There has been a lot of research and a lot of hoopla about time travel . One of my favorite movies is Back to the Future . I will never get bored of it . But when we think of the practicality of time travel , i say .. Why would you want to time travel ?
Before i come to the possibilities , Let me bring you up to speed ( no light speed unfortunately ) . What is time travel ? Here is what i copied from wikipedia .
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space, either sending objects (or in some cases just information) backwards in time to some moment before the present, or sending objects forward from the present to the future without the need to experience the intervening period (at least not at the normal rate).
If you have done some reading on time travel , you would know that physicists and scientists have discarded the notion that we could travel to the past . It is just not possible. Time Warps and worm holes are nice for science fiction . But as of now , with the facts we know , it is not possible to go back in time . And it is messy too . So why do it ? Multiverses and Alternate realities are too hard to comprehend . So ,NO.. Jurassic park is not going to happen . Nor is naked Schwarzenegger gonna show up to tell you that you are the only hope for the future .
So lets take the other aspect of time travel . Traveling to the future . Many experiments have confirmed that we achieve time travel to the future. It is not instant like getting into phone booth and coming out in the future . All theories take time to be relative . There are a few ways to do this . The one of the best theories is traveling at the speed of light . If a person travels at the speed of light , the time would slow down for him . Thus he spends less time that his observers . Another theory is based on black holes . If you thought we could go through black hole to travel to the future , you were wrong . You would just be toast . The Theory says that time slows down with effect of gravity . So when you consider a big sucker gravity of a black hole , the time should slow down drastically . So if you could travel close to it , you would be experiencing a slowdown in time . So a shape-ship capable of doing that would end up reaching the future faster . So both theories talk about the time traveler experiencing a slowdown in time . So what is 5 weeks for the time traveler would be 100 years for you on earth . There are other easier methods like the hot bath tub and cryogenics
So you should understand that we can only travel to the future and not to the past . So if you manage to go to the future , it is a ONE WAY TICKET . There is NO COMING BACK .
So How can this be useful ? why are scientists trying to figure out time travel , if one can only travel in one direction ? Well this is where i come in :) . I have been trying to think ( all morning ) of some uses for time travel confirming to the physics we know today . i.e getting to the future real quick .
1) Armageddon .
Lets say that the earth is going to perish due to a Giant comet that is going to hit earth , or simply because Mayans didn't plan beyond 2012 . We could build a Giant fricking spaceship that can travel into the future starting just before the calamity and come back to earth when the time is just right . Lets say a 1000 years . This is Noah's ark , light speed style .
2) Tourism / Retirement .
When you are retiring and you have a shitload of money that you don't know how to spend . Well, you could travel to the future . You can experience the future . You could have robots ( not guys in costumes ) serve you a martini . or even enjoy life by having a surrogate do the work for you . See how the world has changed and wonder at technology beyond your reasoning .
3) Medical Science.
We have not found the cure for many diseases . But we sure do hope to make more breakthroughs in the near future . With that consideration , patients suffering from chronic illnesses , could be ( safely ) transported to the future where their illness could be treated or cured . They could continue to live in the future . This would be one hell of a lottery . But hey , you were going to die anyway.
4) Culture Propagation .
One thing we lose track and that changes in time is culture of a nation . The world may not have religion or faiths in the future . We could send some of our cultural artifacts to the future to overcome this . This can include object of cultural importance and cultural leaders . So the people in the future can learn about our culture first hand instead of googling it . ( BTW binging doesn't sound nice , not even in the future ) .
5) Funds / Money .
If you are spend thrift , you could consider sending some funds into the future to your future self so that it can be used in times of need. Don't send money , cause 100 Rupees may not even get you a moon candy lollipop. How about sending some diamonds and rubies and gold . ( add a genie too , ya right ). It will be safe since you cant spend it while it is in transit . Your mom would never again complain about how very irresponsible you are and how you don't plan for the FUTURE :) . Some space age banks could take care of doing this for us at a small price . But if research in the future proves that diamonds causes breast cancer , you are screwed. :P
6) Indian boy girl age problem .
This one is cheeky . Most girls in India do not like the notion of being with a younger guy ( crazy , i know ) . Well , what do you do ? Build a time machine, put her in it and push her to the future .So when she arrives in the future she is younger than you . And Tadaa !!, she can no longer complain about the age difference . But she may have a concern with you being bald now . Just make sure you don't change your mind about her when she is not around .
7) Terrorism
This is a bad idea , as much possible as the rest of them . Build a time machine , put in a Deadly virus / bomb , send it to the Future . You can destroy the future of mankind from the past and you are safe in the present to live your life . I should be writing science fiction stories . This plot could be nice . BTW , the story would end thus . We will use the giant space ship i mentioned on 1 to escape from earth ( since we already know that the attack is on its way ) and then come back to earth after it is taken care of :) . We would have the technology to deal with it .
None of these ideas are probable . Logically thinking none of these seem practical or possible .
We are still exploring the possibilities of time travel . WHY? Well , we will never know .
Knowing the future is not necessarily a good thing. It just makes things messy . So i think that physics is rightly designed to not allow time travel in both direction . So based around this if you have any ideas for using time travel let me know in the comments.
P.S : If we could go to the past . i would have corrected this article to the best of my future knowledge :P
Related Reading
