Posted on May 13, 2015
CH (MAJ) William Beaver
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How likely is it that we would actually figure out how to successfully perform time travel? But would we want to? Are there simply things that do not to be tampered with? And what is harder: going back or forth in time to correct things, or living courageously in the present and correct things?
Posted in these groups: Science logo ScienceSciencefic1 Science Fiction
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CW2 Joseph Evans
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What do we want? Time Travel
When do we want it? Irrelevant.
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Capt Richard I P.
Capt Richard I P.
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Haha!
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
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The issue with time travel is that it's either possible and it doesn't break causality (one thing must follow another), or it's not possible.

Work under the assumption that Time Travel is possible, since the other is a moot point. If so, then where are the time travelers? Are they regulated? Is there an investment in energy so high that it just doesn't make sense (likely)?

Remember that the Earth is spinning. The sun is spinning. The solar system is spinning. The galaxy is spinning. If you were to travel back in time even 1 minute... you would be nowhere near Earth. We're moving that fast. Maybe those time travelers forgot to account for the spin of the universe and are Popsicles in some distant part of space?
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Capt Richard I P.
Capt Richard I P.
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS Odds are a group sophisticated enough to navigate backwards on the time dimension could do the temporal and physical math to account for the spin. Buuut..... if they couldnt: https://what-if.xkcd.com/134/
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SN Greg Wright
SN Greg Wright
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS Time travel into the future is already possible, as established by Einstein: simply approach the speed of light. Going back is another question.
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SPC Safety Technician
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I can't think of an ethical use for time-travel. I'm betting there isn't one, and even if time can be manipulated, it probably shouldn't be.

\\\\\correction\\\\

Scratch that. @ I jumped the gun.

I've thought of 2 that only MIGHT be ethical:

1) 'Freezing' someone with an as yet incurable illness to be cured later.
2) Assuming you are travelling thourgh space, you could modulate your own time so that you could arrive at only moments after you left, as opposed to the great amounts of time that are likely to have passed.

So, I guess to summarize my views, Time-travel shouldn't be used to really travel through time. It should be used to make living in our time easier, and not used to actually alter time or events that have already occurred itself.

Unless you're preventing human extinction, then I guess all bets are off. Okay, I'm a hypocrite. Sue me.

I love these conversations. Time to switch from coffee to vodka and see how this thread plays out. :)
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SPC Safety Technician
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Edit: moved comment into original response.
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MSG Signal Support Systems Specialist
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What would be unethical about using it for historical research?
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Capt Richard I P.
Capt Richard I P.
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I'll reiterate my point below: that either it has always existed or it never can. Ethics are irrelevant, if a capability exists it will be used eventually. And if time becomes a back-forth dimension, it already has been used.
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
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Ethically, there's a couple easy ones to come up with. Check out the book Millennium by John Varley. The concept is time travelers jumping back in time to grab people who were going to die (plane crashes, titanic), and replacing them with corpses. They then send those live people forward to the future since our planet has gone to hell.

http://www.amazon.com/Millenium-John-Varley/dp/B000OOGSBW/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid= [login to see] &sr=1-1-fkmr1&keywords=millenium+varney
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