R.i.p. Mc2

#3
#3
If something as violent as a sonic boom is the result of travelling at the speed of sound, I wonder what happens to an object travelling at the speed of light.
 
#5
#5
This would theoretically mean that you could travel to see something before you saw it.

Thanks for mentally taking me back to 1960. Does this represent the new forward thinking mindset on the farm?

Also, the way you've worded it is kinda..... wrong. You could be standing next to someone and travel to where you could see something before they did, which is rather unremarkable. Just the same as when the student section hears Rocky Top 0.3 seconds before I do.

Now, if you want to talk about the implications of relativity, then it actually gets interesting.
 
#6
#6
I hope this leads to intergalactic travel. I've always wondered what chicks on other planets do for a good time...
 
#10
#10
Thanks for mentally taking me back to 1960. Does this represent the new forward thinking mindset on the farm?

Also, the way you've worded it is kinda..... wrong. You could be standing next to someone and travel to where you could see something before they did, which is rather unremarkable. Just the same as when the student section hears Rocky Top 0.3 seconds before I do.

Now, if you want to talk about the implications of relativity, then it actually gets interesting.


Let's say I am walking down the sidewalk and see an accident. Can I travel back to when it happened and see it again? And if I do, am I limited to just seeing the same light image again, or can I physically step in and prevent the accident?

If I can only see it, but not interfere, where exactly am I and what is my own physical state?
 
#11
#11
Let's say I am walking down the sidewalk and see an accident. Can I travel back to when it happened and see it again? And if I do, am I limited to just seeing the same light image again, or can I physically step in and prevent the accident?

If I can only see it, but not interfere, where exactly am I and what is my own physical state?

These questions are irrelevant, since not only what you described in your OP, but also every other theory regarding "time travel" only present the possibility of travelling forward in time. There is no reasonable theory that exists to my knowledge which represents an opportunity for travelling backwards in time.
 
#12
#12
Let's say I am walking down the sidewalk and see an accident. Can I travel back to when it happened and see it again? And if I do, am I limited to just seeing the same light image again, or can I physically step in and prevent the accident?

If I can only see it, but not interfere, where exactly am I and what is my own physical state?

Never mind, I see what you're saying. You would have to travel light years away to make up an appreciable time gap. By that time, you would be seeing the accident through the most powerful telescope ever invented, and would be powerless to stop it, because it already occurred years ago, and you're millions of miles away.

It has nothing to do with the fact that you are not in some sort of "altered state." Just that you're so far away, your arms aren't long enough.

What you're talking about isn't really "time travel." Though it certainly depends on your definition and perspective.
 
#16
#16
Never mind, I see what you're saying. You would have to travel light years away to make up an appreciable time gap. By that time, you would be seeing the accident through the most powerful telescope ever invented, and would be powerless to stop it, because it already occurred years ago, and you're millions of miles away.

It has nothing to do with the fact that you are not in some sort of "altered state." Just that you're so far away, your arms aren't long enough.

What you're talking about isn't really "time travel." Though it certainly depends on your definition and perspective.


I was going to use as an example the notion of observing through my telescope the remnants of a supernova and traveling to a place where the light of its happening would just be reaching.

So, actually, I would not travel to the point in time when it occured. Rather, I would outrun the image.

For example, with light going away from the supernova and having reached me, I would go as fast as I could in the opposite direction of the supernova, get ahead of the image, and then turning around and wait for the image to catch up to me.


If you know 1) the date on which an event occured and 2) how much faster you can travel than light, then you ought to be able to calculate how far away you need to get in order to outrun the light/image of the event.
 
#18
#18
If you know 1) the date on which an event occured and 2) how much faster you can travel than light, then you ought to be able to calculate how far away you need to get in order to outrun the light/image of the event.

Really, man, just buy a video camera.
 
#20
#20
I thought I was in the politics forum by mistake for a second. who let Lawgator out of his cage?
 
#24
#24
So you're saying she wouldn't contribute to this thread? Or just that she contributes in her own way.
 
#25
#25
I'm no theoretical physicist, although my brother-in-law is if we need clarification, so she and I would probably have equal depth to add to this thread. We'll just sit in the corner and make out...
 

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