masterdez

No such thing, speed is infact velocity. Velocity is a vector, has a direction (speed is merely the magnitude and is always positive). So there isnt really such thing as a negative speed as you are suggesting Just as there isn't a negative temperature. You reach absolute zero and there's no colder or slower you could go. Yea, the "proper" temperature scale is Kelvin, and starts at absolute zero (which, just as a side fact, is impossible to reach) and is where the atoms are stationary. You cant make these atoms move backwards or vibrate in a different way or direction. This would be like having negative energy, or would it?

No such thing, speed is infact velocity. Velocity is a vector, has a direction (speed is merely the magnitude and is always positive). So there isnt really such thing as a negative speed as you are suggesting

A brief history of time by stephen hawking is a nice read too, and hes one of the best scientists in the world.

Well, one of the laws of thermodynamics or something like that states that there has always got to be a decrease of "order" as we travel through time. Like when we eat an apple, we convert the apples stored energy into energy for movement, respiration etc, same sort of thing with coal, oil. Now day if disordered beings such as ourselves went back into a more ordered world, this would be a violation of this law, and therefore impossible (trust be about this law thing :P ) I think i have read somewhere that time travel backward is proven to be impossible.

Same sort of paradox if you went back in time and stopped your parents from meeting up in the first place, what would happen to you? Doesnt seem logical for time travel backwards

Linked with speed yes, and mass/gravity. Howwwever, just being picky, you cant really talk about the center of the universe, nor assume if it existed it would be stationary. If space is finite, there will be a middle point, but there are no real referrence points in space. If space is infinite, every point is the center, in which case, your theory is flawed. So like what you said, if your overall speed is 0, which is pretty hard, because you dont know if the universe itself is moving, the gravitational force around you would also have to be 0, as that affects time too. (E.g in black holes, time slows down) Nevertheless, as travelling at the speed of light, which is impossible, you would experience no time, which is what you said:) That brings a question to mind, what would happen if you travelled at the speed of light into a black hole...?

Nice proof & discussion :thumbsup:

Im not sure if we can ever know about fate. At any given moment we can do anything we like, branch onto another life path. But perhaps there is a given route to us by god, i think some relgions believe in fate. Time travel howver has many restricitons and in practise, isnt really possible anyway.

Well, firstly it is impossible to get a ship to travel at the speed of light, youd need all the energy in the universe, and more, so your question about slowing the ship down is a little irrelevant. Yea its nice and easy to say that, but how the hell would you fold space time in order for safe transport?

However, if you travel at that speed, your mass increases massively, you become incredibly dense, and under all that pressure, you die.

Theoretically, time travel forwards is possible, not taking into account the fact that you would be crushed on entering a black hole. TIme travel backwards leads to all kinds of problems, what if you split up your parents before they met and made you. But its all theorys, i dont think anyone will actually time travel, and come back to tell the tale. Oh and another thing about time being a personal concept, someone could be a day ahead of you, and because time isnt universal, he would appear just the same as he was if he was at the same time as you.

Time travel is possible. But on your pont about travelling through differnt time zones, TIME itself is a personal concept, not a universal concept. No 2 clocks can ever be alike. Timezones are merely a way to make midday and midnight at different points on the earth appear at 12 and 24 hours. Proper TIME travel, travelling forward, and backward(Which isnt really possible) is happening all the time. We are moving through time right now? But it is known, in areas of high gravity and speed, time travels slower. The international space station has to have a time check every month, because the gravity is lower up there, so time travels slower, so they have to recify their on board clock. Black holes are the key to time travel, a point of infinite density, or a wormhole which can make us travel a distance X in 0 time. So for an example, if we, from the earth saw a star 100 light years away, we would be seeing what happened 100 years ago from our point of view. (Remember time is a personal concept) If we travelled through a wormhole to get there, we would in fact be travelling forward in time (according to ourselves) 100 years forward in time. However, according to observers standing outside the wormhole, it would take you millions of years to reach the singularity of the wormhole. And from this, you might be able to see that time travel backwards aint really possible.

In other words, "I can't defend my viewpoint at all, so I'm going to find an excuse to get out of here." Is this a true assessment of your motives? What? Its 23.38, im tired, i have college in the morning, i have an interview at Oxford Uni this week. Ive said what ive got to say, im no philospher or great arguer. I have my views, you think theyre wrong. End of story. Why do you suddenly think, "oh he cant come back with another argument, I WIN!!", thats not what a discussion is about.

I think youre starting to become overly critical, i have opinions, most of which are wrong according to both of you, so ill stop now. However, i think some of the points i raised are worthwhile thinking about, and vice versa.

I dont see whats wrong, people can strive for an unobtainable thing... You can never say something is true, because we dont know everything. If you believe some creator guy told you something, he didnt, he told someone else who told you, so it cant be true. I dont think the truth exists, we can get close, we can try to get close to it, try to understand the universe which we live in, but we can never truly understand the meaning of life or the laws of the universe, or whatever... And in response to your other post, how can you prove something exists?

Striving for the truth, an understanding, as close to the truth as possible. How can you ever know the truth, the meaning of life, or the laws of the universe?

I don't believe so. If there is no truth, then yes, humanity is absurd. Life is absurd. In fact, the logical extensions of saying that there is no truth make life unlivable. If you want a consistent view that doesn't drive you insane, you have to allow for knowable truth. Ok then, whats the point, whats the meaning of life? Well what are scientists doing?

Well, thats what scientists are doing, striving for the truth.

Isn't humanity pointless?

Theres nothing wrong with me exchanging views in a discussion even if i dont think there is anything truth, i think we can get close. I think life and humanity is about striving for the truth, even though we will probably never get there.

Ill say it again, in my opinion, no, it doesnt.

I still have my own opinions, its human nature. I still dont agree that something is either is true or false

Something doesnt have to be true or false. So No

No, But its not wrong either

You're getting as picky as the last guy :P No opinion can be justified to be true or false Maybe we are, maybe we aren't