Time Travel

Is time travel possible?  The simplest answer is, “Of course, we do it one day at a time, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute, second-by-second”.  Obviously, that is not the underlying intention of question, but I believe the answer is still affirmative, though not exactly the way we perceive it in movies with time machines.

Part 1: Backward Traveling

Can we get back to the past or the Past?

To err is human, to regret even more so.  Most if not all people have a few things they wish they could go back and change.  Is it possible to go back and make better decisions or take back those harsh words one spoke?

There are various theories on how one’s memory works in a fashion to visit one’s past.  In some respects, this approaches a form of time travel.  The observer is in some form or fashion ‘reliving’ those moments in time.  With this broad understanding of time travel, any relic such as a photo or family heirloom that brings back those memories should be considered as a portal to the past (no need for a time machine).

Imperfections in the Memory

The quandary with this form of time travel is that one’s memories are unreliable.  They define the past as the observer remembers it.  Memory is imperfect, and one’s brain rewrites history in accordance with one’s own emotions, preconceived worldviews, post event worldviews, and assumptions.  Over time, one’s memory of a single event may change⁽¹⁾.  Even ignoring these flaws in one’s own memory, one can only remember events in accordance with his/her perspective at the time.  In other words, two observers may have witnessed the same event but remember it differently such that when each ‘relives’ the same event in their own respective memories, they are not reliving the same things. 

⁽¹⁾         A fascinating side note to the changing memory of an individual is that some of these changes are conscious and others are subconscious.  Conscious changes to one’s memory occur when one later learns additional facts which explain the cause of the event or the circumstances surrounding the event.  Subconscious and/or unconscious changes to the memory are more complex.  This is not a study in psychology, however, the author acknowledges that the human mind is a powerful tool allowing the host to recall, rearrange, modify, and even suppress events subconsciously perhaps to protect the host’s emotional wellbeing or psyche.

Implications of these Imperfections

These imperfections in human memory may cause scenarios such as a) a single observer visits different versions of the same historical event at different moments in his/her life or b) multiple observers visit different versions of the same historical event at the same moment in their lives. This phenomenon could be used to validate a multiverse perspective on history.  In fact, this is a logical conclusion considering the modern philosophical view that truth is relative to the observer; many versions of history have occurred, and it is left to the observer to define not only perspective but the how and why of the past to determine the implications on the present and future for him/her self. 

A more appropriate interpretation of these imperfections is that they validate the clear distinction between history and History as defined in another work [here]; fundamentally that history is from the subjective perspective of the observer and is imperfect but knowable while History is objective from outside all observers and perfect but unknowable to the observers^(2).  This leads to a distinction between the ‘past’ and the ‘Past’. 

⁽²⁾         These definitions in the context of the original work are based on the assumption that there is no Deity (or Supreme Being), and the only observers addressed are human beings.  In this work, the author includes the notion of an all-knowing Deity and thus, History is known to this Supreme Being.

The past could be defined as a given observer’s memory of historical events he/she has witnessed at a specific point in time of the observer’s life; this term specifically entails the observer’s original perspective on the events (considering the limited extent of the observer’s point of view and the observer’s worldview and understanding of the situation at the time of occurrence) as well as the conscious and subconscious alterations made to the memory of the events up to the moment of recollection.  This past is finite, imperfect, ever changing, and knowable only to the observer, and it ultimately dies with the observer.  While an observer can “pass along” memories to another observer, this conveyance is imperfect, and the passed memory becomes convolved into the other observer’s past.

The Past could be defined as that portion of History that has occurred in a given individual’s life regardless of the observer’s perspective on, relation to, or interpretation of the events themselves.  The Past is perfect and unknowable.  Using these definitions, some would argue that if several witnesses to a single event were gathered to provide their own detailed accounts of the event from their pasts, that the actual event from the Past could be reconstructed.  The author agrees in theory; a mathematical equation could be derived from empirical evidences to quantify the incremental volume of information provided by each witness to the composite account of the event and identify the maximum number of witnesses necessary to provide all knowable details⁽³⁾.  The issue with generating such an equation and with the concept of deconvolving the Past from various pasts is that it is based on the presumption that a) each facet of the Past must necessarily have been observed by at least one observer such that all facets were observed by the sum of the witnesses, b) each individual observer would completely and honestly relate his/her observations, and c) an independent individual compiling the various components from all of the pasts could accurately distinguish between factual observations and interpretive/revisionist observations.  The author believes these are impossible and therefore agrees in theory but does not agree that it could be brought to practice.

