Re: What would a \"time machine \"look like?
Hello fellow Californian:
While I think I know what a "time machine" will end up looking like, you'll have to read about that in another thread here (hint: search for the word "Merkaba"). However, to understand what a time machine might look like, one must first understand time itself, and then also what it means to travel in time. First let's deal with what time is, then we can discuss what it means to travel in time...
What Is Time?
We tend to think Time is linear, because that is how we perceive it and how we measure it. However, just because we perceive or measure something in a linear manner does not mean that it is defacto linear in nature. Some (including myself) believe that the totality of the field we call Time is actually highly non-linear in its base state.
Still, understanding how we measure Time can help us understand what Time is. To put it as plainly as possible, we measure linear Time in terms of Matter in Motion. All forms of Time measurement that we have adopted operate on the Matter in Motion principle: From the simplest of time measurements being the sundial, to the most advanced atomic clocks... they all measure the Motion of Matter as a means to define the "standard, local" measurement of the flow of Time. From here we recognize that Motion (speed, velocity) is defined as Space per unit Time (e.g. Miles per Hour), and we can similarly categorize Matter (mass flow rate) as Mass per unit Time (e.g. Slugs per Second). We can then write an equation for the dimensions of Time (Matter in Motion) as:
Time = Matter in Motion = Matter/Motion = (Mass/Time)/(Space/Time) canceling out terms this leaves:
Time = Mass/Space or more precisely:
The change, or flow, of Time = The change in Mass with respect to the change in Space.
Thus, the flow of local Time is defined by how Mass distributes itself in, and expands or contracts with respect to, Space. This may sound a bit funny, or odd, but it makes complete mathematical sense, and even directly relates to how we define Time in a thermodynamic sense, namely by the metric we call thermodynamic entropy.
Entropy is a more proper means of measuring the local flow of Time. Thermodynamics tells us that for a real, irreversible system, entropy always increases. Increasing entropy is the thermodynamic equivalant for the arrow of Time, flowing from past to future. At very best, our current understanding of thermodynamics tells us that if we can create a completely reversible process, the change in entropy would be zero. In essence, this would correspond to "frozen Time".
I won't go into the fact that we can actually make entropy = 0, and even make entropy negative, for an isolated system, as long as we add energy to the isolated system. However, this is an indication that it should be possible for an isolated body to be able to "move backward in Time". But for now, let us move onto the concept of "traveling through Time".
What does it mean to Travel Through Time?
The first thing we need to understand, and agree to, is that we are, currently, traveling through Time. It may sound silly, but we travel from the past to the future in our bodies at a rate of 1 second per second. We could alternately describe this flow of Time in terms of Mass-per-Space (Mass/Space) as we have shown with the equation above.
With this understanding, we then must come to understand that what we typically refer to when we say we want to "travel through Time" is actually equivalent to changing the rate of flow of Time. If we want to "travel in Time to the future" what we really mean is that we want to accelerate our local flow of Time to be something greater than the 1 second per second we currently experience.
What we refer to as "traveling back in Time" is really equivalent to causing the flow of Time to slow from its 1 second per second, and actually become something less than 0 seconds per second. In order to do this, we must first understand what it takes to STOP the local flow of Time (in other words make the local flow of Time equal to zero seconds of local Time for every second of "inertial" Time).
So what does all of the above tell us with regard to what a time machine may look like? Well, at its most basic, the above tells us that a time machine would need to employ a field effect that can modify both Mass and Space simultaneously in order to change the flow of local Time. While our current level of technology is quite advanced with being able to change Mass from one form to another, we are just scratching the surface of what it means to be able to "change Space". This is what is currently known as the science of metric engineering, and is a large area of study.
From my understanding of the above, I do not believe that a time machine has to move at all. Rather that it will require an influx of energy in such a way that both Mass and Space within the target area is changed in a particular manner. The first goal of such a machine should be to attempt to stop the local flow of Time, in other words, to reach a flow of 0 seconds of local Time to 1 second of inertial Time. Once someone demonstrates this ability, the natural extension would be to use the technology to either accelerate the flow of Time, or make the flow of Time negative.
I tend to believe that the "magical formula" for such a device involves light, gravity, and magnetism.
RMT
