3 ms·
Depends on your method of travel. You may be right if you just fast-forward yourself through all of the intermediate 4D coordinates, but what if time travel is
by kijin 10y ago
Depends on your method of travel.
You may be right if you just fast-forward yourself through all of the intermediate 4D coordinates, but what if time travel is not fast-forward? Git merge timelines and oops, one million merge conflicts.
For example, constructing a wormhole might require precise knowledge of the location of both endpoints relative to a specific reference frame. Misplacing your destination by as little as 3 meters can cause you to end up in the ground and suffocate to death.
- ars 10y ago> but what if time travel is not a fast-forward? That's my point - it kind of has to be, otherwise you violate conservation of momentum, energy, and gravity. Violating those would be a bigger deal than time travel itself. Incidentally that's why wormholes can't actually exist - they violate all of the above.
- maxerickson 10y agoMaybe your time machine uses a bad design. Which is a bit tongue in cheek, but I don't see how you can speak so concretely about it without having a working time machine.
- ars 10y ago> but I don't see how you can speak so concretely about it without having a working time machine Because the laws of physics are what they are. A time machine would have to fit inside those laws. This constrains the design of the time machine - you can't just do anything you want. Because of that, it's possible to narrow down how a time machine would work, if it could work.
- kijin 10y agoCould a time machine redirect, dissipate, or convert most of that energy into another form, such as a massive explosion in the middle of Siberia, leaving the traveler with very little momentum to worry about?