Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Sylvia Else Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,sci.physics,sci.physics.relativity,alt.astronomy Subject: Re: Time Travel Is Not Possible Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2017 12:03:03 +1100 Lines: 118 Message-ID: References: <5866B352.6F63@ix.netcom.com> <58673243.3914@ix.netcom.com> <586758A0.1F74@ix.netcom.com> <5867FE37.723@ix.netcom.com> <58685AA8.4AAB@ix.netcom.com> <5869A346.1C8@ix.netcom.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: individual.net fAbQCpoHCYIADhzzPuZGaAjemnpaACBtJoMsBVkpqDC55yzVPy Cancel-Lock: sha1:7TZSkq1ss2t6VZNC7Td1lW+BZQY= User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.3.0 In-Reply-To: <5869A346.1C8@ix.netcom.com> Xref: csiph.com rec.arts.sf.written:461417 sci.physics:611253 sci.physics.relativity:403749 alt.astronomy:288543 On 2/01/2017 11:48 AM, The Starmaker wrote: > The Starmaker wrote: >> >> Sylvia Else wrote: >>> >>> On 1/01/2017 5:51 AM, The Starmaker wrote: >>>> Sylvia Else wrote: >>>>> >>>>> On 31/12/2016 6:05 PM, The Starmaker wrote: >>>>>> Sylvia Else wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On 31/12/2016 3:21 PM, The Starmaker wrote: >>>>>>>> Sylvia Else wrote: >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> On 31/12/2016 6:19 AM, The Starmaker wrote: >>>>>>>>>> lets say you travel back in time in a time machine and your >>>>>>>>>> time machine lands on your grandfather and kills him... >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Time Travel Is Not Possible. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Any answers you give saying time travel is possible would >>>>>>>>>> be...absurd answers. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> i don't want to hear absurd answers like you come back in >>>>>>>>>> unproven paralell universes where your father and grandfather >>>>>>>>>> still exist... >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> i don't want to hear it! >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Why not? You're effectively saying that the Universe has a >>>>>>>>> particular form, one in which your proof works. That's akin to >>>>>>>>> a circular argument. Maybe the universe does have such a form, >>>>>>>>> and time travel really is impossible, but you have no proof of >>>>>>>>> that. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Sylvia. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> I would say by now somebody in the far future would be here >>>>>>>> now... >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> That's a different argument. But maybe the reason no time traveller >>>>>>> from the far future has come here is that there is no far future >>>>>>> from which to come - civilisation wipes itself out - humans become >>>>>>> extinct due to natural disaster, etc. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Sylvia. >>>>>> >>>>>> Where did you get this idea "civilisation wipes itself out", and >>>>>> "humans become extinct"? a crystal ball?? >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> They're merely possibilities. Since they are possible, you cannot use >>>>> the non-existence of time travellers from the future as proof that time >>>>> travel is impossible. >>>>> >>>>> Sylvia. >>>> >>>> So, you actually believe that it is possible that a whole "civilisation" can be wiped out?? How??? Can you give an example? >>> >>> Nearby supernova, collision between black-holes somewhere in the >>> galactic neighbourhood, large comet collision with Earth, worldwide >>> nuclear war, biological weapons, runaway global warming, return to >>> ice-ball Earth. The list of possibilities is endless. >>> >>>> >>>> Also, I don't see any signs of 'humans becoming extint', ...what signs do you see, Mrs Else? >>>> >>> >>> Well, for the most part there wouldn't be any signs, because it wouldn't >>> be a gradual process. >>> >>> Sylvia. >> >> Most girls don't even think like you do... > > > I wrote "an example" not 'examples'... Really, you wanted just one example? > > lets take one of your examples: "large comet collision with Earth". > > It has never in the past happen to wipe out a whole cilivization, maybe > a few ants...it's speculation, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR SPECULATION. Your > so-called > theories are useless today. They are nothing more than science fiction > ideas. > Of course human civilisation has never been wiped out - if it had been, then we'd not be here to discuss it (a variation of the anthropic principle). That means that we have no idea of the probability of its happening. Perhaps it's quite likely, and we've just been very lucky. The Earth has been hit by large objects in the past, causing mass extinctions. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that such a thing could happen again, and be severe enough to wipe out the human race. You've sought to characterise the absence of visitors from the future as proof that time travel is impossible. "Proof" is a strong word. To prove something you need to exclude not just likely counter-examples, but all possible counter-examples. You're nowhere near being able to do that. Sylvia.