Episode+2,+Time+Travel+Is+Time+Travel+Possible?


 * Caroline:**

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The Time Travel episode tackles a topic that is addressed in many books, TV shows, and movies that I have read and seen. Two favorite examples of mine are from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Doctor Who, both of which deal with time travel to the past, which Stephen Hawking gives several reasons for why he thinks is impossible. I understand why he thinks the laws of nature would prevent such a possibility; the concept of a paradox causing damage to the time space continuum. However, as cute as his “tea party for future guests” idea is, I still like to believe that time travel to the past will one day be possible, and by that time, humans, or whatever species develops it, will be clever and be able to travel without altering the past. All of Stephen Hawking’s time travel ideas focus on using speed, distance and relativism, making it a much more simple and attainable goal than it is portrayed as in other media. He uses simple examples, the global positioning system, to illustrate how the mass of an extremely large object slows down it’s relative time. However, similarly to my issue with the alien episode, the problem I see with people on earth stating laws like nothing can go faster than the speed of light is that there is such an unimaginable amount of space out there where these rules may not apply.=====


 * Darya:**

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Although this episode focused on another specific topic, I found it much more difficult to grapple as it was concerned with time travel. Time travel in itself is still viewed with much skepticism as proof of legitimate time travel does not exist. At first I was very confused and often found myself rewinding the episode in order to hear specific explanations once again, but after awhile I was able to understand the basic concept through Hawking’s thorough yet simple explanations. When considering time travel on Earth, it seems very unlikely. Hawking himself stated that creating a medium that would allow time travel to occur would be very impossible. I also do agree that with him in his statement that such time travel could subsequently cause a great deal of chaos as the laws of nature would be disturbed. His example of the man in the future shooting himself in the past is a convincing representation as to why time travel would be harmful on Earth. Hawking, however, did delve into the possibility of time travel in outer space. I am fonder of this concept because it has more to do with speed, rather than creating something, and can have less harmful effects than it would on Earth. Two of the possibilities that Hawking presented were orbiting a black hole or creating a machine that can get up to speeds approaching the speed of light. In both situations, the passengers of the space ship in each situation would have aged five years for example, while everyone on Earth would have aged ten years. This can be considered traveling in the future. These methods, however, are very lengthy, expensive, and require a grand advancement in technology and therefore are not possible at this day. In addition, time travel through using these methods is not immediate and would require several years to have a significant effect. Therefore, although time travel is somewhat possible in the distant future, it is not something that we can achieve without a great deal of research and funding. I myself feel that time travel is an interesting concept, but can have many consequential and harmful effects if not approached in a safe and proper manner.=====

Sdawg: