What If: & what would you take with you?

[ian@huth]

My idea of going back in time would be to experience life in other times, not to change the course of history. There are many unknowns about the past that I would love to know the answers to. Things like how they managed to build the pyramids and other amazing feats that defy logic. Could it be that someone, maybe in the future, did (will) go back in time and show the ancient Egyptians how to do it?

Originally Posted by ianathuth

Things like how they managed to build the pyramids and other amazing feats that defy logic. Could it be that someone, maybe in the future, did (will) go back in time and show the ancient Egyptians how to do it?

If nobody now knows how they did it, how can someone go back in time to show them?

One of the first things I realised studying archaeology is that modern humans have a tendency to equate a lack of technological advancement with a lack of intelligence. When you actually hold ancient artefacts in your hands - like a perfectly carved ceremonial axehead, made of polished Langdale slate - you realise that these people were just as real and just as intelligent as you or I, and in some cases more so. I am sure the Egyptians managed to build the pyramids all by themselves. Just because we can't work out how to solve a problem using a limited set of tools and resources doesn't mean that nobody back then was capable of solving it!

If I were to go back in time, I might visit Egypt too, to watch them building the pyramids and to ask them what the Sphynx is for. However I would nip forwards in time first to acquire some Universal Translator kind of technology as I am a right dunce at learning other languages.

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by towny

If nobody now knows how they did it, how can someone go back in time to show them?

I think that you missed my bit about someone in the future going back in time to show them how to do it. Just because AFAIK nobody today knows how to do it, doesn't mean that someone tomorrow will not know.

Whilst most people think that ancient civilizations did not have the knowledge that people of today have, they could in fact have been more knowledgeable. For all we know mankind could have eminated from another galaxy and somehow got stranded here or some calamity could have wiped out a previous civilization.

We can only judge things by our current knowledge which may very well be very limited. Many of the things that we take for granted today could hardly have been imagined possible in the lifetime of some people alive today. What might be classed as cutting edge technology today may be thought of as very primitive in a hundred years time. Time travel may become a possibility in the future of some people alive today. The question is how will that affect the past?

[cookie_365]

Originally Posted by ianathuth

... Just because AFAIK nobody today knows how to do it, doesn't mean that someone tomorrow will not know.

...

Time travel may become a possibility in the future of some people alive today. The question is how will that affect the past?

Didn't someone suggest that time travel couldn't be possible, because if it was all the major world events would be swarming with tourists from the future, and there was no evidence of this?

Oh, and Mr Dave Stones - I'll have my special funky disco medallion capable of emitting beams of grooviness to thwart your evil sabotage. Remember: disco's like a bad cold; it just won't go away !

Someone has been watching too much Dr Who.

[Bex]

Originally Posted by Colin D

Ah, but would you tell him about the wars that have been fought in his, and the churches name? (BTW, i am not religion bashing, i just wonder if things would be the same if you did)

i don't think things would be any different.... he preached his message, one of love.... and it was humans that decide to fight.... the only way to stop it would be for God to stop our free will..

Me too...and I'd take a camcorder just to prove you all wrong!!!!

i sure as heckers hope you didn't prove me wrong

[Russ]

...you know what I meant.....

Originally Posted by Incognitas

Someone has been watching too much Dr Who.

Yes, because that would be the Blinovitch Limitation Effect, you see...

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by ZrByte

That doesnt work. Time is relative so the person caught in the slower passage of time will see everything else running faster. i.e. the person in the rocket will see the people on Earth moving quicker than they infact are (This includes clocks ) It is only the person on Earth that will see the clock on the rocket running slowly (Not Both) as I said they worded that paragraph incorectly. The episode of Red Dwarf season 4 episode 4 'White Hole' is a good example of this (I can provide a link to the small segment of the show if anybody is interested).

I know it doesn't work, that's the point - it's a paradox. As the 2nd link says, the problem states that using special relativity, *both* people will observe the other person's clock to be running slowly.

Originally Posted by http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/twin.html

The twin paradox was raised in an attempt to use symmetry and time dilation to show that Special Relativity was inconsistent. Here is the paradox: Jane travels in a straight line at a relativistic speed v to some distant location. She then decelerates and returns. Her twin brother Joe stays at home on Earth. The situation is shown in the diagram, which is not to scale.

