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AtmanRyu
Title: The Wandering Dragon
Joined: Jun 25 2009
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 986
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It's official: Time machines won't work
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You might think time travel has always belonged in the world of fantasy, but 10 years ago some scientists began to believe time travel might actually be possible when superluminal -- or faster-than-light -- propagation of some specific medium were discovered. It was later found to be a visual effect, but the idea that a single photon could exceed the speed of light lingered, and with it, the possibility of time travel.
But in a study published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Physical Review Letters, Shengwang Du and his team measured the ultimate speed of a single photon and showed that it cannot move faster than the speed of light.
"The results add to our understanding of how a single photon moves. They also confirm the upper bound on how fast information travels with light," Du said in a statement put out by the Hong Kong University of Technology and Science.
"By showing that single photons cannot travel faster than the speed of light, our results bring a closure to the debate on the true speed of information carried by a single photon." |
Normally, this could be discouraging, but on the other hand, it's not unlikely that something considered impossible gets disproven eventually...
Or maybe it could simply be a red herring from actual attempts to time travel, who knows...
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HardcoreGamer4Ever
Title: I Am The God Of Awesome
Joined: Jun 28 2010
Location: Your Mom's Vagina!
Posts: 1297
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SoldierHawk
Moderator
Title: Warrior-Poet
Joined: Jan 15 2009
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 6113
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You know, I've always been of the school that kind of just assumes time travel is impossible. I mean, if we ever DID invent it, even millions of years from now, you KNOW time traveling idiots would have screwed SOMETHING up that we'd know about. Sad, but true.
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| William Shakespeare wrote: |
| Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. |
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username
Title: owner of a lonely heart
Joined: Jul 06 2007
Location: phoenix, az usa
Posts: 16135
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pfft. F that. TINE travel is definitely possible. time travel, probably not
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| Klimbatize wrote: |
| I'll eat a turkey sandwich while blowing my load |
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Mr. Spidersquid
Title: title?
Joined: Jun 28 2011
Location: In your mind
Posts: 121
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This is just Vulcan Propaganda to keep us from warp drive. Fuck you Vulcans it is our time to travel in!
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Zim: "I put the fires out!"
Tallest: "You made them worse!"
Zim: "Worse or better?" |
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kenthegod
Title: Midnight Scientist
Joined: Dec 07 2006
Posts: 518
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This news delivered to us from the future.
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let's have a toast to the douchebags |
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Pandajuice
Title: The Power of Grayskull
Joined: Oct 30 2008
Location: US and UK
Posts: 2649
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All they proved is that a photon can't exceed the speed of light. That doesn't mean it's impossible for other particles to do so. It is only a theory after all that time travel depends on exceeding past the speed of light. It might not.
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UsaSatsui
Title: The White Rabbit
Joined: May 25 2008
Location: Hiding
Posts: 7565
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If time travel was possible, the first patent on record would be the time machine. Think about it.
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Ice2SeeYou
Title: Sexual Tyrannosaurus
Joined: Sep 28 2008
Location: South of Heaven
Posts: 1761
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It was once impossible for human beings to fly, or to talk to someone on the other side of the world.
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Sydlexia.com - Where miserable bastards meet to call each other retards. |
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GPFontaine
Joined: Dec 06 2007
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 11244
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| SoldierHawk wrote: |
| You know, I've always been of the school that kind of just assumes time travel is impossible. I mean, if we ever DID invent it, even millions of years from now, you KNOW time traveling idiots would have screwed SOMETHING up that we'd know about. Sad, but true. |
Over the scope of time and possibility, it does seem likely that we would have seen the ripple effect of idiots messing shit up. Personally I do think it is possible, just not by us... yet. When it becomes possible, we should pretend like we never learned it.
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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24887
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There are at least three possible ways that time travel is possible. Unfortunately, in each case, it is a one way trip:
1. Procure a genie or some similar wish-granting creature or artifact and wish to go back (or forward) in time.
2. Make a deal with either Satan or Loki. NOT RECOMMENDED.
3. You made massive, regrettable mistakes in your life and God decides to give you a second chance.
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i'll_bite_your_ear
Title: Distillatoria
Joined: Jun 09 2010
Location: van down by the river
Posts: 3707
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It doesn't sound like that really proves that time travel is impossible. I think we don't know enough to really tell if it is possible/impossible.
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it was the best of times
it was the blurst of times |
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Dr. Jeebus
Moderator
Title: SLF Harbinger of Death
Joined: Sep 03 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 5228
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The notion that you could travel through time by going faster than light is absurd. Know what happens if you go faster than light? You crash into something and die because either you can't see it at all or you can't accurate judge its location. Likewise, if you enter a black hole you experience infinity fucking gravity and die. Science isn't full of magical possibilities, it's full of interesting ways to kill yourself.
Anyway, time travel is impossible. If time travel were ever to be possible, it would already be possible (Cause, hey, time machine! If it's ever possible) and if time travel were possible, as previously stated, we would know. You can't keep something like that secret. I mean, sure, you can probably keep it concealed for a number of years, but the nature of time travel means that every person who ever uses or encounters it needs to keep it secret forever. Like, from now until the end of fucking time. Not a chance.
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dr.jeebus.sydlexia.com - Updated sometimes, but on hiatus!
| UsaSatsui wrote: |
| The three greatest heels in history...Andy Kaufman, Triple H, and Dr. Jeebus |
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HardcoreGamer4Ever
Title: I Am The God Of Awesome
Joined: Jun 28 2010
Location: Your Mom's Vagina!
