientists do not all agree on the speed with which the Milky Way is traveling ??? estimates range from 130 ??? 1,000 km/s. It should be said that Einstein???s theory of relativity, the velocity of any object through space is not meaningful.

[noetic_hatter]

[Randy]

Time travel would not leave you stranded somewhere in outer space because time also travels. Time travels along with planetary travel and never falls behind. Therefore, time travel is made possible due to time's travel.

If I am sitting at my computer desk remembering myself sitting at my computer desk yesterday, at that time, I was still sitting in the same place that I am sitting today. Even though the planet has moved through space and therefore I have also moved through space, I am still sitting in the very same place. My moments through time have followed me to this new location in space, but I am actually in the very same place.

So, time travel would have to follow time's travel and bring you to the very same spot no matter the date or time.