This was originally going to be solely a discussion on time travel. However, discussing the timeline is a rather good starting point before or while discussing time travel.
I've always wanted to write about my thoughts on time and time travel. It is one of those obscure enough topics where anyone can theorize about the generalities of it. But are those theories based in any realm of realism? There are well-respected theorists like Stephen Hawking who have gone into great detail regarding time travel. There are a ton of TV shows and movies which go to great lengths to be as accurate as possible. In our current understanding of physics, time travel is mathematically allowed. But the reality is that we just don't know, yet. Perhaps there is another law of physics we have yet to discover which proves time travel is fundamentally not possible. But it's fun to think about regardless.
Let's start simple. If I were to build a time machine right now, would I be able to use it?
There is a theory which says you would only be able to travel back to times in which a machine was already created.
But why?
Let's ask a better question.
If it were possible to travel back in time to where a time machine has not existed, why have no time travelers come back to tell us how to time travel? It seems only reasonable that this has not occurred because it is fundamentally not possible. Which I would think is a blessing in disguise. Who's to say someone wouldn't travel back in time to change the past and thus sending a ripple through time and changing any number of futures? This is the focus of a lot of sci-fi. By changing the past, you create alternative futures where the sum of the effects is impossible to know.
Perhaps the past is not constant and traveling back to a time where a time machine has not been created is possible and just hasn't happened yet. It's impossible to say.
But as far as we know, the past is fixed. Set in stone. So to us, and time, the past is constant, meaning it cannot be changed and therefore cannot be traveled to. Which leads us to future travel.
Talking about the future is tricky.
We live in the prison of the present, forever transitioning from the past to the future. However, we don't know what the future holds. Perhaps the future is fixed as much as the past is. And every decision you make has no effect on the overall timeline. Let's call this linear time. With linear time, we can imagine time travel to the future since it is predetermined. There is only one timeline. But if the timeline is fixed and we can travel forward but cannot travel back... oh god... I feel like my brain just blue screen of deathed. You can see that there are still some loopholes in these theories....
Ignoring the time travel part for a minute and sticking with a fixed future, this goes against what we believe in the way of free will. We believe that we are the pilots of our lives and every decision we make changes our future. But if we think of time as linear and the path we are on is fixed, then we must conclude that events are predetermined and what we perceive as free will is just the illusion of free will. Which may upset some, but if we cannot distinguish a difference, does it really matter? That discussion is one for your own inner monologue and I'll leave you to that.
Perhaps time isn't linear and there are infinite possibilities of outcomes. Meaning every decision you make potentially creates a new timeline and thus changes your future. But in order to change your future, you would need to know the pre-existing future and consciously deviate from it.
Another consideration is what happens to the timeline you were previously a part of? Does it continue even though you have created a parallel timeline which is potentially infinitesimally different than the original? Are you in both the original and new timeline? Are you the same person as you were in the original timeline? Does the new timeline have a past? Is the past of the new timeline the same as the past of the original timeline?
Ok, this is getting tougher to explain. Let's use an example.
If I were to somehow see the future via time travel or other means, and in this future, I live in Toronto. I am now consciously aware that when it comes time for me to move to Toronto I instead move to Vancouver. I have now created a new future, me living in Vancouver. I have deviated from the original timeline and as a result created a parallel timeline. To me, the only difference is that I now live in Vancouver. I knew I had a future in Toronto but no one else in the Vancouver timeline does.
We can imagine, though, that the original timeline where I lived in Toronto still continued. So now in the Toronto timeline, my future continues as it would have, had I never seen my future. But in the Vancouver timeline, the one which has the me that is writing this right now, and the one which has you reading this now, life goes on and no one would ever know about the Toronto future.
Now we ask the question about what happens in the Toronto timeline? Does it collapse eventually? Does it end? Or is the me in that timeline capable of seeing that future and changing it, thus creating another parallel timeline? And so on and so forth.
Perhaps changing my decision based on seeing the future doesn't create a new timeline but does change my future. I move to Vancouver and any of the lives I may have influenced in Toronto change also, as a result of me not being there.
I could write about this forever but I've probably invested too much time in this already. I likely missed some important points and I can imagine this wasn't exactly easy to read. But nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed reading it! Feel free to ask questions in the comments. If I can gather some good thoughts regarding actual time travel, I will write about that soon.
