10 Minutes Till Midnight: The Limits of Time Travel, by Jim Smith
Imagine a clock glowing in the heavens. The time on that clock is ten minutes to twelve, midnight. The clock is 10 light minutes away from where you are standing. 10 light minutes is about 111.6 million miles. That is how far the light from that clock, or any other light for that matter, travels in 10 minutes. Roughly, for ease of memory, light travels a little faster than 11 million miles per minute. Now, lets travel both ahead and back through time, by going faster than light.
Imagine that you can be anywhere you want, instantly! You want to get to the celestial clock in the sky that you see as reading 10 minutes to midnight. It is 10 light minutes away from where you are. All you do is snap your fingers and you are there, instantly. You traveled all the way to the clock (111,600,000 miles) in zero time. So what time is on the clock when you get there? The clock reads 12 Midnight. You just traveled ahead, through time. Basically, you went from older light to more recent light. And you arrived at the source of that light. Now, being human, you may want to go to a step further. Lets see what happens.
Now, say that you want to do it again and go further, into the future. So, you instantly continue in the same direction another 111,600,000 miles, or 10 light minutes. A quick look at the clock shows that it again reads 10 minutes till midnight. You simply went away from the source of the light in another direction. Since this clock is a bit like the sun, it shines the light of the time in a 360-degree spherical pattern. So, no matter which direction you go, instantly you are now traveling away from the source. You go back in time as you go away from the source of light. You go from the newer light to older light. It is now 10 minutes till midnight. So what does all this mean?
First, there is no absolute time. Time is relative to the source. Time travel in one direction is forward toward one source but backward away from other sources of light. Time is the measurement of movement. (With no movement at any level, there would be no time.) Since, there are many sources of light, there are many bases for time. Since there are many bases for time, no calendar is absolute. Time is relative.
Secondly, things appear younger than they really are. It takes light a short while to get to us. There is more light behind the light we see. The light we see is 10 minutes to midnight, while the light behind that is midnight itself. This is good news for the youth cult because it means you appear to others younger than you really are. You always have looked younger. Since the light that reflects off you takes a short time to reach me, I see the light of seconds gone bye; therefore, you look younger to me than you actually are.
Thirdly, we never see anything as it really is. By the time light gets to us it has changed. This is not a significant factor in most cases, but it is true. However, in celestial or even global matters it can be significant. Humans are used to living in a lag time universe.
Fourthly, the future lies in the dark recesses of our brain, or imagination. We can only get as far as now via time travel. The future lies to some extent in the vision of our needs, desires, and goals. That future image we create in the light of our minds eye now, today.
By Jim Smith Janauary 2005 |