Joe observes that Jane's on-board clocks (including her biological one), which run at Jane's proper time, run slowly on both outbound and return leg. He therefore concludes that she will be younger than he will be when she returns. On the outward leg Jane observes Joe's clock to run slowly, and she observes that it ticks slowly on the return run. So will Jane conclude that Joe will have aged less? And if she does, who is correct? According to the proponents of the paradox, there is a symmetry between the two observers, so, using relativity, each will predict that the other is younger. This cannot be simultaneously true for both so, if the argument is correct, relativity is wrong.

The article in the link then goes on to say how it is solved. End result: yes, only Jane's clock is running slowly, as time is slower for her due to time dilation (but, the initial paradox does say both run slowly - hence why it's a paradox).

Originally Posted by ZrByte

as mentioned in this snipet from your second link... unless im missing something

Yeah, that bit is another solution for the paradox - it takes into account General Relativity (gravity), instead of only Special Relativity, & shows that only Jane's clock will be running slowly.

Originally Posted by ZrByte

Though before I will bother explaining this sister theory I have a question...
How do we calculate the distance between sol and its neighbours?

A quick Google came up with....parallax

http://www.wonderquest.com/parallax.htm

http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae71.cfm

Originally Posted by ZrByte

Shouldnt that be the other way around?

Sorry, I didn't word that very well. General relativity says that clocks run slower in high gravity (& so faster in lower gravity). This has actually been shown....e.g. The clocks in GPS satellites have a slight speed-up due to being in lower gravity, & GPS devices have to take this into account. Although there are other, competing, factors, so this is not always true.

Originally Posted by loz-enge

For the sake of this please dont worry about paradoxes, time dilation or any adverse effects from killing your grandfathers etc.

LOL, sorry. Back On Topic....

Originally Posted by loz-enge

What if you were to go back in time, what time would you go back to & what would you take with you?

I'd like to go back to Ancient Greece or Egypt. Also be interesting to see the time of the Incas, Aztecs, Maya, etc in South/Central America.

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by loz-enge

But would it be?

Care free sex, but would you have got plenty & would there be no cares?
Wer'nt things a bit more strict in olden times, where free sex was not always free as you had to marry first etc.
Unless your talking about the 60's.

Good points, and if someone is going back for carefree sex, either take plenty of condoms or penicilin!
We may be able to cure a dose of the pox today, but back then if you caught something you could end up with ulcers down to your bones and going mad from the pain, then eventually dying.

[MadGamer]

I would go back to 1966 when England won the World Cup.

I would love to experience other times such as the dawn of man, roman times, tudor times, the big days in history (JFK, Man on moon, cuban missile crise, september 11th (again) ) and also back to a few weeks ago where i would have put £2000 on greece winning the european cup and guessing the right lottery results every week

[Jerrek]

I've often thought of this...

I'd go back to either the Xia or Shang dynasties of China (this is about 2,000 B.C.). I would be a white man and regarded as a curiosity.

I'd go in marine gear. Assume fully stocked marine, with assault rifle, bullets, flares, grenades. This is ONLY for an emergency since all the weaponry are non-replaceable.

What would I take with me? A computer and laptop stocked with encyclopedias, newspaper archives, magazine archives, books, books, and more books. As much as I can fit on it. Also include spare parts for items that will break down. However, this needs energy, so, I will also take a portable generator + diesel for the start, and move towards solar and wind energy.


The goal is to arrive, and then to intimidate people. Go see the king, intimidate him, and ask to be made the chief magus. Setup shop. Defense is the first priority, against snooping people that want to steal your stuff. Second is energy. Get your solar panels and wind turbine on top of the palace roof or something. The diesel + generator is only for emergencies.


It would be a lot of fun.

[Halcyon]

And where would you get your solar panels from ?
I think it could go your way or possibly go wrong.
Remember when they invented the hot air baloon and people tried to shoot it down and kill the people flying above.
They might think your some mystical person from the heavens that is so different, and then steal all your stuff and kill you straight off.

[Jerrek]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

And where would you get your solar panels from ?

You take them with you...

They might think your some mystical person from the heavens that is so different, and then steal all your stuff and kill you straight off.

Hence the guns and grenades...