Why I Stare At My Clock

The world we live in today is one of massive amounts of information and comprehension awareness. Between the powers of Google, Wikipedia, and the Wolfram | Alpha Computational Knowledge Engine there are few mysteries left in the world.

Once, there was a time when we did not understand why apples seem to gravitate towards the ground. Before that, we thought the Atlantic Ocean was endless and unconquerable. Earlier still, fire was a mythical demon of ultimate destructive power that we did not know how to harness. Today, any sixth grader can break down any of those earthly phenomenon.

Simple-minded folk have always suggested that since we do not understand (insert current crazy theory that will eventually become commonplace), it must not be possible. I say that half-jokingly, but to further strengthen the suggested position that there will always be naysayers in the world around us who take the world for what it is instead of what it could be, I turn to the wisdom of Men in Black:

"Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."

The idea of Time Travel, closely related to the limits and dimensions of space, is one of the concepts among us that we cannot define with any scientific accuracy or understanding. Earth's leading minds, both scientific and creative, have no definitive understanding of Time Travel. Sure, there are theories, but that's all. No one on Earth, now or ever in the past, has traveled through time.

Maybe it's a little bit of the knack in me that makes me yearn for understanding about anything and everything, but whatever it is, I cannot overcome wondering about something that has yet to be figured out. There's something romantic in daydreaming about something that no one truly understands. Time Travel is a whimsical, enormous, and universal mystery.

That is why I lay awake staring at my clock night after night after night.

Time Traveling: Hubble Style

I'm glad that you were paying attention to my last post about modern day time travel. I talked about how even though we don't have a DeLorean with 1.21 jigawatts, we still sort of time travel through the means of recordings and other things. I'm glad someone noted the idea of how looking through a powerful telescope, like the Hubble, is another version of Time Travel because it gives me an excuse to talk about an image known as the Ultra Deep Field.

Let me drop some physics on you.

Light travels at 299,792,458 meters per second. That means that if something is about three-hundred thousand kilometers away, it would take light one whole second to travel that distance. It takes light from our own sun about eight minutes to reach us. I'll let the math about concept about that roll around your head while you watch this video

This video illustrates that each time we just look into the stars, we are looking into the past. Some of those stars could have gone nova and winked out as we were looking at the night sky, but we wouldn't know about it for thousands, millions, or even billions of years.

Beat that Doc Brown.

Modern Day Time Travel

I like talking about Time Travel. If that is not evident already, then either I'm dumb or you're dumb. Either way, let's talk about Time Travel and how it affects you. "But, Traveler, I have neither the technology nor the mental capacity to harness the power of Time Travel! Whatever shall I do?"

Aha. Well, I'm so glad you asked because that is exactly what we're going to talk about in today's lesson!

Whenever I try to lower my social standing and make it known what a huge nerd I am in public by bringing up Time Travel in casual conversation, people immediately start thinking of these guys and a DeLorean. While that is a brilliant major motion picture release glorifying Time Travel as the most epic of epic adventures, we travel through time in a much less epic way every day of our lives.

Before I illustrate a couple of examples of such, I'd like you to pretend that you exist in the middle ages. Your day goes: wake up, farm, farm, eat, cough, farm, farm, cough, farm, commit genocide on an indigenous people, farm, farm, eat, sleep. You lead a very exciting life. Ok, so now that you're heavily into the part, let's begin.

Example 1: I have a device here that I call a camera. With it, I can save a 2-Dimensional moment in time indefinitely. This is a perfect representation of what was happening from that angle and this moment in time is captured forever. I can travel backwards through time and see how the world looked at whatever time the picture was taken.

Example 2: I have this other device here that is referred to where I come from as an alarm clock. The day is separated into increments called hours, minutes, and seconds. Basically all it does is give a time-based structure to the day. Now, this alarm clock's basic function is to let me know the current time, but it has a more advanced feature. I can give the clock a user defined time in the future and it will beep when that time arrives. The usefulness of that is that if I wanted to only sleep for 7 hours, because I have extra farming to do tomorrow, I could set the alarm clock to beep in 7 hours allowing me to, effectively hibernate for 7 hours and arguably travel into the future at my own pace.

Example 3: Time zones.

There are many things in our lives that we take for granted that are, essentially, minor forms of time travel. Any recording you've watched or listened to, alarm clock you've used, time zone you've crossed, or any of the countless times you've played Chrono Trigger for the SNES, consider yourself lucky for having the time traveling luxuries that many in the past did not.

