Random Blog #1: Time Travel - A Possibility?

If I could ask you, about the one thing that you would want to change or do if given a chance to go back in time, then what would it be?

You would probably want to go back in time and talk to a deceased relative or friend. Or you might want to go back in time and propose to your high school crush. Or you might want to go back in time, and tell Sourav Ganguly not to choose to bowl first in the 2003 World Cup final.

But is time travel really possible? Let's find out.

Image Credit: https://www.slideshare.net/vickykurapati/

Before we proceed, did you know that Stephen Hawking once organized a party for time travelers? He scheduled a party and sent out invitations to some time travel enthusiasts after the date on which the party was scheduled. What happened and who attended the party is an answer that i have hidden in one of the theories below.

1) Multiverse Theory
Multiverse Theory suggests that time travel is possible but it would create multiple universes where one exists while being in the current universe.

Image Credit: https://astronomy.com/

This is supported by the solution worked out to resolve the Grandfather Paradox. According to the Grandfather Paradox, if a time traveler goes back in time and kills his/her grandfather, then it would create a paradox as it will lead to a situation where the father of the time traveler would not exist and hence, the time traveler himself/herself would never exist. Now, if the time traveler does not exist then he/she does not really go back in time to kill the grandfather and this means that the grandfather still exists. If he still exists, then the time traveler definitely exists and goes back in time to kill his/her grandfather. This will create a closed time loop as the incident would keep on repeating and lead to the creation of numerous universes.

Image Credit: http://thephysicspolice.blogspot.com/

This is, however, negated by quantum mechanics as it does not allow cloning. So the only way one can travel to another timeline is if his/her atoms are scanned & transferred at a speed that is faster than light and atoms in one timeline are completely destroyed.

Some still believe that another timeline is created with the creation of a new universe. May be it does not really go against quantum mechanics as humans are crazy to find out where "aliens" are since the time they have received a "signal from a universe far away".

2) Doppelganger Theory
Traveling back in time has not been proved till now as it requires a physical matter to travel faster than light; however, NASA has proved that traveling to the future is possible as their astronauts have been observed to age 0.0007 seconds slower for every six months they spend in space. This is where the Doppelganger Theory becomes interesting.

Some believe that a few scientists have figured out a way to send humans ahead in time by making them look like their future older version. The previous younger version, or the doppelganger, is transformed by using the opposite energy. If the future older version has negative mass, then his/her doppelganger would have positive mass. In order to avoid any conflict in the future timeline, both the masses would meet and destroy either of them.

The scientists estimated the amount of panic that this theory would create and came up with an explanation stating that the doppelganger is actually a friendly twin traveler who would never kill his/her future older version. This explanation makes more sense as no one would ever kill himself/herself.

One finding that adds to this theory is a photo of Greta Thunberg.

Image Credit: Eric A. Hegg Photography/University of Washington

It is believed that the image on the left side is from the past and she has traveled ahead in time to save the planet. No one knows how she did that but it is being joked that she probably used a solar powered time machine. The University of Washington Libraries' digital archives has confirmed that the photo is from 19th century, 1898 to be more precised, and the family is sifting for gold in the Canadian Yukon Territory.

3) Scientific Theory
This is one of the rare theories that is highly supported by reputed scientists. One of the scientists who supported this theory was Albert Einstein. The theory of relativity developed by him states that time & space are linked together and one affects the other. Hence, making time travel a possibility.

The theory of relativity has two parts: Special Relativity; and, General Relativity.

Special Relativity states that faster a person travels, slower he/she experiences the time. An experiment to prove this was conducted by Albert Einstein in a train where he asked a passenger if he felt the pace of time to be slow or fast, and the passenger replied, "slow". He argued and said that the other person who was watching the train pass actually felt the pace to be faster. The passenger did not reply but this proved that time travels differently for different people based on where they are.

The argument got strong with the second experiment in which two clocks were used. One of them stayed on the ground and the other clock flew on an airplane in the same direction in which the Earth rotates. Once the plane landed, it was observed that the clock on the plane was slightly behind the clock that was on the ground. This also justified General Relativity.

According to General Relativity, space and time are affected by gravity as gravity bends both of them to influence the speed. This theory has a wide use in Global Positioning System Technology, that is popularly known as GPS. GPS satellite orbits faster at 8,700 mils (14,000 kms) per hour to slow its clock by a small fraction of a second. A statement that probably explains this in a best way is that time runs slower where gravity is weak.

I talked about scientists aging slowly in space in the previous theory. That holds true in this theory too, under General Relativity.

4) Theory of traveling in mind
This is one of the least talked about theories because we do it almost everyday. There are two parts to this theory. One part is related to our past and the second part is related to our future.

GIF Credit: https://imgur.com/

As per the first part, we can travel back in time just by using our mind. Our body will physically remain in the current timeline but we would experience a lot of emotions while we remember about our old days. We may have often seen our grandparents with a smile on their face and when asked about it, they would say that they were just recollecting about how good their young days were. So, thinking about our old times is a way to go back in time without traveling faster than the light. Phew, right?

The second part talks about predicting the future, where one jumps a lot between the past & the future by continuously considering his/her present condition. The most practical approach to make it work is by using a quantitative technique. One does not physically travel in the future and yet takes a mental trip to the future where he/she wishes to be. A corporate meeting, for example, is well known for predicting what the future holds. The management sets a target and works to achieve it. This is exactly what the theory suggests.

Time travel enthusiasts may have derived this theory to satiate their thirst for discovery but it is very well supported by Endel Tulving.

Image Credit: https://blog.erm.ee/

He coined a term, "Chronesthesia" that means a hypothetical brain/mind activity or capacity, acquired by humans through evolution that allows them to constantly be aware of the past and the future. It is known to be absent in animals and human infants.

Our subconscious mind is a powerful tool that is known for storing our experiences, memories & skills and analyzing them without us having a single clue about it. Our subconscious mind also shows us what may happen in the future as it is believed that dreams that we see are various signals related to the events of our life. Everyone is familiar with 'deja vu' and in case not, then here it is. Deja Vu has been defined by 'healthline' as an uncanny sensation that one has already experienced something even when he/she knows they never have. So may be, we are capable to travel in time and know what is about to happen.

5) Theory of traveling across continents
This is a theory that enthusiasts themselves are not really proud of but it is worth mentioning. According to this theory, a person time travels when he/she moves from one continent to another continent.

Image Credit: https://www.freepik.com/

For example, India is ahead of the United States of America by 9 hours & 30 minutes. If one celebrates New Year in India exactly at midnight and manages to reach the United States of America within 9 hours & 30 minutes then that person will not just go back to December 31 but also celebrate the New Year two times.

With this, the traveler will not be able to change anything that has happened or that is about to happen but he/she will surely get to live a celebration two times.

Before i wrap-up, here is the answer to what actually happened in Stephen Hawking's party: No one visited his party but hey, may be someone is currently working on a time machine to get to that party.

My take: Actual time travel does not seem to be possible with the technology that we currently have. We can only think about the past, live in the present and predict the future, while enthusiasts work on the technology to make actual time travel possible.

That is all for this topic.

If you have anything to contribute then kindly share it in the comment section. I would love to hear from you.

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