Thanks, and until next time,
J
I've always wanted to write about my thoughts on time and time travel. It is one of those obscure enough topics where anyone can theorize about the generalities of it. But are those theories based in any realm of realism? There are well-respected theorists like Stephen Hawking who have gone into great detail regarding time travel. There are a ton of TV shows and movies which go to great lengths to be as accurate as possible. In our current understanding of physics, time travel is mathematically allowed. But the reality is that we just don't know, yet. Perhaps there is another law of physics we have yet to discover which proves time travel is fundamentally not possible. But it's fun to think about regardless.
Let's start simple. If I were to build a time machine right now, would I be able to use it?
There is a theory which says you would only be able to travel back to times in which a machine was already created.
But why?
Let's ask a better question.
If it were possible to travel back in time to where a time machine has not existed, why have no time travelers come back to tell us how to time travel? It seems only reasonable that this has not occurred because it is fundamentally not possible. Which I would think is a blessing in disguise. Who's to say someone wouldn't travel back in time to change the past and thus sending a ripple through time and changing any number of futures? This is the focus of a lot of sci-fi. By changing the past, you create alternative futures where the sum of the effects is impossible to know.
Perhaps the past is not constant and traveling back to a time where a time machine has not been created is possible and just hasn't happened yet. It's impossible to say.
But as far as we know, the past is fixed. Set in stone. So to us, and time, the past is constant, meaning it cannot be changed and therefore cannot be traveled to. Which leads us to future travel.
Talking about the future is tricky.
We live in the prison of the present, forever transitioning from the past to the future. However, we don't know what the future holds. Perhaps the future is fixed as much as the past is. And every decision you make has no effect on the overall timeline. Let's call this linear time. With linear time, we can imagine time travel to the future since it is predetermined. There is only one timeline. But if the timeline is fixed and we can travel forward but cannot travel back... oh god... I feel like my brain just blue screen of deathed. You can see that there are still some loopholes in these theories....
Ignoring the time travel part for a minute and sticking with a fixed future, this goes against what we believe in the way of free will. We believe that we are the pilots of our lives and every decision we make changes our future. But if we think of time as linear and the path we are on is fixed, then we must conclude that events are predetermined and what we perceive as free will is just the illusion of free will. Which may upset some, but if we cannot distinguish a difference, does it really matter? That discussion is one for your own inner monologue and I'll leave you to that.
Perhaps time isn't linear and there are infinite possibilities of outcomes. Meaning every decision you make potentially creates a new timeline and thus changes your future. But in order to change your future, you would need to know the pre-existing future and consciously deviate from it.
Another consideration is what happens to the timeline you were previously a part of? Does it continue even though you have created a parallel timeline which is potentially infinitesimally different than the original? Are you in both the original and new timeline? Are you the same person as you were in the original timeline? Does the new timeline have a past? Is the past of the new timeline the same as the past of the original timeline?
Ok, this is getting tougher to explain. Let's use an example.
If I were to somehow see the future via time travel or other means, and in this future, I live in Toronto. I am now consciously aware that when it comes time for me to move to Toronto I instead move to Vancouver. I have now created a new future, me living in Vancouver. I have deviated from the original timeline and as a result created a parallel timeline. To me, the only difference is that I now live in Vancouver. I knew I had a future in Toronto but no one else in the Vancouver timeline does.
We can imagine, though, that the original timeline where I lived in Toronto still continued. So now in the Toronto timeline, my future continues as it would have, had I never seen my future. But in the Vancouver timeline, the one which has the me that is writing this right now, and the one which has you reading this now, life goes on and no one would ever know about the Toronto future.
Now we ask the question about what happens in the Toronto timeline? Does it collapse eventually? Does it end? Or is the me in that timeline capable of seeing that future and changing it, thus creating another parallel timeline? And so on and so forth.
Perhaps changing my decision based on seeing the future doesn't create a new timeline but does change my future. I move to Vancouver and any of the lives I may have influenced in Toronto change also, as a result of me not being there.
I could write about this forever but I've probably invested too much time in this already. I likely missed some important points and I can imagine this wasn't exactly easy to read. But nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed reading it! Feel free to ask questions in the comments. If I can gather some good thoughts regarding actual time travel, I will write about that soon.
Thanks, and until next time,
J
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