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Sigma, war on terror, disasters

The Logic behind Time Travel

By Joshua S. Hill

Friday, June 29, 2007

Experts in science come in many shapes and sizes. You have experts in the fields of medicine, quantum mechanics, physics, and etcetera. Years of study and dedication have led these experts to be the top in their field, and called upon by governments worldwide to provide solutions to a myriad of problems. However there is one other group of people that would not be classified as scientists, but receive the same treatment from governments. This group is science-fiction writers; or writers as a whole.

The greatest example is that of the group named 'Sigma'. A group of American based science-fiction writers that have aided the White House and Homeland Security in creating solutions to detect and stop terrorism and how to respond to and detect natural disasters; among others.

One may think of this as an outrageous exaggeration of science-fiction writers' skill sets, but I would have to disagree. Sci-Fi writers are of a breed that must think well outside of the box. They must be able to create futuristic solutions to problems that are common place today, such as those labeled above, all the way down to lesser obstructions such as a total lack of flying cars.

Science Fiction is not just someone with a keyboard talking about spaceships and electronic paper; it is, and always has been, much more than that.

It is due to this that I feel in a position to be able to put forward a position on Time Travel that, while I do not believe to be 'new and exciting', has not been put forward in an open arena of Time Travel discussion (at least to my limited knowledge).

I am about to take the somewhat drastic step of contradicting Stephen Hawking. This is not something I do lightly, as I hold the man in high regard, and have listened avidly to his lectures and taken the time to read through at least two of his books for the layman scientist. But I cannot help but think that, just maybe, the quote in question may have been taken out of context, or was simply a flippant comment with no scientific backing.

"Time travel is not theoretically possible, for if it was they'd already be here telling us about it!"

This quote made by Hawking is used by many skeptics to disregard any attempt to delve further in to Time Travel as a viable science. But is the quote in any way based in science? Or simply a seemingly logical explanation of something we have very little idea about in the first place.

We know that time is a fluid entity, something that flows in one direction and cannot be reversed. The moment we act, that action has taken place and is now our history. It is in our past. Our actions are forever changing what our future could be. Philosophical questions abound as to what may have happened had someone killed Hitler as a child, or if someone had told Caesar about Brutus' plans. What would our present hold, if these actions had taken place; how would our history, their future, have been changed?

It is with these points that my mind began to formulate a position for my own view on Time Travel. My present is forever evolving in to my past. I am never in my future, and cannot see what my future holds. The only thing that I have information on is my past. While I may theorize that tomorrow I will visit the hardware store to purchase a new fluorescent bulb for our kitchen, I may very well be called up to join the army. It isn't likely, but I've no idea.

Our future has not happened, so therefore it theoretically can not affect our past; whereas our history has happened, and continually affects our future. Our future is forever in fluctuation and changing. It is as the sands on a beach; with each wave that rolls in, the form of that beach will shift.

If this is true -- and I believe it to be so -- then how can we believe that something that has not happened in our future, can affect our past.

In short, Time Travel can only affect our past, when it affects our present.

Not surprisingly, the writers of the hit TV show The Simpsons, have once again nailed it on the proverbial head. In an episode of the Simpsons, Homer accidentally creates a 'time machine', and repeatedly journeys back to prehistoric earth where he repeatedly creates a change in his present-future. Each time he returns to his present, it has changed, sometimes in small ways such as swapping rain water for rain donuts, and sometimes in large ways such as Ned Flanders becoming overlord of the earth.

This, I believe, represents the most logical example of how Time Travel would play out. Instead of us receiving visitors every other day attempting to convince us that the Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series in the next decade, the time traveler's time-jump would take place within a separate reality, or dimension, and subsequently change his present, not our future.

This theory of course relies heavily on the existence of an infinite number of realities, all spawning off of certain changes in history. But the theory allows for these realities to be created by time-jumps, rather than simply relying on an infinite amount of realities spawning off my choosing not to eat breakfast this morning.

Without any scientific backing, my commenting on a scientific theory would normally hold no more water than a sponge would. However, I re-present my belief that as an imaginative writer of both fantasy and science fiction, and as a layman science nut with far too much time on my hands to allow the intake of many scientific principles, my opinion holds as much ground as anyone else's. That it is dealing with a science that, in all truth, cannot currently be proved, only increases the feasibility of my argument.

Time Travel is not something that will affect our reality, I believe, until we can finally bring ourselves to a scientific and technological evolutionary present, which allows us to create Time Travel.

Other articles by Joshua Hill

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