Question about alien space travel

Thanks for all the positive posts!

I think I have a thought on what you said: In theory we could time travel to a "smaller" universe but its still big because were so small. Kind of like how ants see our world. We would not end up in the same place when traveling back to the time that we left in because even the smallest thing could change the course of history

Wow. even my own reply makes my head hurt. Good thread OP

thanks for everyone ignoring all my posts!


you will probably ignore this one too

lol.

reply to post by SoymilkAlaska


I read your post I like em

Once you pass through the light speed barrier, and become a tachyon, you can theoretically increase your velocity without any further resistance until you are travelling at 2 x light speed through space at which point you would be travelling at the speed of light backwards through time

That may not be fast enough though, to reach the requisite point in time during the ancient miniature Universe, so you may need to pass through the 2 x light speed barrier, which is equally insurmountable to the 1 x light speed barrier, and even continue to pass through the 3, 4, 5 x light speed barrier etc.

However, if and when you reach the ancient Universe and subsequently slow down to 1 x light speed in order to use time dilation to travel rapidly forward in time, you may well end up in a different timeline, due to the many worlds theory of quantum mechanics

If I remember correctly Jim Al-Khalili covers this type of thing in his book Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines:

www.amazon.co.uk...

From what I know of General/Special Relativity and Quantum tunnelling, time travel is possible but it needs to be thought about as part of a co-ordinate system or "dimension". By that I mean you could affectively shortcut transit time by slowing local time down while increasing your velocity in 3 dimensional space-effectively giving your travel in any direction a quantum miltiplier.
You can see that time and speed are relative if you look into graviational theory and time dilation. they are linked. Being able to manipulate 4D space/time would effectively be like being an ant walking across a piece of paper and having the ability to fold the paper edge to edge so the far end etouched the near end . because the co-ordinates are similar you can move from on edge to the other without moving. Wormholes are part of that theory.

So your idea whilst unlilkely is possible but people of greater intellect than us more likley partner time with speed and a "co-ordinates system" more to lessen time in transit rather than to back step time to say the big bang when the universe was effectively less than a particle and without mass (or later for a less explosive arrival) even so, that would be one hell of a predictive result to get that right and end up where you want to be.

But yeah nice question-got me thinking.

Originally posted by ZeroMax
Ok this might not make sense at all but I had this idea about how aliens can travel far distances. So what if a civilization developed time travel... could it be possible they could travel back in time to when the universe was much smaller, then somehow travel in time while being expanded with it until they arrived at lets say earth where it is in the present time?

Frankly it's a bit of a moot point given the bulk of scientific findings like this one:

Time Travel Impossible, Say Scientists

Hong Kong physicists say they have proved that a single photon obeys Einstein's theory that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light -- demonstrating that outside science fiction, time travel is impossible.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology research team led by Du Shengwang said they had proved that a single photon, or unit of light, "obeys the traffic law of the universe."

"Einstein claimed that the speed of light was the traffic law of the universe or in simple language, nothing can travel faster than light," the university said on its website.

Seems a lot more likely that traveling vast distances would be done via wormholes rather than time travel.

since time doesn't exist in space as we know it, and aliens could be immortal, you can take 2 of the limiting factors that humans encounter out of the equation.

all that is required is an energy source, possibly the sun, and a big enough spaceship as to not get bored.

for all we know aliens could be nomads and since there is no gravity in space to affect mass, it is theoretically possible that an alien mothership is the size of the moon or bigger and would be indistinguishable to them living on it as it is to us living on earth.

imagine if we were immortal and the earth was our spaceship and we could go anywhere in the galaxy we want.

reply to post by randomname


That would be pretty sweet

Originally posted by ZetaRediculian
sorta like if i travel back in time to when africa and north america were connected hop over to africa and then travel back to the present so i wouldnt have to fly?

edit on 12-6-2012 by ZetaRediculian because: (no reason given)

The problem with this idea is the problem with time travel in general .. the earth rotates, land moves.. you will reappear in the same spot in space you were when you left.. so you might pop into the current time and plop into the ocean.. Same with the OP's premise I would imagine..

It's one of the issues science minded people came up with as an issue in back to the future .. they would have to calculate the earth's rotation and try to jump to a time where they would at least be near where they left..

Originally posted by ZeroMax
Ok this might not make sense at all but I had this idea about how aliens can travel far distances. So what if a civilization developed time travel... could it be possible they could travel back in time to when the universe was much smaller, then somehow travel in time while being expanded with it until they arrived at lets say earth where it is in the present time?

like I said it might not make sense but if anyone understands a reply would be sweet

If they went that far back in time, there would be nothing to visit or no planetary system that had nurtured life. You do understand that even at that they would need some very remarkable means of travel from one young star to another?