Time Travel??

By TruthHurts - Wed, 04/30/2008 - 7:38pm

Physicist Says Time Travel Is Not Only Possible, but Likely

Time travel? Teleportation? No problem, says renowned physicist Michio Kaku.

Kaku, a professor at the City University of New York, is creating quite a stir in Britain with the release of his new book, "The Physics of the Impossible."

On this side of the pond, outlandish claims in books are recognized as, well, a good way to sell books.

But in Blighty, Kaku's being treated as if he's Doctor Who informing dim-witted humans about the wonders of the Universe, with front-page treatment Wednesday in both the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian. Even the normally staid Economist is chiming in.

Kaku, one of the earliest proponents of string theory, still a contentious issue among physicists, divides the most common science-fiction tropes, or "impossibilities," into three categories — possible soon, possible in the far future and really, truly impossible.

Category 1, as he dubs it, includes things that may become true within the next century, if not the next few decades: teleportation (already possible, but only among subatomic particles); telepathy (thanks to brain implants); invisibility (already being researched using light-bending 'metamaterials'); laser guns (existing, but hugely power-hungry); force fields; and the discovery of extraterrestrial life.

Category 2 includes things that are theoretically possible but would be realized only with thousands more years of technological progress: time travel (possibly through "wormholes" in space); traveling faster than light; and the discovery of parallel universes.

Category 3 consists of things that really are impossible because they violate the laws of physics. Only two concepts qualify: knowing the future and perpetual motion.

"The Physics of the Impossible," released March 11 in the U.S., is currently No. 123 on the Amazon bestseller lists. It comes out Thursday in Britain, though without the "Doctor Who"-themed cover of the U.S. version.

Ok Kids if you could travel back in time where would you go and why?

Related: TruthHurts's blog | login or register to post comments | printer friendly version

Time Travel - Great question.

Submitted by Sunflower on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 9:18pm.

Truth - I am very impressed with this blog and your very loaded question. What a great way to find out about our fellow bloggers and maybe a little more about ourselves.

My first thought, and it might be my final on this subject (but I doubt it), is to travel back to Bethlehem and Jerusalem to just before BC and hang out there until 33 AD. I would want to be an observer from this age so I can know what REALLY happened and who the cast of characters in the best seller of all times really were.

But after careful consideration, I may want to go somewhere else...to be continued.

Link to petition: http://24.23.126.8/Petition.pdf

Tools: login or register to post comments

The Way Back Machine

Submitted by SoloVoce on Thu, 05/01/2008 - 7:37am.

Sunflower, TH,

Great idea & I'm sure many people have asked themselves the same question. Actually, there are a # of different times I'd love to travel to. I'm with you Sunflower, but I'd set the wayback machine to @ 6 years before what most think is the birth of Christ. According to most scholars, Jesus was born in what we would consider @ 4 BC & probably in the spring, not winter. Like you, I'd like to see what really happened & what led up to it. Other times I'd like to visit? The times that brought us DaVinci, Copernicus, late 19th, early 20th century to name a few. Maybe I could look up Mr. Peabody & ask him for a favor. JATFUR.