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Time Travelers' Convention

Posted by timothy on Sun May 01, 2005 06:02 PM
from the early-registration-discouraged dept.
usermilk writes "Some folks at MIT are holding a time-travelers' convention. The idea is to make it so famous and so widely-known that even thousands of years in the future, people will still know exactly when and where this time-traveler convention went down, and will all come travel to it at some point in their illustrious time-traveling careers. For those interested in attending, it's on May 7, 2005, 10:00pm EDT (08 May 2005 02:00:00 UTC) in the East Campus Courtyard at MIT. 42:21:36.025N, 71:05:16.332W (42.360007,-071.087870 in decimal degrees)."
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  • Ahh... (Score:5, Funny)

    by metlin (258108) <metlin.cc@gatech@edu> on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:03PM (#12401897) Homepage Journal

    But will John Titor be invited?
  • I tried to make it (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:04PM (#12401913)
    But I couldn't figure out where those coordinates posted. Would you mind pointing out where you are at the moment in your galactic and solar orbits relative to a few quasars, please?
  • by femto (459605) on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:05PM (#12401916) Homepage
    Why didn't they set the date for yesterday? That way we wouldn't have to wait to see if it was successful.
  • Hmmm.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by carterhawk001 (681941) on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:05PM (#12401919) Journal
    hmm...things to remember:
    1. if a time travel came back in time and altered the past, no one would know but him/her.
    2. it is impossible to prove that our recorded history now is the same as it was 1 second ago due to rule number 1.
    3. You may be caught in a temporal causality loop, doomed forever to repeat the same period of time over and over.
    4. If time is an expression of entropy, then the only way to travel through time is to prefectly reverse entropy, which is impossible because, iirc, entropy is chaotic.
    5. If the universe is nonlinear, or rather, linear is an illusion, then there is no past or future to travel to, but only the present wich exists at any instant as a snapshot in the cascade towards greater entropy.
    6. The universe is moving towards a state of pure heat, at which time entropy will cease, as all engery, which drives entropy, will have been used. if you intend to travel through time by altering the universe around you, then you can not go past this point, or ever return. if you time travel by using internal independent means, then you may travel past this point, but you would no longer have any external means of measuring the passage of time in the universe. To time travel through external means you must increase the general entropy of the universe such that all events happen faster outside your time machine. to travel through time internaly you must slow down your own entropy. in both instances you must phase away from the universe such that you do not exist in it, lest you collide with something going faster than you can percieve.
    7 If time is a seperate dimension then you must find a way to travel in the direction that is forwards or backwards from where you are now. 4 dimensional travel occurs at a steady, measurable rate. As you approach the speed of light, this rate of passage decreases. Thus, it is logical to assume that by exceeding the speed of light in our universe of spacetime you would travel backwards in time.
    8. You may be your own great great grandparent.
    9. If you change your own past you can not go back to your own future to reap the benifits because the new future would have a new you to match it.
    10. Journeyman Project is t3h roxors!!!!!
    • Re:Hmmm.... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by DirtyDuck (540166) on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:19PM (#12402086)
      Nah, you've been watching too much startrek.

      Assuming time travel is possible, it's impossible to alter the past.

      Think of it this way, the way something happened, is the way it happened. If you travel back in time, then you're participating in events however, your paticipation would already have happened. Therefore, anything you've already done would already have happened.

      Think of it this way. You couldn't go back in time and shoot Hilter before he got into power for the very simple reason that it didn't happen. Say you setup a sniper rifle on a building. You could try to fire but you'd either miss, the gun would jam, you'd get arrested, have a heart-attack etc. etc.

      This isn't the universe trying to protect itself or any such mystical mumbo jumbo. It's just the simple fact that a thing didn't happen and your actions in trying to change the past are already part of history.

      Probably didn't explain it very clearly. ;)
      [ Parent ]
  • Hm (Score:5, Funny)

    by inKubus (199753) on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:05PM (#12401920) Homepage Journal
    They should plan out all the conferences in advance for the next 10,000 years, like the freemasons did in 5000 b.c.
  • gets the imagination going (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:05PM (#12401921)
    youve gotta love those mit guys and their uncanny study avoidance manouevres
  • RSVP? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dachannien (617929) on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:06PM (#12401929) Homepage
    For those interested in attending, it's on May 7, 2005, 10:00pm EDT

    Oh, I'm sure I'll get around to it one of these days.

  • so naturally (Score:5, Funny)

    by Edmund Blackadder (559735) on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:08PM (#12401959)
    The place will be full of dozens of idiots dressed in spandex and insisting thet they come from the future.
  • Paradoxes (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jesterzog (189797) on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:10PM (#12401975) Homepage Journal

    If no time travellers turn up on May 7th, will everyone stop promoting it after the date?

    Personally I would have thought it'd make sense to give a bit more advanced notice than a week, if only to give people a chance to get the word around more beforehand (thus more likely to be archived).

  • Fuck (Score:5, Funny)

    by erikharrison (633719) on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:11PM (#12401987)
    I'm a time traveller. Unfortunately, you can't tell, because I travel through time with the help of an angel and an invisible lech, and the process causing me to appear identical to someone in the time I'm travelling to.

    Hold on, I have to go get this Erik kid married to his one true love.

    Oh boy.
  • It could be a ruse... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:11PM (#12401990)
    It could be a ruse... the organizers may be stranded time travellers trying to send a message to the future to get rescued now. It may not be a genuine convention, but rather a lifeboat technique for the Insiders.
  • I went there next year. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Unknown Poltroon (31628) * <unknown_poltroon1sp@myahoo.com> on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:14PM (#12402034)
    Its gonna be boring. But the after party they're planning last year kicked ass.
  • marketing idea (Score:5, Funny)

    by British (51765) <british1500&gmail,com> on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:16PM (#12402047) Homepage Journal
    You could have a Time Traveler supply booth running there:

    - Legit costumes for whatever era. WW2 uniform, peasant outfit, etc
    - Monetary exchange: buy/sell money from different eras, at varying rates. You will always need money(depending on the time)
    - Fake IDs. Going back 20 years? get an ID 20 years prior to your birthday
    - Fake license plates. Travelling in an old car back to an earlier time? Get "legit" license plates that are either from the same car, or just some convincing out-of-state plates.

    WARNING: Management is not responsible to disruptions in history.

    The sales possibilities are endless.
  • zerg (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lord Omlette (124579) on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:17PM (#12402064) Homepage
    Even if someone time travelled into the past for a few seconds, wouldn't they wind up in the icy cold of space while the planet speeds along on its normal course around the sun?
  • Not Bloody Likely (Score:5, Funny)

    by the eric conspiracy (20178) on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:22PM (#12402119)
    Pshaw... everybody knows that nobody goes to these things because they are too crowded.

  • Larry Niven Already Dealt With This (Score:5, Insightful)

    by John Hasler (414242) on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:25PM (#12402145)
    For a universe in which time travel is possible and the past can be altered by time travelers the only stable state is one in which time travel is never invented. Work it out.
    • Re:so theoretically (Score:5, Funny)

      by johnjay (230559) on Sunday May 01 2005, @06:20PM (#12402093)
      "So if there is no one present from the future theoretically we never figure out how to transend time." Or the party on May 7th becomes famous throughout time as one of the most suck-ass parties in all history. So, time travelers decide to skip it.
      [ Parent ]