Professor from second-rate university thinks he's going to time travel

On Thursday, 12 July 2018 10:43:24 UTC-4, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Wed, 11 Jul 2018 15:33:28 -0700 (PDT), RichA
wrote:

On Wednesday, 11 July 2018 02:23:10 UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
On Tuesday, July 10, 2018 at 8:34:10 PM UTC-6, RichA wrote:
I'm surprised this guy isn't at the Institute for Advanced Study...not really.

I would tend to agree with Lee Smolin: time really does pass, and as Arthur C.
Clarke said, time travel "is a fit subject for fantasy, not science".

Still, your title made me think of an old science-fiction story about a failed
attempt by a scientist at Unknown University to solve the terrorism problem by
nipping it in the bud.

John Savard

What I like are moronic "scientists" who think that somehow, man is going to create "wormholes" when it would take an atom smasher the size of the galaxy just to see elementary particles as they really are. We will never have the power.

People like you classify as "moronic" that which you lack the
intelligence and education to understand.

Indeed, there is good reason to believe that we will never have the
practical means to create wormholes. That doesn't change the
underlying physics, however. Just because a wormhole might not be
something that can be made does not mean that the Universe doesn't
support the possibility of wormholes, with all the implications they
carry for both space and time. As such, this kind of inquiry is very
much a critical part of physics, carried out by many competent and
respected scientists. Or, as you call them, "morons". (A word that is
much more useful for evaluating its user than its targets.)

You have been watching too many superhero and cartoon movies. You know, the ones that used to be aimed mostly at children, before immature adult males began living with their parents until their 30's. Don't be so willing to accept the clearly impossible as plausible.

Setting aside the pseudo-intellectual tinsel that is a formalised version of 'The Time Machine', there is scope for consideration of absolute/relative space and motion which occupied everyone since it emerged a number of centuries ago.

The perspectives of direct/retrograde motion are the centerpiece of all considerations so when Isaac comes up with his own version at variance with actual astronomical principles, it provided me with a distraction and digression from a creative and productive path. Newton's idea of true and apparent motions is a paint-by-numbers thing which he called absolute/relative space and motion where observations seen from Earth are relative/apparent space and motion and conjectured observations from the Sun are absolute/true motion. This form of double modeling is a non starter for reasons that become obvious with familiarity.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/031..._tezel_big.jpg

Kepler represented this motion over 16 years using the background stars as a reference -

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...retrograde.jpg


Newton imagines that it is a simple case of putting the Sun at the center and the retrogrades disappear so easy enough to account for his framework and again, at variance with all astronomical principles -

"For to the earth planetary motions appear sometimes direct, sometimes
stationary, nay, and sometimes retrograde. But from the sun they are
always seen direct,..." Newton


Of course referring Newton back to the original astronomical principles of a Sun centered system would only attract a very small audience leaving the relativists to their own devices but I see this as a positive thing.

Gerald Kelleher wrote:

My goodness, living with a lie must be so tiring unless people are
completely mediocre and can do it out of blind convictions where the mind
becomes unquestioning.

So tell us. Are you tired or mediocre?

On Friday, July 13, 2018 at 2:06:41 PM UTC+1, Mike Collins wrote:
Gerald Kelleher wrote:

My goodness, living with a lie must be so tiring unless people are
completely mediocre and can do it out of blind convictions where the mind
becomes unquestioning.

So tell us. Are you tired or mediocre?

I am on-topic so that people travel though time from child to adult and make the most of their time on this planet along with the people who are their contemporaries. Most people travel through time with the utmost grace or simplicity but only the mediocre mistake timekeeping for time itself and that is where this thread originates - in a mistake made centuries ago and lingo built up around the mistake.

Displaying Huygen's excellent but flawed exposition of the Equation of Time is more important than Sir Isaac's poor imitation of the Equation of Time as absolute/relative time which so entertained the theorists over a century ago, the reason being that the timekeeping facility in the hands of those incapable of exercising care created the 'time travel' monstrosities which the poor folk in the last century imagined was fact.

Friday the 13th today and as good a day as any to appreciate that it is another rotation of the Earth with all its effects that enchant those who are capable of being inspired.

On Friday, 13 July 2018 16:25:16 UTC+2, Jerry-builder wrote:
Friday the 13th today and as good a day as any to appreciate that it is another rotation of the Earth with all its effects that enchant those who are capable of being inspired.

Since you continue to go around in seemingly, drunken circles, perhaps you can discuss the tree rings on your, now well-worn, public ranting, beer crate?

There must surely be some inspiration to fetch for us, from those. May we know the name of the brewery if such still exists and does it still host any truly magnificent watering holes? With beer straight from the barrel over a bed of marmalade-coloured sawdust served by jovial, medieval wenches in foully stained aprons of course stuff.

And, are there any knots in the crate which might end our deep coma of mediocrity? Leaving us transfixed with their inspired circles. Which you must certainly keep continuously aligned to the central Sun. If only to ensure a satisfactory reading of the Local Equation of Time. Allowing, of course, for the local meridian and other, sorely misunderstood, astrological signs.

