Re: It is a mistake to give anyone your unwavering bel
Hi Olly,
I think we agree here more than disagree.
We both believe time travel is possible (for me its possible on both the "material" and "non-material" planes) with the non-material method being the only one practical and allowed.
There are many theories and discoveries in modern physics that point to the possibility of quantum mechanisms that would make time travel possible on the material plane. These same theories also outline the pitfalls of such an endeavor, and that even though forces might be harnessed to acheive this goal, the universe would see it as a disruption of natural order and take moves to return the system to a steady state. Key concepts to consider are relativistic causality, quantum entanglement, chaos theory and of course the good old standby - entropy. Much information can be found at the library or on the net concerning these subjects.
In a non-technical way I will attempt to lay out my arguement utilizing the core tenants just one of these theories.
1) Quantum Entanglement - Is a theory that both helps prove that time travel is possible and that its consequences will most likely be detrimental.
Particles which are arbitrarily far apart seem to influence each other, even though according to relativity this means that what seems to be causing an event from one point of view, from another point of view doesn't happen until after the effect being caused. There's your basis for time travel, the universe displays a mechanism of "effect before cause" and instantaneous transfer of information between two points in the universe hundreds, even thousands of light years away - information transferred way, way faster than the speed of light.
EXPERIMENTAL PROOF:
When a photon (usually polarized laser light) passes through matter, it will be absorbed by an electron. Spontaneously, the electron will return to its ground state by emitting the photon. Certain crystal structures (prisms) increase the likelyhood that the photon will decay into two photons upon emission, both of them with longer wavelengths than the original. Keep in mind that a longer wavelength means a lower frequency, and thus less energy. The total energy of the two photons must equal the energy of the photon originally fired from the laser (conservation of energy).
It is when the original photon decays into two photons that the resulting photon pair is considered entangled.
Normally the photons exit the crystal such that one is aligned in a horizontally (H) polarized light cone, the other aligned vertically (V). By adjusting the experiment, the horizontal and vertical light cones can be made to overlap. Even though the polarization of the individual photons is unknown, the nature of quantum mechanics demands they differ.
To illustrate, if an entangled photon meets a vertical polarizing filter the photon may or may not pass through. If it does, then its entangled partner will not because the instant that the first photon's polarization is known, the second photon's polarization will be the exact opposite.
It is this instant communication between the entangled photons to indicate each other's polarization that lies at the very heart of quantum entanglement. This is the "spooky action at a distance" that Einstein believed was theoretically implausible.
The fact that these non-local connections are predicted by quantum mechanics was originally pointed out by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen, but they used it to argue that Quantum Mechanics must be incomplete - dismissing the possibility of such 'spooky action-at-a-distance' out of hand. However in 1964 Bell published a now-famous paper in which he argued that any theory of quantum physics must abandon either Einsteinian locality (ie. the requirement that no influence can travel faster than light and thereby subvert time's linearity), or else discount the objective reality of the properties of subatomic particles.
So there is a possible mechanism for TT. Now, within the same theory are the mechanisms (safety?) to make TT not feasible. In an entangled system, the entanglement will persist until a measurement is made against one of the entangled parties. The act of measuring the system collapses the wave into a known state. This result would seem to end the possibility of using an entangled system for instantaneous communications of information (i.e matter). Thus, the conditions exist "naturally' , but once measured or utilized simply cease.
Similar arguments can be proposed utilizing current and accepted theories including relativistic causality, chaos theory, entropy, quantum non-locality and causality.
Here is an metaphorical example utilizing a pre-quantum physics theory namely, displacement of matter. Imagine a fish tank with 10 fish in it that is filled to the very top with water. Suddenly you drop a new goldfish into tank. Many things happen, some water overflows, ripples are sent out through the system and everytime the new fish moves within the tank it affects every aspect of its "new world" . To go further, the new fish eats it's share of food but the system only has the same amount as before. Every other fish gets less food and maybe it is enough to tip the balance and cause one species to become predatory to fill its nutritional needs and a fish is eaten. The waste product of the new unaccounted-for fish overwhelms the system, it's filters overload and can no longer support life. The owner of the tank (creator of that world) , dumps out the tank, refills it with the original amount of water and fish and puts a cover on the tank so no one can ever drop a new fish into the system again. You get the idea...
In other words - a physical mass not expected or compensated for in this system "suddenly" materializes. Displacing existing matter (the ripple), not only in this dimension (or energy state) but via harmonics also affects adjacent ones.
To sum up - like I said in my earlier post - Time Travel (in the physical plane) is possible, but never practiced - or allowed by universal law.
