Hi Freaks and Geeks (you know I say that with love)!
Sorry I haven't written in a while. There's no excuse really, just some variation of "I haven't the time" or "I haven't the energy". Speaking of time, I wrote a bit about my favorite topic this morning and thought the denizens of the net might be interested in picking apart my thoughts on time travel. Keep in mind that all I know about time travel I learned by watching sci-fi programs, so keep the biting criticisms to a gentle minimum. I know this all may be rubbish, but it amuses me and that's what blogging is really all about. Enjoy!
Why am I obsessed with Time? I suppose one reason is that I tend to be obsessed by a lot of things, but that is an insufficient reason. I know, I mean, I understand, that linear time is an illusion. 6/8/08 10.16am EST only has meaning because in this society we have chosen those symbols to parcel out the moments of our existence in a consistent manner so we can "communicate" effectively with each other. Or some such reasoning like that. We all need to be "on the same page" as it were. The symbols are mile markers, points in space-time to refer back to. But are they really? If Time Travel--Past Time Travel, that is--can be accomplished, would it be as easy as dialing up the date and time - or maybe just the year and month? Or would it be tied to something more universal? Life forms throughout the Universe (even many who reside on this planet) do not mark time the way Americans do -- or even as humans do (or should I say "civilized" humans). Do tribesmen in the Amazon (some who have had the benefit of not having contact with "civilized humans") know what June 8th 2008 is? Or do they see it as the 160th day of the year -- even that is contrived. Perhaps it is simply another day in a certain season -- planting, harvesting -- another way of marking the passing of time. A communal understanding of "WHEN".
So back to Past Time Travel. How would our minds or our technology be able to navigate back in time? We would need to discover the mechanism of manipulating space-time. I think the wormhole theory may apply, but without any major headway into how they can form (especially in light of the fact that none that we know of have ever been found). So the first step is finding a naturally occurring wormhole. Question One: Do wormholes form naturally or by their very nature are they anomalies caused by something else? It is analogous to the difference between a corridor in a building leading from room to room and the destruction of a wall to "shorten" the trip. Would creating a wormhole destroy a section of space-time. And, more importantly, would the destruction be irreparable? To attempt to create a wormhole without understanding their nature and relation to space-time would be irresponsible (although, it would also be distinctly human to do so).
The task of ripping the fabric of space-time seems to rely on figuring out, if not what it is made of, at least what can cause it to unravel. If we know that an acid can dissolve a structure, does it matter if the structure is made of steel or wood or something other substance? I think the answer is "yes". Knowing how to destroy something is only one side of the equation. A side humans generally prefer to be on if you look at our stance on other things such as the Environment. We are exceedingly skilled at destroying, yet we fail at the much more difficult task of creating or re-creating. It's not enough for our survival to focus only on how to destroy -- the better we get at that, the more likely we are to destroy ourselves. So what does this have to do with Past Time Travel? Perhaps everything. What happens if we do discover how to tear into space-time and go back to the past? With our current skill set all we will accomplish is bringing about our own destruction faster. Look what happened when we figured out how to split atoms. Did we create a power source that enabled us to safely, cleanly and inexpensively provide power to our planet (thus ending our reliance on primitive fossil fuels)? Not quite. First we built a bomb. Then we have mismanaged power plants so that they are doing, in some cases, more harm than good.
I think the bottom line is that humans cannot be trusted with our own cleverness. I am obsessed with time (as is, perhaps, the bulk of the "civilized" world) because I know there isn't much of it left -largely because of our own actions. Perhaps we want to find a way to go back and undo the damage we know we have done. Instead we should focus on creative, new solutions to the problems we face. Seriously, if someone can imagine the concept and mechanisms of Past Time Travel, why can't we also imagine a more peaceful, balanced way of living on this planet? Oh wait, people already have. I guess putting those ideals into practice is not as fun as destroying things.
