Time Travel

In today’s email:-

• A fact

• What is time travel?

• What is the “theory of relativity” and how is it going to be used in time travel?

• What could time travel change in the world?

• Psychological effect if time travel was possible:

• Conclusion

Time travel is usually shown in movies and series, where people go back or forth in time to see or change a few things. Many people, including me, have wondered…. is time travel possible? If it is, then what changes can happen to the world? But, first of all, we need to understand the question, “What is Time- Travel?”

What is Time- Travel?

Time travel to the past is theoretically possible in certain general relativity spacetime geometries that permit traveling faster than the speed of light. (Source: Wikipedia)

In simple words, time travel means going back in time by traveling faster than the speed of light using Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Now,

What is the “theory of relativity” and how is it going to be used in time travel?

The “Theory of Relativity” usually has 2 interrelated theories proposed by Albert Einstein in 1905 and 1915. The 2 theories are General Relativity and Special Relativity.

Special Relativity: The speed of light is constant in a vacuum for all observers, regardless of their motion, and the laws of physics are the same for everyone in uniform motion in Special Relativity. The main outcome of the Special Relativity is Time Dilation.

General Relativity: General relativity extends the principles of special relativity to include gravity. Einstein proposed that gravity is not just a force between masses but is a warping of space-time caused by massive objects like planets and stars.

This can be used in Time Travel by:

• Time Travel into the FUTURE using the Special Relativity (Imagine traveling on a super-fast spaceship. You spend a few years flying at nearly the speed of light, but when you return, decades or even centuries might have passed on Earth. This is how you could travel into the future.)

• Time Travel using General Relativity (if you could safely orbit close to a black hole without falling in, time would move much more slowly for you than for people far from the black hole. After spending some time there, you’d return to find that more time has passed for everyone else, effectively bringing you into the future.)

• Wormholes (Theorical Time Machines)

• Travel at speeds close to the speed of light (time dilation via special relativity).

• Harness the immense gravitational forces near a massive object like a black hole (time dilation via general relativity).

• Explore more speculative concepts like wormholes, which could theoretically allow for travel both into the future and the past, though they remain largely theoretical.

There have been theories related to time travel written by scientists. These theories are yet to be proven. These theories are made by suitable geometrics of space which can allow spacetime travel or other specific motion which might allow to go in the past or future. Some of the theories are:

• Multiverse Theory

• Cosmic Strings

• Butterfly Effect

• The grandfather paradox

• Taehyons

• Closed time-like curve

• Time dilation

• Wormhole Theory

What could time travel change in the world?

• Changing history: could allow people to change significant events potentially saving or making tragedies. Like the butterfly effect, changing the events in time can cause unpredictable changes.

• Ethical questions without answers: Who controls time? Would it be possible to regulate or limit abuses, personal gains, and tragedies? Questions similar to this will be asked.

• Answer to unanswered questions: Many events that happened in the part still remain without a clear answer hence, time-traveling back into time can solve many historical problems that don’t have an answer.

• Parallel Universe and Multiverse: If time travel exists, then we could live in a reality where multiple versions of the universe exist together due to the choices we made in the past.

• Exploration of space science and time.

Psychological effect if time travel was possible:

• Temporal Disorientation and Confusion

• Existential Crisis and Identity Conflict

• Guilt and Regret

• Future shock and isolation

• Nostalgia and homesickness

• Paronia and fear of Paradoxes

Conclusion

While time travel remains undiscovered many possibilities and discussions happening all around the world, time travel might not only challenge the boundaries of Physics. Whether time travel can be achieved, still remains as a question until science can truly answer these questions. For now, it’s only used in Sci-fi and imagination.