Thursday, September 02, 2010

Time Travel Note

It's pretty standard, in time travel shows or stories, to have someone at some point say "well, there is no time, there is no before, there is no after-- it's all perception."  It's also standard to have someone struggle to find another way to say 'before' or 'after' without implying time.  Sometimes, it's the same character, commenting about the way human language can't handle the complexities.

If time is a matter of perception, then there still is a before and after, and it would be identical from an individual standpoint.  The only difference, accepting the theory, would be that "before" and "after" aren't constants, they're descriptions of an individual series of events.

Am I missing anything?

(Brought on by this, and figuring out if it was flawed.  I think so....)

16 comments:

Drew said...

Time travel stories pretty much never really make sense. I think it's annoying how popular they always tend to be, and how obsessed shows like Star Trek have therefore tended to become with the concept.

Foxfier, formerly Sailorette said...

The only thing more annoying is their close cousin, the "it was all a dream" (AKA, holodeck eps) story line.

It's a little interesting to play with, but it hasn't got enough meat to be the main thing in a story.

Howlsatmoon said...

Two words for you doubters.... Deja Vu.

A most intriguing movie with Denzel.

Sheesh.

Suburbanbanshee said...

If there is no time, there's no arrow of entropy, and it's impossible for any of us to be alive.

It's all perception until somebody makes you do the dishes....

Foxfier, formerly Sailorette said...

...

*hands the big bronzed cookie of 'I had to google that'*

Doc Rampage said...

I think time travel is like a square circle. If you ignore the right things at the right times, you can tell a story about it, but when you try to conceive of the whole thing at once it doesn't make sense.

Foxfier, formerly Sailorette said...

But that's a Scround! Ice cream comes in them!

(seriously, first thought)

Doc Rampage said...

I did not know that. Furthermore, Google seems to have little information on the "scround". All I could find were some vague references, a blog where the word was used but not defined, and no clear pictures or diagrams.

Of course I realize that you will take this as a challenge and instantly produce a reference to a web site with definition and picture.

I have no idea how you always do that.

Foxfier, formerly Sailorette said...

Hehe, more of an in-joke.... James Lileks, the site that used it without defining it, made up the word at some point. I couldn't find where he did it, so it was probably in one of his Diner podcasts.

Those rounded boxes a lot of ice cream comes in? It's a "Scround!"

Anonymous said...

Time is not a matter of perception. SUBJECTIVE time is a matter of perception. Electrons are subject to time (they existed before man), but the have no perception, unless you want to call quantum entanglement a type of perception, but most scientists don't.

The Chicken

P.S. Is this your primary blog?

Foxfier, formerly Sailorette said...

Yes, it is; I sometimes cross-post at John's place, though.

I can quite agree that subjective time is...well, subject to someone making a judgement.

I'm more focusing on the movie science than the actual theories, though-- movies are very into treating time as a tree falling in the forest and not making a sound type theory.

Howlsatmoon said...

Time, time, time....it's just a hazy shade of winter.

And, by the way, Shroedinger's Cat?

He's dead. The 'experiment' happened back in the 1930's.

*I'm just here to help*

Foxfier, formerly Sailorette said...

Oh, no! You looked!

^.^

Foxfier, formerly Sailorette said...

Oh, no! You looked!

^.^

Howlsatmoon said...

^^ Nope....just figgered that a live cat in 1935 would have a 'probability' of being a dead cat in 2010.....

I'm smart that way.

Ilíon said...

"The only thing more annoying is their close cousin, the "it was all a dream" (AKA, holodeck eps) story line."

I got so tired of that trope a good 40 years ago, when I was still reading comic books.