CreateDebate


Debate Info

19
29
Yes No
Debate Score:48
Arguments:43
Total Votes:51
More Stats

Argument Ratio

side graph
 
 Yes (13)
 
 No (17)

Debate Creator

hailsroxy(42) pic



Do you think that time travel is possible?

Do you think that people can actually find a way to time travel?

Yes

Side Score: 19
VS.

No

Side Score: 29
3 points

If an instant represents 0 passage of time or motion, then the present is as non-existent as the past or future. Since there is motion and passage of time, composed of instants, then I am constantly traveling into the future at a commonly shared rate.

Side: Yes
alliem2001(24) Disputed
0 points

Although that may be true, the phrase time travel consists of the ability to "bend time" as you like.

Side: No

I've heard of time dilation. I don't know if it counts as time travel. It's just the elapsed time between two events. Apparently you can travel at a speed fast enough to sort of slow down time for yourself while everything else seems to have sped up from your perspective. So if someone was to travel into space at an incredible speed (maybe something relatively close to the speed of light) you could travel for an hour and come back to Earth and maybe a month has passed. I think that's how it works, but if anyone else knows exactly how it works or if I got something wrong please correct me.

Side: Yes

There are actually some theoretical models that should work to this effect, for time travel either to the past or to the future, that are significantly hampered by our current level of technology (and to be fair, possibly fundamentally flawed, reliant on theoretical or even hypothetical structures, processes, and phenomena that may not exist at all as anything beyond a misunderstanding of what we've observed, or are impossible for any number of reasons). One example of such is a Tipler Cylinder, which in practice would be reliant upon the use of 'negative energy,' which is only speculation thus far.

It should be noted though, that these models won't generally allow us to travel back in time to see the dinosaurs; the earliest point such a time machine could travel backwards to would be the point in time where it was first brought online; earlier than that and the structures used to manipulate space-time to facilitate the travel aren't there to make further travel possible. Similarly, the furthest point in the future that one could travel to with one of these machines would be the point in time where it was shut off or otherwise ceased working.

No man-made time machine is likely to facilitate a visitor in the modern day from the future, in other words. Of course, even this is not entirely impossible, as it is also possible that structures that facilitate time travel may be naturally existing in our universe, and would simply require finding and travelling to them to make use of them; these would have the same limitations I noted above, further exacerbated by travel time, but could potentially serve as gateways to the more distant past.

In short- I believe that time travel is possible, but that is not the same as stating that I believe that mankind will one day achieve it.

Side: Yes
1 point

Well, actually, yes. I mean, not completely, as time travel to the past is literally not possible. To the future, however, it is possible. It isn't as much time travel, as going faster than whats around you, but it is somewhat possible.

Side: Yes
1 point

there are some people who have survived the Bermuda triangle ...most of them say that they were in the past ..in the time of the french revolution or so ..so if they were able to go back in the past then ofcourse time travelling is possible

Side: Yes
alliem2001(24) Disputed
1 point

But they are still in the same instance of time as the rest of the universe- they have not gone back to a separate time all together.

Side: No
1 point

ya it be nice to go back and fix things that we did wrong

Side: Yes
maggierauch(4) Disputed
1 point

If we were just going to go back and fix things that we did wrong, then we might as well get a script for our lives.

Side: No
1 point

Yes I do, Our generation is just not that technologically advanced.

Side: Yes
1 point

Yes I do, Our generation is just not that technologically advanced.

Side: Yes
1 point

technically there are already a few ways to time travel by merely existing on this plane of time. you can slow down the rate of time you experience relative to others via time dilation via moving, essentially travelling forwards faster in time (observably occurs in satellites orbiting earth). however the question likely means backwards in time. in which case i don't think anyone can say for certain. i would like to believe anything is possible in the sense that what we experience is nothing compared to what is out there. there are likely innumerable 'senses' we might have developed to experience parts of the universe we currently might not know exists. or perhaps the mathematical tools of logic we developed only explains a small quantity of what is or maybe can not at all. the possibilities are infinite. the possibility of us knowing what we already know is only but one available. and science, although our currently most reliable option, is intrinsically fallible. or it could simply not be so. tough to say. impossible to know.

Side: Yes
1 point

Maybe it is possible and we just don't have the tools. Like, cells exist, but back then they didn't know that and didn't think about it. They rejected the theory of Evolution. They didn't have enough tools, but it didn't mean that cells didn't exist. It didn't mean evolution isn't real.

Side: Yes
1 point

The theory of relativity allows for a traveler to pass through time slower than the rest of us. Therefore I'd say yes. I'm not sure about backwards time travel though.

Side: Yes
4 points

Time appears to us as a noted interval between any state and any other state of existence. From the rotation of a spiral galaxy to the more brief motion of an electron. This noted interval is subject to both special relativity's effects of relative motion and general relativity's effects of gravity.

Fortunately we can leave these distortions aside and still understand the fundamental nature of what time is.

Time is not the activity of traveling through different states of matter and radiation, but is remaining stationary while the universe changes from one state to the next. This is why we are always in the present. The past position of everything in the universe no longer exists. While the next position of everything in the universe is yet to exist. The notion of time travel is based on a missunderstanding.

Side: No
3 points

No because we as humans don't have the capabilities, let alone resources to actually time travel.

Side: No
Jace(5222) Disputed
2 points

People used to say the same thing about going to the moon. Just because we cannot do it yet does not mean it is not possible.

