How to Build a Time Machine

frank249 writes "The September issue of Scientific American has an article discussing the possibility of time travel. They say that it wouldn't be easy, but it might be possible. It could be a while until we can expand worm holes and tow them to a neutron star but didn't someone say that if it is possible it will happen. If it is impossible it will just take a little longer."

Interesting Stuff....

[echucker]

I move we call for a slashback in a few hundred years when this might be possible. ;-)

Speed up things....

[Duckz]

Wouldn't the best way to speed up things for this be to leave a post-it note stuck in the files saying "when this is finally invented, please travel back to August 24, 2002AD and provide the HOW-TO."
--
Todd

I would...

[Anonymous Coward]

Go back in time and stop CmdrTaco from starting Slashdot. This way the trolls would never be around to make asinine comments like the parent. You know you agree with me, too!

Hmm

[KanSer]

As long as you pay the toll...

"Somebody's gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes!"

Old news.

[jellomizer]

This article was posted years ago.... Oh umm. Wait a minute. Never mind. I never saw this article before. Yea thats it. I never this article before. Realy I have never saw this article. Why are you looking at my third eye funny?

Re:Reflection...

[Anonymous Coward]

Who in their right mind would WANT to come back to THIS time ????????

Then again . . . maybe the corporate powers of the future are already here - and setting up the laws that make them invincible . . . . .

Fun trick

[mother_superius]

Wear weird clothes (not weird in the everyday weird people sense, but truly out of place). Walk up to someone (inventing an accent is fun) and ask them what year it is. When they say, puzzled, "2002", get a huge smile and dance a future dance away yelling "it worked, it worked!"

Fun to confuse people with.

Just as fun: Dress up like a hippie or something else interesting from the past and change everything accordingly to the past.

Re:Perhaps . . . but:

[Robber Baron]

Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc. [wirex.com]
Immunix: [immunix.org] Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase [wirex.com]

Oooo! Everyone check out the big brain on Crispin!

Re:did i get first post?

[GutBomb]

did i get first post?

no, but perhaps someday you can go back in time and get it.

Danger Will Robinson! You Might Find Out Why

[Myriad]

Am I the only one who really wants to see what happens if the universe encountered a true paradox?

Better be careful, I mean you might figure out what the Universe is actually for and why its here - and if anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

Mind you, there is another theory which states that this has already happened.

Well, does this model work for time machines?

[ArsonPerBuilding]

1. Build a time machine.

2. ?????

3. Profit.

At last!

[paiute]

With one of these gizmos, I'll be first posting every time!

Re:What Hogwash! Nothing Can Move in Time!

[Anonymous Coward]

In the meantime, those of you who are really interested in the truth can take a look at this following link for a complete debunking of time travel and other crackpottery from the physics community

To prove you wrong; I went back in time and made the URL go away...

Someone's done it once before

[tgibson]

Time Travel Ad [cudenver.edu]

Re:Well, does this model work for time machines?

[shd99004]

1. Build a time machine.
2. Go into the future to gather information about it.
3. Go back to your own time with your new knowledge.
4. ?????
5. Prophet!

obligatory simpsons quote

[evacuate_the_bull]

homer [as he is being sucked into a blackhole]: there's so much i don't know about astrophysics. i really wish i read that book by that wheelchair guy...

Re:Some Say it Has Already Happened ...

[SmokeSerpent]

Paradox induces a cascading feedback loop of self-modifying universes (each inducing a time-traveller who goes back and causes another chage) until the sequence halts with a universe in which time travel is not developed.

Or the Universe halts with a stack overflow...

The flaw:

[SHEENmaster]

Your theory, and millions of other ones, are based on the theory that one cannot travel faster than light(e).
You consede the fact that one can travel at half the speed of light(e/2). Assume that two object(a&b) both have a y and a z coordinate of 0 and that they each have a y and z velocity of 0. If object a is heading with an x velocity of e/2 and object b is heading with an x velocity of -e/2. Object a and object b then have a velocity of e relative to eachother.

Origin (0,0,0) only exists for the purposes of describing mathematical situations and velocity cannot be measured relative to a nonexistant point. When all speed is relative, it cannot be capped. Why the hell does everyone insist that nothing can go faster than light when no one can give me a reason WHY.

I've heard that it is "infinit speed". That's complete BS. Does infinity==299,792,458!? If it is not infinite speed, then a craft wouldn't need to carry infinite fuel. Hell, a craft doesn't even need to carry its own fuel!

I do not have a phd. I do not have a college degree. Hell, I don't even have my high school diploma yet. If you can explain this, please email me.

That said, time travel would be a great way to make seemingly instantanious trips. I think that "facsimily transmissions", such as that episode of the Outer Limits would be the fastest way, without time travel. That said, it would take a LOT of money to make it legally permissable.

Re:Paradox and Causal Loops

[Tablizer]

ERROR: Time Travel Constraint
Violation, Paradox 13.

1. Cancel Travel

2. Cancel Universe

3. Fork Universe

Response: __

We need to prepare now...

[RockyJSquirel]

All of these arguments that the lack of time travelers is evidence that there is no backwards time travel got me thinking: Maybe there are time travelers, but we've given them no reason to show themselves publicly. So...

We need to prepare if we want to find out if backwards time travel is possible.

Here what we to do. We set up a well publicized botique for time travelers, a place that sells tee shirts that says "My parents went backwards in time and all I got was this lousy tee shirt!" If anyone buys the tee shirt then we know that time travel is happening.

Rocky J. Squirrel

Nominated for best sound bite in recent memory...

[mysticgoat]

If there's any virtue at all to a discussion about time travel, it's that you can't determine whether mathematics or linguistics is taking the worst beating.

That's X-L-N-tay!

Thanks, epine. If I had mod points to award, and could award them to just a portion of a post, I'd rate that sentence a "5".

But I don't and I can't.

Obligatory marxian theory of time

[mysticgoat]

Time flies like an arrow...
fruit flies like a banana

--Groucho Marx

Re:Speed up things....

[ShavenYak]

Future think, Grab monkey from future, set it on fire, we get energy from future.

I don't see that as a big deal.

It's a big deal to the monkey, you insensitive bastard!