Grandfather Paradox

I'm going to propose something to you:

I have a time machine. I go back in time to Salt Lake City, Utah in July of 1987. A hotel in the area is hosting a big awards ceremony for a major national insurance company's annual chart toppers banquet. A husband and wife are at this event trying to enjoy their time on this vacation. More so than the event itself, the couple are looking forward to an open bar and a hotel room to themselves for some intimate alone time.

Unfortunately for the planners of this event, the local weather patterns didn't get the memo on the event and have really turned on the faucet on the rain clouds. Buckets and buckets of rain are coming down. Me, having never been to Salt Lake City before, I have to figure out where I'm going. I am from the technologically advanced, far off time of 2009 where we have iPhones and GPS systems so the prospect at hand of using a map to find this hotel is something I'm not used to.

In the confusion of the map reading, the inclement weather, and general excitement of adventuring through time, on a curvy road, I accidentally lose control of my rented 1985 Chrysler LeBaron and get into a head on collision with a taxi carrying our previously mentioned husband and wife while they are en route to the banquet.

Due to my carelessness at the wheel, I have just killed my own parents before I was conceived.

Here is where we run into an issue known as the Grandfather Paradox. Under this philosophy, we assume time to be a straight, unalterable line. Now, if I jump back in time before my timeline existed and screw something up in the delicate balance of events that led to my conception, I have erased my timeline before it was even created. Another way of putting it is if I kill my parents before I'm born, I could never have gone back in time and killed my parents. Logical paradox. Get it?

So, now what happens to me? Wouldn't I just cease to exist?

The Nerdiest Book Ever Written

I found it.

Turns out it was hiding in the common room of a hostel on a remote island off the western coast of Ireland.

Before I get into explaining anything about the book, I feel like I need to clarify something: I am a nerd. That being said, let's get to work.

The subject in question is a book called Star Trek: First Frontier. This book is the nerdiest book ever written for three reasons, each nerdier than the last:

1) It is about Time Travel.
2) It is a Star Trek book
3) Talking dinosaurs.


I'm gonna say that again because I believe it bears repeating. This book has talking dinosaurs.


The gist of the story is that while doing something Kirk-y, full of bravado, and hugely important to the Federation, Captain Kirk and the crew """accidentally""" fall into another flow of time where humanity never existed. Pretty intense.

This book explores an understanding of timespace as a series of events that, if changed, the flow of time is altered and based upon these new variables, a new reality takes shape. I'll herein refer to this principle as a "mutable timeline". I'll get into the layman specifics of that concept another time.

At any rate, this book is very entertaining. The planets aligned and the leading dinosaur dorks and Star Trek nerds of the early to mid 90s came together to bring us this gem. It will satisfy all your sci-fi wants and needs. I call upon all nerds, physicists, trekkies, archaeologists, and starship captains to pick this one up and enjoy.

No Time Like the Present

I started writing a blog at 2:18:23AM on September 15th, 2009.

That statement will be true forever. I will probably lay awake after I write this wondering how my life would have been different if I had started this blog a month earlier. Now, that isn't to say that this blog is a component of regret, but more like exploring what could have or may yet happen due to certain circumstances, decisions, scenarios, and variables.

Let me go back a bit. I've started this blog to share my fascination with all things related to Time and the travel through such. Now, onto the matter at hand.

I can guarantee, without a doubt, everyone alive has wondered about time. You might not know it, but you have.

Have you ever wondered about a decision you've made? Would I have gotten food poisoning if I hadn't ordered the chicken sandwich from Wendy's? Have you wondered what your life would have been like if you'd kept up those guitar lessons or hadn't got that abortion? Who killed JFK? Was Jesus real?

Or, perhaps, you wonder more about future events... What will I have for dinner Thursday night? Will I get the job? Who wins this year's superbowl? What will my wife or husband be like? What will my kids be like? How do I die?

Both subjects are very interesting, but something to get your brain and soul searching going is which topic interested you more? Were you more curious about past or future? I might argue that if its the former than you're living your life through your regrets. I might argue that if its the latter then you don't believe in controlling your own fate and destiny.

I'd like to journey and explore all of the above. In this notepad I'll sketch out interesting concepts, popular time travel destinations, further reading/viewing/studying materials, and things related to Time Travel that just plum keep me up at night.

I hope that something here engages your curiosity and imagination.