A theory to SEE back in time.

Thank you all for your positive replies. I tried to point out that this was just a theoretical idea. I knew before presenting this there would be "loopholes" in it and I do actually have theoretical ideas of getting around some of them. It's just the concept of the idea I wanted to share. You're all a pretty cool bunch of people to not be "slamming" me for the idea in general.
Best regards,
Chris

reply to post by CBS01


I for one am glad you shared it. We have enough smarts here to work through any possible hitch in the plan. Together we may some up with a solution. Who knows...stranger things have been known to happen

Easiest way to look into the past: use a camera.

Seriously, your idea would be practical if a telescope big enough could be built, and faster than light transportation were available to start building it before light gets there.

A slightly more likely scenario is found in Arthur C. Clarke's and Stephen Baxter's science fiction novel, The Light of Other Days, in which wormholes barely big enough to see through can be opened between different space/time locations.

reply to post by CBS01


Good stuff CBS01!!

Have you ever heard about 'slow-light'?

There is a story based on the concept, called 'Light of other Days' - it is about windows that slow light down, allowing people to see into the past.

I have found the original story online here:

www.scifi.com...

*Here is an article from the Harvard University Website that describes how scientists slowed a light beam 20 million-fold from 186,282 miles a second to 38 miles an hour:

www.hno.harvard.edu...

[edit on 9-3-2009 by Exuberant1]

FOr all we know Andromeda is our galaxy and we see it as another through a reflective space. It has two galaxies with it as well and we have the large and small magellanic clouds, coincidence?

hmmm yea it seems location would be a tough one. we would have to calculate where the location of earth was in space for the time period we are trying to look at. tough hmmmm. then gotta factor space changing as well???


its too late.
working in a damn hotel to get through college

working nights.....

reply to post by dajanksta


"tough hmmmm. then gotta factor space changing as well??? "

Agreed.

That is why I believe that quantum entanglement will be the way we are able to peer back in time - but only so long as the theory which posits the universe had expanded faster than the speed of light at the moment of the big-bang is correct ( and it may very well be, as we do not know which - if any - of the 'laws' of physics were currently ratified at the time ;-)

It is a Big mystery; that Big-Bang...

And if the speed of light can be slowed -to 38 miles per hour, then who knows what the situation was during the time of the big-bang...

damn big bang. I dont see how that can make any sense. matter of fact I cant really even think of anything that I could comprehend that would actually make sense about how everything came to be.
because no matter what you tell me. I'll ask you what made that stuff that made that stuff that made the big bang. ughhhh
my noggin is in pain.

The hardest thing about time travel is proving you have done it, is there anything that would prove conclusively that its true?

reply to post by dajanksta


"my noggin is in pain"

Wait until you start contemplating the possibility that the Universe may be infinite and that life is transmitted via panspermia and also spontaneously pops into existence from who knows where... or how for that matter. (perhaps by multidimensional 'transpermia'?)

Then you'll start believing that the Grandfather paradox is not possible and that all time is local.

....Then your noggin' will be a hurtin' ;-)

Originally posted by Exuberant1
reply to post by dajanksta

 

"my noggin is in pain"

Wait until you start contemplating the possibility that the Universe may be infinite and that life is transmitted via panspermia and also spontaneously pops into existence from who knows where... or how for that matter. (perhaps by multidimensional 'transpermia'?)

Then you'll start believing that the Grandfather paradox is not possible and that all time is local.

....Then your noggin' will be a hurtin' ;-)

haha I dont even understand anything. what is panspermia?

Originally posted by debris765nju
is there anything that would prove conclusively that its true?

Well, you could start using your knowledge about the future to play the stock market as a method of proving to the world that you were a time traveler.

But then again, you might get greedy and wind up getting caught, and since time travel is impossible - you'd get charged with insider trading.

You could try using the 'time travel defense', but no one will believe you - in spite of the statistically impossible numbers/profits that substantiate your outlandish claims and which even insider knowledge wouldn't account for.

*I think it would be easier to just try to see back in time, actually going back could be troublesome....