Let the Greenwich Ball drop where it may and be done with it! Hoist by thy own petard is much too ignominious a fate for one so truly maligned, hideously cursed and most deservedly and repeatedly keelhauled, Matey! Irreverent and irrelevant sop, be gone!

On Friday, 13 July 2018 11:32:35 UTC-4, Chris.B wrote:
On Friday, 13 July 2018 16:25:16 UTC+2, Jerry-builder wrote:
Friday the 13th today and as good a day as any to appreciate that it is another rotation of the Earth with all its effects that enchant those who are capable of being inspired.

Since you continue to go around in seemingly, drunken circles, perhaps you can discuss the tree rings on your, now well-worn, public ranting, beer crate?

There must surely be some inspiration to fetch for us, from those. May we know the name of the brewery if such still exists and does it still host any truly magnificent watering holes? With beer straight from the barrel over a bed of marmalade-coloured sawdust served by jovial, medieval wenches in foully stained aprons of course stuff.

And, are there any knots in the crate which might end our deep coma of mediocrity? Leaving us transfixed with their inspired circles. Which you must certainly keep continuously aligned to the central Sun. If only to ensure a satisfactory reading of the Local Equation of Time. Allowing, of course, for the local meridian and other, sorely misunderstood, astrological signs.

Let the Greenwich Ball drop where it may and be done with it! Hoist by thy own petard is much too ignominious a fate for one so truly maligned, hideously cursed and most deservedly and repeatedly keelhauled, Matey! Irreverent and irrelevant sop, be gone!

The Brits were right about upping the price of booze to stop the tide of public drunkenness.

Everyone travels through time in their life journey from child to adult but people are generally distracted with linguistic absurdities that began with Newton's idiosyncratic take on the Equation of Time - the timekeeping facility which makes the 24 hour and Lat/Long systems possible.

Newton's absolute/relative time never had any meaning in its original contrived state as the followers of the notion didn't have a clue what it represented even when the principles of the Equation of Time are found in Huygen's treatise and duplicated by Isaac with all its inherent flaws.

Life through time is a linear process while timekeeping is a cyclical process using the planet's daily and orbital traits as markers for days and dates.

On Thu, 12 Jul 2018 20:22:55 -0700 (PDT), RichA
wrote:

Indeed, there is good reason to believe that we will never have the
practical means to create wormholes. That doesn't change the
underlying physics, however. Just because a wormhole might not be
something that can be made does not mean that the Universe doesn't
support the possibility of wormholes, with all the implications they
carry for both space and time. As such, this kind of inquiry is very
much a critical part of physics, carried out by many competent and
respected scientists. Or, as you call them, "morons". (A word that is
much more useful for evaluating its user than its targets.)

You have been watching too many superhero and cartoon movies. You know, the ones that used to be aimed mostly at children, before immature adult males began living with their parents until their 30's. Don't be so willing to accept the clearly impossible as plausible.

It must be nice to be so brilliant that you can label as "clearly
impossible" that which so many respected physicists consider worthy of
scientific exploration. You should write a paper and set the world
straight.

On Fri, 13 Jul 2018 18:42:21 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
wrote:

On Friday, July 13, 2018 at 4:21:08 PM UTC-6, Chris L Peterson wrote:

It must be nice to be so brilliant that you can label as "clearly
impossible" that which so many respected physicists consider worthy of
scientific exploration. You should write a paper and set the world
straight.

It has been clear to such respected scientists as Arthur C. Clarke and Albert
Einstein that time travel is impossible.

And they might be right. Probably are right. But it would be a mistake
to use the word "impossible".

An interesting idea I've heard is that time travel is possible, within
the laws of nature. But every time some species invented it, they
changed the past and broke their own invention. This continued until
the Universe stabilized in a configuration where no species ever
invents time travel. Not that it couldn't be done, simply that it
wasn't/isn't/won't be.

On Saturday, 14 July 2018 00:15:25 UTC-4, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Fri, 13 Jul 2018 18:42:21 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
wrote:

On Friday, July 13, 2018 at 4:21:08 PM UTC-6, Chris L Peterson wrote:

It must be nice to be so brilliant that you can label as "clearly
impossible" that which so many respected physicists consider worthy of
scientific exploration. You should write a paper and set the world
straight.

It has been clear to such respected scientists as Arthur C. Clarke and Albert
Einstein that time travel is impossible.

And they might be right. Probably are right. But it would be a mistake
to use the word "impossible".

An interesting idea I've heard is that time travel is possible, within
the laws of nature. But every time some species invented it, they
changed the past and broke their own invention. This continued until
the Universe stabilized in a configuration where no species ever
invents time travel. Not that it couldn't be done, simply that it
wasn't/isn't/won't be.

How about, "functionally impossible?" Apparently, you can if you try enough, run through a brick wall. IT might take 115 trillion years, but you might make it, according to quantum physics.