⁽³⁾         While this discussion addresses the philosophical entirety of the Past, the author recognizes that materiality is of primary import in the vast majority of situations while the precise details may be less critical.  For most events in which immediate judgement or assignation of culpability is required, one or two witnesses are sufficient to provide an adequate assessment of a situation.  In a traffic accident, for instance, the color of the cell phone being used to text while driving, while being of philosophical import to the precise account of the Past, is immaterial to the specific question of whether or not one is at fault.  Therefore, if two witnesses disagree on the color of the cell phone but agree that the same driver was texting while driving, this information may be sufficient to determine the cause of the accident.

Imprecise Visits to the Past

Having defined these two related but distinct terms, we return to the concept of traveling to the past or Past.  Since the past is the observer’s version of the Past, when an individual relives a specific event, he/she is only visiting a possible historical event.  Since time traveling must necessarily involve reliving the Past (or precisely viewing the unknowable, perfect, Historical event), reliving a memory should be considered relative time travel (perhaps we should expand Einstein’s general theory of relativity).

What if, like Ebenezer Scrooge, one were to be visited by the Ghost of the Past?  As long as this Ghost of the Past contains the qualities ascribed to the all-knowing Deity, then time travel with this Entity would be perfectly possible.

Can we travel back in history or History?

It was important to begin with a specific individual observer’s memory before broaching the more general subject matter of time traveling through history or History.  Now that we have laid the groundwork for the differences between the past and Past, let us further clarify that history considers the human account of History.  In other words, while the past is a set of memories over a given observer’s lifetime, history is the account of all known observations of events by humans since records have been kept.  Once again, history is incomplete and must rely on deductive and inductive reasoning to supplement human understanding of the perfect but unknowable History.

Now is it possible to travel back in History?  There are two distinct periods of History, a) pre-human observer and b) post-human observer, or more precisely pre- and post-human recorded observations.  Let’s first discuss the latter because it is the most similar to our discussion on the past versus the Past.  An observer could certainly conceptualize or ‘relive’ someone else’s account of Historical events even if that original observer were no longer alive to verbally describe or recreate said events personally.  In that regard, the living observer is able to travel with the original observer through his/her own past.  However, as we’ve already indicated, one observer is not only limited in perspective but also in worldview, and memory is subject to conscious and subconscious biases that the new observer will not be able to deconvolve.  Could an Historical event be recreated from several original observers?  This is yet again impossible because of the upper limit on viewpoints, complete honesty, and observer biases⁽⁴⁾.  So this discourse returns to the potential multiverse of potential histories just over the observed and recorded time period.

⁽⁴⁾         Again in this case, materiality is of utmost import.  For instance, if several people lived through the St. Mary Magdalene’s flood in the 1300s, and presented verbal testimony of the event afterward, while the precise amount of rainfall (part of History) is unattainable, the lack of this information does not negate the Historicity of the event itself.  An event can be Historical without humanity having the precise History of the event.  While an observer would not be able to revisit the Historical event (proper time travel), he/she could relive interpretations of the event from history, which is consistent with relative time travel.

When considering time travel to a point pre-human recorded observations, there is an even broader disconnect since all of our understanding of that point in History has been gathered with deductive and inductive reasoning projecting backward from what has been observed to a time when no observer or recorder was present.  This backward projection is a non-unique solution, and in fact there are various versions of history prior to human records⁽⁵⁾.  Therefore, in addition to one’s own limited perspective in one’s own imprecise, ever-changing memory, in addition to the inaccurate, convoluted, and biased memories of others, an observer is now faced with a variety of interpretations of these observed and recorded events and their projections backward through time to these histories (not Histories).  In this event, it is much simpler to acknowledge that travel to History is impossible, though it is still not impossible to identify Historical events and relive historical versions of these. 

⁽⁵⁾         Here it is significant to note that just as an observer has a specific point of view in his/her own memory, one’s perspective or worldview may also affect his or her projection through historical records to a bias.

Could one be visited by the Ghost of History?  As long as this Deity exists, it is plausible that He/She could in fact visit an observer and escort him/her through History.  The notion is somewhat mute, however, since any observer could merely claim to have been visited by the Deity and others would have little-to-no recourse to test the veracity of the claim.  Unless the Deity determines to visit all observers, such time travel is nearly meaningless because it cannot be conclusive.

