I hate stats.
I really hate stats.
I truly hate stats.
I sincerly hope that all Stats topics would burn in a very hot place.
I hate stats.
I abhor stats.
I walked home yesterday because I missed my bus and I needed some exercise as well. I was walking along the pavement outside Revenue House and then a bunch of tree branches fell and landed about 1 metre in front of me. Had I walked at a slightly faster speed, it would have landed right on me. I was intrigued by this minor incident. To be more exact, I was intrigued by time.
You see, like I said earlier, the branches would have landed on me if I walked faster. Then again, if I did not do some pull-ups with my friends after the paper and went straight home instead, walking at the same speed along the same path, I would have been hit by the branches. Or, if I did not go to the toilet after the paper, did not do the pull ups and went straight home, I would have caught my bus and ride it home. Then I would not know about the branches falling down and I would not be here writing about it. Its pretty interesting to see how a few minutes can alter a small part of your life. And a large part of it as well in some cases.
The mysteries of time. How fascinating.
Lots of us think we know what time is, but it is hard to define. You can not literally see or touch time, but you can see its effects. The evidence that we are moving through time is found in everything -- our bodies age, buildings weather and crumble, trees grow. Most of us feel the pressure of time as we are pushed to meet deadlines and make appointments. Our lives are often dictated by what time we need to be somewhere.
Wouldn't it be great if we could control time and travel to it. The possibilities are infinite. We can do a gazillion and one things if we ever get our hands on time travelling technology. However, unfortunately, I believe I won't be able to witness such marvels during my lifetime. Well, I guess I have nothing much to lose because I also believe future generations might not be able to witness is either. Perhaps those 'very future' generations might but definitely not those 'near future' ones.
There are simply too many problems accompanying time travel if it is possible and these problems are often unsolvable. If I am born in 1988, how can I exist in say, 1955? Lets look at this scenario: I, the smartest kick-ass genius in the whole world, created a time machine while I am still in year 2006, struggling to get through my prelims and A levels. I travelled all the way back to year 0001 A.D. I saw my ultra-super-hyper great grandfather, assuming I have the ability to, and I killed him. Now that he is dead, will I still exist? If yes, then we will have this extremely complicated paradox. How is it possible that I can continue to exist since the source of my ancestry, my ultra grandfather, is dead? It wouldn't make sense would it? Then again, if I cease to exist, do I simply just vanish into thin air? Where would I go to? What will become of me? How about the rest of my family? How about my other dead family members? Therefore, if we just change abit, a tiny weeny bit, of the past, an infinite amount of paradoxes might be created as well. Besides, if I created the time machine in 2006, can it really bring me back to 0001? Can it even bring me back to 2005?
The above mentioned paradox is known as the grandfather paradox to the scientists who are trying to work out the mysteries of time now.
Another theory regarding time travel brings up the idea of parallel universes, or alternative histories. Let's say that I did travel back to meet my ultra grandfather. In the theory of parallel universes, I may have traveled to another universe, one that is similar to ours, but has a different succession of events. For instance, if I were to really kill my ultra grandfather, or any other ancestors, I've only killed that person in one universe, which is no longer the universe that I exist in. And if I then try to travel back to my own time, I may end up in another parallel universe and never be able to get back to the universe I started in.
The idea here is that every action causes the creation of a new universe, and that there are an infinite number of universes that exist. When I killed my ancestor, I created a new universe, a universe that was identical to my own up until the time I changed the original succession of events.
Confused yet? Welcome to the world of time travel. Just imagine how complicated the ticket prices will be.
Actually, most of us may not have realise it but we are all we are all time travelers. As you sit at your desk, doing nothing more than reading my blog, time is traveling around you. The future is constantly being transformed into the past with the present only lasting for a fleeting moment. Everything that you are doing right now is quickly moving into the past, which means we continue to move through time.
The mysteries of time travel. How fascinating.
Gosh, I could keep going on haha. Can't help it. This kinda of things are my favourite topic.
All in all, no one has successfully demonstrated time travel, but no one has been able to rule it out either. So perhaps I shall be a little bit more optimistic.
"Time is resistant to simple definition.'' - Carl Sagan
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