The following is an extract from the book “The Unexplained Explored” looking at Time Travel.
Time travel is the ability to move a physical object or information to the past (a time before the present) or to a time in the future (yet to be). A device capable of doing this would be called a “Time Machine,” like the one seen in the image left, from the H.G. Wells movie of the same name.
The subject of Time Travel has fascinated us for many years and I am sure most of us have wished that we could do this at some point in our lives (for many reasons). Perhaps going back to the time when dinosaurs existed, seeing how the Pyramids were really built, checking out life during the time of the Romans, or maybe hoping to catch a glimpse of Jesus? Or looking at the future to see what wonderful inventions have been created, or just to see if our planet has a future at all!
Whether we can actually move backwards or forwards in time is very debatable and we do not have sufficient knowledge of time itself to be able to say for certain.
When considering travel to the past some offer the “grandfather paradox,” saying what if one were to go back in time and kill one’s own grandfather before one’s father was conceived? If that were to happen, you would not have existed and could not have done this.
Some argue that if returning to the past is possible, why have we not seen anyone from the future? This could of course mean that Time Travel has not yet been discovered, or if it has, it is not used. Or as Carl Sagan once said .” .time travelers could be here, but are disguising their existence or are not recognized as time travelers.”
However, scientists believe that if Time Travel is possible, it is more likely that this would be into the future and a one way trip (not being able to return to your own time afterwards). Most follow the theory that if someone was to travel away from the Earth at the speed of light (or faster?) and then return later, more time would have passed on Earth than for the traveler.
Of course, there may be other ways to travel in time that do not require some physical involvement or machine. It may be possible for our minds to do this.
In another section of my book I wrote about future dreams and dreaming, where I mentioned that I had experienced dreams of the future. I speculated that maybe the vision I had of a future event was not something that was yet to be, but something that has already happened. I suggested that it might be possible for us to jump back in time and sometimes recall the memories we had of that time in dreams.
Could it be that there are “distortions” in time that make this possible, as a result of a black hole, wormhole or maybe even the presence of some advanced alien craft?
There are many scientific theories offered, but quite often these explanations (presented in scientific jargon) are more complicated than the question itself!
Until we understand the concept of time much more clearly, we will have to continue satisfying our curiosity with Sci-Fi movies and amuse ourselves with the question “What if I could travel to the…….?”
