What If You Could Time Travel?
We’re talking time travel. Spencer runs through a brief history of time travel, Ryan thinks aliens are us from the future, and we try and solve some paradoxes.
The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
The concept of a time machine first appeared in H.G. Wells’ 1895 book, The Time Machine. This book also popularized the idea of time as a fourth dimension. The book’s publication coincided with the publication of Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity, which included the concepts of time dilation and relativity of simultaneity. Time dilation states that time moves more slowly the faster you go. Relativity of simultaneity states that two events may appear simultaneous to one observer, but not another, if the two observers are moving relative to each other.
Paradoxes
Predestination Paradox
The predestination paradox happens when a person traveling back in time becomes part of past events, and ultimately causes the event they are trying to prevent. Say your friend dies in an accident, and you travel back in time to prevent the accident. However, by preventing the accident and your friend’s death, you have removed your reason for traveling back to begin with. The predestination paradox states that the accident will still occur, and you may ultimately cause it.
Grandfather Paradox
The grandfather paradox is the most famous time travel paradox. It states that if you were to go back in time to kill your own grandfather, you then would never have been born. Therefore, you couldn’t have gone back in time to kill him.
Hot Topics: Time Travel, Time’s Arrow, A Poem About My Favorite Taco, An Existential Crisis In Every Box, I WANNA DIE, Time Storms, UFOs are Time Travelers, time slips, and much more.
Have an idea for an episode? Share it with us here.