Side: Yes
Explorer(187) Disputed
2 points

I will admit that at the current situation it is entirely unknown. I will assume that time travel is talking about time travelling to the past. That being said time travel could be possible in the way we are current traveling 1 second per 1 second, gravitational time dilation, and other means. That being said time travel to the past suffers from many paradoxes such as the grandfather paradox, predestination paradox, and more. It is possible that a parallel universe could allow for it but no such evidence for one exists. Again, it is highly theoretical but under our current understanding of the universe, time travel seems to be impossible at least in a single universe. That being said science is about changing our ideas and I might change my opinion if the existence of multiple universes is confirmed or supported by a significant amount of evidence.

That being said, none/few evidence at the moment supports the multiverse theory which would be most likely necessary for it to work. Although, it may be possible and we simply haven't discovered that it could incur in a single-universe. Although, few solutions have been answered. That being said I saw a possible solution to the grandfather paradox using quantum mechanics that you can read in the link below.

Supporting Evidence: Time Traveler Grandfather Paradox Solution (www.scientificamerican.com)
Side: No
Amarel(5669) Clarified
1 point

If accomplishing a given feat requires knowledge of how to do it, and we don't have that knowledge, then it's appropriate to say the feat IS not possible given current conditions but may be possible if conditions change. Or am I missing something?

EDIT: after re-reading the description I see it was asking if we can potentially find a way. Disregard this post, it's 3 am.

Side: Yes
daver(1771) Clarified
2 points

Srom our answer is shaped by your understanding of current capabilities.

IF we had a full understanding of the nature of time, do you think it would lead us to concluding that time travel is possible?

Side: Yes
3 points

I don't see how you can travel back to somewhere that no longer exists.

And the future doesn't exist yet, because the only way for that to be possible is for it also to be the present, but the future can not exist simultaneously with the present.

Simply put, you can't be ahead of time.

Side: No
Jace(5222) Clarified
3 points

That presumes a rather narrow conception of linear time, does it not?

Side: Yes
ProLogos(2794) Clarified
2 points

It doesn't.

Side: Yes
3 points

IMO you are correct. You cannot travel to a location that does not exist. The theory that there are multiple timeliness in multiple universes, each brought about by possible options of events is simply too improbable to gain serious acceptance. This is however the only current idea that would make time travel even possible. If every possible event that could occur spawns a new universe, after one second, the number of universes would already be infinite. In the next second that infinite number of universes would each spawn its own infinite number of universes. This quickly gets ridiculous when contrasted with the fact that scientific discovery nearly always finds that the truth is simple and elegant.

What we are left with is no series of past or future universes that we could navigate. No time travel.

Side: No
2 points

Not now. In the future? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But definitely not now.

Side: No
2 points

Not yet invented. Therefore not possible. But that might change in the future. But right now, it's not possible.

Side: No
1 point

No I don't think so. I have actually debated this with myself many time in the past my brain has personally approved no as the answer. I could probably think of millions of ways to prove that time travel is not possible, bot I am willing to listen to any one who can show me how it is possible. I need you to hang in there will I explain. Firstly (be imaginative on this one, its probably most complicated) if time travel were possible, there would have to be a moment for every millisecond that ever happened, which is a lot, and they would each keep repeating itself and infinitely creating new moments to replace those that have moved on. Also, if we had time travel we could go to places we weren't meant to be and mess up the events that could potentially effect free will. Last of all, if we used time travel, we would basically be reversing time and could also be bringing back the dead which is physically not possible and so if its not possible, then neither is time travel.

Side: No
1 point

Your description of time having to be like a series of shapshots, in order for us to move in time is a correct.

Time is not a series of stored moments, but rather the interval of the single and only, ever changing moment.

Side: No
1 point

I am not a physicist, I am a theorist. So if any ting I say, it's mostly in my own knowledge and that I can craft. Time travel is, in itself, a dream. A distant dream that is blocked by a large quantity of know laws of physics. But let me remind you that back in the day flight was all but impossible for humans, until two brothers who owned a bicycle shop showed the world. Time works in a mechanical motion, flowing forth in a constant. If you proceeded to stop time, then the world would ultimately become gradually still in a form of central position. If time travel is to be proven, then we must break this barrier. It's not a easy job, considering you alone have a limited life span, which in time would make you practically minuscule. So, how do you go back in time? Well, some people believe that you can copy and paste your self in a different reality, in which it began the amount of time you wish to travel from or what have you. To do this, we would have to leave THIS reality and move to another. If it was possible, it would open the door to a hidden dilemma. A paradox is the ultimate blue screen of death, it is mathematical conundrum that cannot be solved, a riddle to our existence we cannot solve, it is the end of the circle. If in any case you would remove to the back of time, then it would move continually. As long as you did not move, talk, eat, kill, or replace anything in the past, then the future will process normally. It will see you through a sequence. A- Person is born B- Person goes back in time before A C- person continues through life and makes a sequence to remove itself from B. This is pretty universal, but it's also a bit insane. So there, this is my first opinion on time travel. I believe that maybe 1 day we will be able to do so, but unless you can bitch-slap newton, I don't see time-travel possible. I hope this helps.

Side: No
1 point

If time travel was possible then why have we not seen anyone come here from the future? And before time travel exists, teleportation would need to exist because moving every single particle in your body to another place can be incredibly dangerous because if even one particle was to be misplaced you could have very serious problems. so moving all the particles to a different time as well as a different place would be even more dangerous.

Side: No
alliem2001(24) Clarified
1 point

If time travel was possible they why have we not seen anyone come here from the future?

Exactly.

Side: Yes

I think time travel is impossible. No one has the ability to go back or forward in time.

Side: No