›
This forum is in permanent archive mode. Our new active community can be found here.

GeekNights 20100506 - Time Travel

AprecheApreche
edited May 2010 in GeekNights
Tonight on GeekNights we discuss travelling through time. In the news, a Brooklyn court rejects brain scan as evidence.

Comments

  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    edited May 2010
    I wonder what caused the glitch. Perhaps someone profited big-time?

    As for the lie detection mechanism, it's fine even it it isn't quite 100% accurate, but we should probably install resident statistics experts in every court.
    Post edited by lackofcheese on
  • CremlianCremlian
    I hope you talked about THIS!



    Sorry had to :-p
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    edited May 2010
    Oh, and it's not summer. I had snow this morning.

    The term sqrt(1 - (v^2 / c^2)) means any difference in velocity has some effect, but moving at, say, 1m/s, only results in a change of ~10^-16%. Besides that, your speed is negligible compared to the speed of the surface of the Earth, and that still has an entirely negligible effect, though it's at least measurable.
    Post edited by lackofcheese on
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    edited May 2010
    What's wrong with you?! You mentioned "the outside" and "self-moving" without discussing The Prince of Nothing!
    Being able to quote is fine and dandy. The problem lies in the nerd culture where people will specifically and with no prompting share quotations that are in no way relevant to the current situation.
    Not a problem here.
    Post edited by lackofcheese on
  • zombie a gogozombie a gogo
    Good timing, I just watched Stephen Hawkings' time travel episode of Into the Universe two nights ago.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    image
  • MarcusNobleMarcusNoble
    I've found that time travel always leads to interesting discussion. Though I like to think it's probably a lot like Doctor Who. Time is more resilient than we give it credit for. The idea there is that you can interact with people in the past or future and nothing will change. However there are some points in time and space that are fixed and that cannot be changed. But you guys had some interesting hypotheses as well. Though Doctor Who is part "fun time travel".
  • StarfoxStarfox
    Time is more resilient than we give it credit for. The idea there is that you can interact with people in the past or future and nothing will change.
    Where did you get this idea? What leads you to believe that? Generally I take issue with statements like this. It sounds nice, but it is little more than poetry. Mostly I notice it when people talk about God. "God is inside me," "God is love," et cetera. When you examine these types of statements rigorously, they have no meaning whatsoever. They're not even wrong.
    However there are some points in time and space that are fixed and that cannot be changed.
    Sorry, this is straight-up false, for both time and space.


    /Haven't listened to the show yet.
  • MarcusNobleMarcusNoble
    These are very good points I never thought of before. I should know better than to trust the time travel dynamics of a BBC science fiction show.
  • JasonJason
    I posit there is no such thing as time, only an eternal specious present.
  • NerdcoreWannabeNerdcoreWannabe
    I'm posting to say I've already listened to this podcast. In the future.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    edited May 2010
    Scott,

    Actually from what I understand of Relativity, the Earth would look like it's moving slow much like you would appear to be moving slow from the perspective of the Earth.
    Post edited by George Patches on
  • Dr. TimoDr. Timo
    edited May 2010
    Actually from what I understand of Relativity, the Earth would look like it's moving slow much like you would appear to be moving slow from the perspective of the Earth.
    The ugly head of non inertial frames of reference rears itself. If you are going around the Earth you are experiencing acceleration which is equal to gravity so you can think of it as looking at earth "up" from the bottom of a (very very) deep gravity well. Frequencies you see get blue shifted, i.e. sped up, and you see everything on Earth move faster.

    EDIT: Also, the description of "rewinding" the Universe (or parts of it) is actually a very correct way of viewing time travel. The only other "realistic" way of time travel (that is other than 1sec == 1sec) is stretching space time into weird shapes, but that usually has the limitation of not being able to go further back than the point in time when the stretching took place. Also full treatments of these situations usually reveal that all the exciting aspects (causal loops) of time travel have disappeared.

    There is an interesting lecture on time and it's nature here, see Sean Carrol's FAQ.
    Post edited by Dr. Timo on
  • csrjjsmpcsrjjsmp
    Twelve Monkeys is a good time travel movie, but Primer is even better.
  • ErwinErwin
    Best time traveling thing on youtube :p
  • NeitoNeito
    I'd travel back in time my favorite way: taking a jump to the left. Then maybe a step to the right. Putting my hands on my hips, and bringing my knees in tight.
  • Li_AkahiLi_Akahi
    I'd travel back in time my favorite way: taking a jump to the left. Then maybe a step to the right. Putting my hands on my hips, and bringing my knees in tight.
    Is it the pelvic thrust that drives you insane?
Sign In or Register to comment.