Subconscious Backward Time Travel

In general, the foregoing discussion has addressed intentional strolls down memory lane.  But, there are situations in which individuals subconsciously get stuck in reliving past failures or victories.  Neither of these tendencies to live in the past is healthy.  One who relives his/her past failures continues to grieve over and over again for mistakes that cannot be undone.  One who constantly relives his/her past successes is blinded by self love.  In traveling to the past, one cannot change the events thereof nor bring them forward to the present.  There are others who suffer from haunting suppressed memories.  Each of these cases causes an individual to lose sight of the present and miss out on opportunities to build or repair relationships and grow personally.

Conclusion of Part 1

Is it possible to travel backward in time?  The answer is a resounding somewhat.  Ultimately, an individual can use relative time travel to:

a)     relive one’s own imperfect memories.

b)     visit someone else’s memories.

c)     review collective, imprecise accounts of Historical events.

d)     recreate illustrations of Historical events pre-human recorded observations.

e)     conceive projections of theoretical historical events.

With this understanding, mental time travel is possible, but revisiting these events cannot be conclusive to define History in its entirety, however histories of single Historical events can be relived for the purposes of substantiation and education.

Part 2: Forward Traveling

Can we get to the future or Future?

Einstein’s theory of relativity gives a specific illustration of how we can travel to the future by traveling at high speeds.  In fact, this has been demonstrated through experiments in which 2 identical atomic clocks are synchronized and then one is placed in an airplane flying around the earth while the other sits motionless on the ground.  The clock in motion runs slower than the stationary clock, and therefore travels forward in time.  If an individual could travel at speeds approaching the speed of light, he/she could travel farther than a few seconds or minutes into the future.  Time machines and wormholes remain to be proven, but nonexistence at present does not preclude future existence.

Future Possibilities

Obviously, no one has memories of the future, but similar to an individual’s past he/she has visions or expectations of the future that affect how he/she behaves in the present.  For instance, anyone who invests in a retirement account of any kind is envisioning a future time when he/she is no longer working full time.  Purchasing life insurance and investing in a retirement account at the same time is like planning for the multiverse of potential futures.  We don’t call this time travel, we call this being financially responsible.

Future time travel is not solely associated with financial decisions.  On a daily basis, many people have a tendency to worry about a possible future event.  In these situations, an individual is envisioning some negative future occurrence and travels to the potential future mentally and projects anxiety back onto the present.  In general, remembering a more recent historical event is easier than remembering an older event.  The same is true for the future; humans are better at predicting and planning for the near-term future than for the long-term future.  Planning for breakfast tomorrow morning is easier and more practical than preparing for retirement.  The near-term future is more concrete than long-term future.

The author is hesitant to differentiate the future from the Future.  The author does not wish to imply that the Future is established as History is, however, it is convenient to distinguish an individual’s projections of potential future events versus what actually will happen in the Future.

Events of the Future are similar to Historical events in that, an individual may know that some event has occurred in History or an event will occur in the Future, but the precise details cannot be fully comprehended.  For instance, each individual was born in his/her own past, yet, the details cannot be fully known in the Past; and each individual will someday die in their future⁽⁶⁾ though we cannot be certain of the time, place, or circumstances in the Future.  As Benjamin Franklin said, “There are only 2 things certain in life, death and taxes.”

⁽⁶⁾         The author acknowledges that events such as one’s death are generally spoken of in terms of the subjunctive to convey the uncertainty of it.  If the reader wishes to take exception to this assumption, the author suggests reviewing 1) the underwhelming statistics of person’s born who have not died and 2) the Biblical passage, Hebrews 9:27, “… it is appointed for people to die once-and after this, judgement” (CSB).

Could one be visited by the Ghost of the Future?  As long as the Deity exists, it is plausible that He/She could in fact visit an observer and escort him/her through the Future.  In fact, some have claimed to have viewed the Future and made predictions.  Some of these would-be prophets predict far-off events making it impossible to validate the predictions during his/her lifetime, but for those who predict events in the near-term, either the forecasts bear out or they do not.