[edit on 9-3-2009 by Exuberant1]

Well in order for us to "catch up" to our light from 66 million years ago we have to make this telescope travel faster than the speed of light if we launch it today. This is impractical as the vast amounts of energy required would be far more than we could harness on a single craft and the sheer velocity it would be travelling at would most likely destroy any equipment on board. The best solution to this problem would be the research and development of wormhole technology. An instant jump into the cosmos would certainly help us "intercept" our own prehistoric light.

The second hurdle to jump over would be the power and clarity of such a telescope. Well all I have to say is try telling someone from the 1950 that we in 2009 have photographed the surface of not only our planet (google earth) but neighboring planets such as mars and also the moon. The pictures available to the public are pretty good, just imagine what they dont give us access to. Never underestimate the power of human ingenuity people!

[edit on 9-3-2009 by blazerex]

[edit on 9-3-2009 by blazerex]

reply to post by CBS01

When the movie Deja Vu came out I remarked to my friends that the early part of the movie was plausible if someone could put a giant mirror in space 7 light days away from earth and had a telescope larger than anything currently imagined.

In a neat little way, this concept has already been utilized, but not to see light that originated with earth. Kepler observed a bright supernova (the latest to occur in our galaxy) over 400 years ago. It lasted for days and was so bright it could be seen in broad daylight. Astronomers have long wished to study its spectrum to confirm the type of supernova, and recently they studied a "light echo" where the bright blast of the supernova bounced off interstellar gas 405 light years from the source of the blast and arrived here at earth 405 years "late."
publicaffairs.llnl.gov...
They were able to use that reflection to characterize the spectrum of an astronomical event they missed by 400 years. That, to me, is amazing.

[edit on 9-3-2009 by ngchunter]

Hello Again Everyone:
I just wanted to say thanks for everybody's thoughts, feedback, and critiques. Even those with some negative responses brought up some good points I had not thought about. Then again, it was just the idea I wanted to present. I knew there would be many obstacles to overcome if one were to actually attempt this. Anyway, you've all been very kind and I've learned a lot from your input.
Best regards,
Chris

I agree with blazerex to do this this we need wormhole technology.
I think that it should be easier to make a craft and to jump the distance lets say 66 mil light years away from the earth take pictures and return.
Or to put a satellite in high orbit, and to give it speed near to the speed of light.
That way the time on the satellite will pass slower than the time on the earth.
The satellite will take pictures and send them on earth. Because the time flows
slower on the satellite the power supply and other equipment should last longer.
This will not give us the ability to look back in time before we put the satellite though.

I may be wrong.

[edit on 12-3-2009 by defiler]

I specially like the way most people have focused on our planet, we want to go far away to look into our past, but no one has started to think we could also, and should be able, to see the past of another planet, we know we are looking at the past on the sky and deep space.

And this got me thinking a while ago, that we haven't seen any spaceships out there, from the past, well that's a topic for another forum i guess , i made a post a while ago about that about a year ago or so, seems nobody liked the idea where are those million years old civilizations? why we haven't seen those ships, from distant galaxies, traveling through space?

Oh well, maybe one day we will be able to see into another planet, and see its past and evolution, that would be really cool isn't?

I guess we are more focused on seeing our own planet's past, but there are also several more planets out there that we could watch, from our own planet.

Kaifan maybe their ships travel as fast as the speed of light or more. That is
my thinking why we would not see them. I think the telescopes see in the
infrared or the ultraviolet, but I'm not sure, I'm to lazy to check.
If they have some kind of shields shouldn't they block the heat ?

Also if you stand and look at the mirror now you are looking in the past.
Because you send your reflection to the mirror and it bounces back to you,
but the time necessary for your eyes and brain to process the information of
what are you seeing I think is 100 milliseconds(not sure) so you see for example
100 milliseconds in the past.

[edit on 12-3-2009 by defiler]

VIKINGANT:
I like your "inebriated disclaimer" at the end of your replies, I should have something to that effect on mine as well!
Cheers,
Chris