Posts: 1297
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| SoldierHawk wrote: |
| You know, I've always been of the school that kind of just assumes time travel is impossible. I mean, if we ever DID invent it, even millions of years from now, you KNOW time traveling idiots would have screwed SOMETHING up that we'd know about. Sad, but true. |
How do you know they already haven't? I mean, think about it: what if certain events in our history happened because of some jackass who decided to fuck with the past?
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https://badassgorilla.blogspot.com/
Yo yo yo, check out my new(ish) site!
RIP Happy Katana (2010-2020) |
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Ice2SeeYou
Title: Sexual Tyrannosaurus
Joined: Sep 28 2008
Location: South of Heaven
Posts: 1761
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| Logan wrote: |
| SoldierHawk wrote: |
| You know, I've always been of the school that kind of just assumes time travel is impossible. I mean, if we ever DID invent it, even millions of years from now, you KNOW time traveling idiots would have screwed SOMETHING up that we'd know about. Sad, but true. |
How do you know they already haven't? I mean, think about it: what if certain events in our history happened because of some jackass who decided to fuck with the past? |
If I could time travel, I'd go back and kill whatever animals were the evolutionary predecessors to mosquitoes and Canadian geese. I'd also probably kill the guy who brought honeybees over from Africa and facilitated the creation of killer bees.
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Sydlexia.com - Where miserable bastards meet to call each other retards. |
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UsaSatsui
Title: The White Rabbit
Joined: May 25 2008
Location: Hiding
Posts: 7565
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| GPFontaine wrote: |
| SoldierHawk wrote: |
| You know, I've always been of the school that kind of just assumes time travel is impossible. I mean, if we ever DID invent it, even millions of years from now, you KNOW time traveling idiots would have screwed SOMETHING up that we'd know about. Sad, but true. |
Over the scope of time and possibility, it does seem likely that we would have seen the ripple effect of idiots messing shit up. Personally I do think it is possible, just not by us... yet. When it becomes possible, we should pretend like we never learned it. |
If the past changed, why would we know it? Wouldn't it change around us without us noticing? We wouldn't see time travelers fucking things up or fixing things...we'd just remember a different history.
I mean, here we are in this timeline, with President McCain, fighting the War on Terror in Paraguay, and posting on the forums on DrJeebus.com...and suddenly everything could change. And we would never know.
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Preng
Title: All right, that's cool!
Joined: Jan 11 2010
Location: Accounting Dept.
Posts: 1690
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| UsaSatsui wrote: |
| If the past changed, why would we know it? Wouldn't it change around us without us noticing? We wouldn't see time travelers fucking things up or fixing things...we'd just remember a different history. |
That's what I have assumed.
| UsaSatsui wrote: |
| I mean, here we are in this timeline, with President McCain, fighting the War on Terror in Paraguay, and posting on the forums on DrJeebus.com...and suddenly everything could change. And we would never know. |
You, sir, gave me my laugh of the day.
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bassguy252
Title: Professional Malcontent
Joined: May 26 2010
Location: Mount Dhoom!!!!!!!
Posts: 517
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Oh President McCain
best muslim ever!!!
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Let's assume it's a mixture of the two!
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Milhouse
Joined: Dec 19 2008
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 485
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Time travel could have been possible, but the people of the future have traveled back in time to tell us it's impossible because it was ultimately a catastrophe.
Also, the Matrix would never have happened if we programmed all robots to be Amish and fear electricity.
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Etch
Title: Intermittent Scribbler
Joined: Mar 15 2011
Location: Texas
Posts: 588
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"Time" is just a measure of decay and movement through space; not a "thing" that can be manipulated.
And how would going faster than the fastest known speed cause the entire universe to go in reverse?
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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24887
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Jeebus it would be very easy to keep time travel secret. If you invented time travel, you'd keep it secret. Building one would require great expense no doubt, and rare materia as well. And no one would believe you.
Also not being able to keep it secret? Seriously?
Guy In 1953: I just saw a time machine!
Everyone Else In 1953: Whatever.
Time machines would likely be controlled by some sort of clandestine organization. Like some secret Vatican Order or some shit like that.
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GPFontaine
Joined: Dec 06 2007
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 11244
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| Etch wrote: |
"Time" is just a measure of decay and movement through space; not a "thing" that can be manipulated.
And how would going faster than the fastest known speed cause the entire universe to go in reverse? |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation
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Thorton02
Joined: Mar 13 2009
Location: Arlington
Posts: 467
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| Dr. Jeebus wrote: |
The notion that you could travel through time by going faster than light is absurd. Know what happens if you go faster than light? You crash into something and die because either you can't see it at all or you can't accurate judge its location. Likewise, if you enter a black hole you experience infinity fucking gravity and die. Science isn't full of magical possibilities, it's full of interesting ways to kill yourself.
Anyway, time travel is impossible. If time travel were ever to be possible, it would already be possible (Cause, hey, time machine! If it's ever possible) and if time travel were possible, as previously stated, we would know. You can't keep something like that secret. I mean, sure, you can probably keep it concealed for a number of years, but the nature of time travel means that every person who ever uses or encounters it needs to keep it secret forever. Like, from now until the end of fucking time. Not a chance. |
Not true. You just need to program your time machine's computer. Consider the following quote:
"Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy! Without precise calculations we could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova, and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it?"
-Han Solo
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No, I don't think I will fuck Stummies. |
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Adrock4
Title: Mostly Lurks, Now
Joined: Sep 13 2009
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 427
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| Quote: |
| Shengwang Du and his team measured the ultimate speed of a single photon and showed that it cannot move faster than the speed of light. |
Well, no shit. That's why you need a flux capacitor.
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Blackout
Title: Captain Oblivious
Joined: Sep 01 2007
Location: That Rainy State
Posts: 10376
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I doubt Satan can grant time travel, if he could why not use it go back and win the first time around?
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