Forward Looking Statements

Government regulation requires publicly traded companies to warn investors about the uncertainty of the future with disclaimers such as, “This presentation contains forward-looking statements, including forecasts of future revenue, profits, and expenses related to expected business events.  Such statements are subject to risk, uncertainties, and other factors, some of which are beyond the control of [presenter], which may cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements.”

Why are disclaimers like this required?  Isn’t it obvious that no one can accurately predict the future?  Well, these disclaimers are designed to clarify the risk and uncertainty surrounding the projections.  Risk and uncertainty are sometimes used synonymously, however, there is a very clear difference between the two words.  In simple terms, risk is used to address chance of success or failure while uncertainty addresses a range of potential successful outcomes.  An investor takes a risk by investing in a new widget-making company that has no sales contracts and is not currently producing any widgets; the primary question is of success or failure.  An investor faces uncertainty when purchasing stock in an existing widget-making company who is currently selling X widgets per month with potential to sell 2X widgets per month; the primary question is on the range of success.  There are many possible future outcomes, each with associated risk and/or uncertainty. 

If an individual would assess the risk and uncertainty associated with dreaded future events, perhaps he/she would be less prone to assume the worst possible outcome which results in constant worry.

Subconscious Forward Time Travel

In general, the foregoing discussion has addressed conscious views into potential futures to adjust current behavior.  But, there are situations in which individuals subconsciously travel to potential negative futures resulting in anxiety and dread or travel to potential positive futures and live in day dreams.  These cases are the most difficult to correct since logic cannot be employed to reason with the subconscious.  In these cases, the author suggests that each individual struggling with this type of subconscious habit take stock of their circumstance during a period of calm.  It is in this period of calm where the individual can reason with themselves considering following:

a)     The subconscious mind is a prophet of future doom or bloom.

b)     These prophecies lead to recurring anxiety or fancy.

c)     How often do these predictions come to fruition?

d)     How good of a prophet is the subconscious mind?

One can then prepare for the next anxiety attack or day dream by devising a plan to remind him/her self of these facts.  Each individual is different, and for some medication or other exterior support may be required.

Conclusion of Part 2

Is it possible to travel forward in time?  The answer is a resounding somewhat.  Ultimately, an individual can imagine many potential future outcomes, and while certain events of the Future can be expected, timing and circumstances cannot be completely defined.  Anytime, an individual alters his/her current behavior in anticipation of some future event, he/she has, to some extent, traveled to the future mentally.

Part 3: Living in the Present

The year was 1985 when Marty McFly traveled to the past in the DeLorean with the help of Doc Brown and a little plutonium.  Marty, a high school student went back to meet his parents during their high school years and wound up changing his present-day life by setting up his parents’ union in a spectacular way.  The name of the film was, of course, “Back to the Future”.  This movie communicates an interesting, but clear message that an individual’s past affects his/her present and future⁽⁷⁾.

⁽⁷⁾         The whole notion of backward and forward time travel suggests a linear view of time, which has been considered by many scientists and philosophers alike.  Some would suggest that time is circular, a notion that may be supported by the fact that history seems to repeat itself or perhaps even on a simpler level, by instances of déjà vu.  The author believes this is an example of the unknowable and therefore chooses to employ Occam’s Razor electing the linear view of time as the simplest explanation. 

The Present is the Future

Today is yesterday’s tomorrow.  Many people tell themselves that they will begin dieting or changing some habit in the future when in fact, they have been preparing for today for all of their lives.  Consider the account of David and Goliath.  While the soldiers of Israel’s army are shaking in their boots at Goliath’s challenge, David approaches King Saul and says, ‘I’ll defeat the giant’.  At the king’s expression of his doubts, David travels back to his past to relate his experiences when God delivered him from the lion and the bear, and based on those historical experiences, David has faith that God will deliver in the future.  Because David was faithful in each of these moments, not waiting for some grandiose opportunity to trust God, he is prepared for the battle with the giant. 

The Present is the Past

Today is tomorrow’s yesterday.  In reality, whatever one wishes to be able to accomplish tomorrow, one must begin doing today.  We become what we prepare to be.  Consider Hebrews 12:2, “… Jesus… for the joy that lay before him, endured the cross…” (CSB).  Jesus knew that He was living in the past and was able to travel to the future and project the future joy back to the present, so He was able to endure the cross.  Whatever one does today will determine what opportunities he/she has tomorrow and will define who he/she is tomorrow.