Time travel is a notion that involves movement between specific areas in time
Technological advancements have necessitated rapid changes across all sectors, with some utilizing technology in unearthing some of the world’s mysteries. A particular example is that of time and the extent of manipulation that time can illustrate. Time travel had been alluded plausible with research trying to discover technicalities that hinder its progress and the success it requires to achieve. This paper aims to focus on time travel, the technology involved in time travel and the paradoxes that have come about as a result of the search for successful time travel. In explaining the essence of time travel, I aim to showcase the benefits of time travel and the work that is involved in it.
Time travel is a notion that involves movement between specific areas in time, similar to motions between different sites in space by machines or by individuals. Essentially, it involves the utilization of machines referred to as time machines that traverse the two areas to make the time travel possible. Time travel is possible as the time travelled in satellites and the current time for people on land differ (NASA science). However, it is yet to be made successful in terms of utilizing a time machine to hop into the past, a concept usually infused in a fictional representation of time travelling. Another example can be linked to the use of telescopes in the viewing of stars and galaxies. These stars and galaxies are located very far away from the earth but in viewing them through the telescope, we are viewing the objects as they were years ago. The light from the objects takes a long period to reach earth thus the objects viewed are not in the same current position they are, just as they were in the past (NASA science). Albert Einstein made the concept easier by introducing the theory of relativity in which he interlinked time and space. In his explanation, he elaborated that the speed of light is the fastest that can be experienced at 186,000 miles per hour, such that the faster someone is travelling the slower time would be experienced. GPS utilizes the concept of time travel to guide people around areas, as the satellites that provide information are orbiting the earth at very fast speeds (around 12,550 miles) that makes the satellite time to be higher by a small margin. Scientists use mathematic calculations to correct the discrepancies and keep the two times spaces aligned, such that information sent by the GPS locators aligns with the time search of the receiver (NASA science).
The grandfather paradox is a complex situation that arises if the time travel is made a possibility and the individual involved in the travelling alters something in the past that consequently triggers the happening of the future. The contradiction of alterations in the past cause a trigger effect on the future occurrences even mundane as the action may be regarded (Motherboard staff). A definitive example can be made in say an individual travelled back in time, against the flawed nature of time travel and killed their grandfather before he can sire any child, the father to the individual. Then the possibility of the individual being present in the future diminishes as there are no biological factors to factor in the lineage of the individual. The inconsistencies are, however, not just limited to the killing of an individual as they can arise due to any describable shifts in the past nature. With the possibility of time travelling still being flawed from a myriad of actions, like the stabilization of a wormhole or the ability to travel faster than the speed of light, the paradox remains largely saturated with research and investigations. The paradox is thus highly unsolvable terming it the grandfather paradox. Many possible explanations have been made in a bid to understand the paradox but no universal explanation has been agreed upon to offer further clarity (Motherboard staff).
the need to elaborate more about the grandfather paradox, David Lewis came up with a solution to give clearer information on the paradox. In explanation, the story of Tim goes back to 1920 to kill his grandfather who he hates so much, despite it being known that the grandfather dies in 1957 in his sleep of natural causes. The contradiction thus comes about if Tim does indeed kill his grandfather or if he doesn’t kill him. An argument A Tim can kill his grandfather in B he can’t kill his grandfather (Time Travel). David Lewis’s solution instigates the relative use of the word can, in that in some context the word can be true and in others, the word can be false. He is quoted saying, “To say that something can happen means that its happening is compossible with certain facts”. In his defence, he instigates the belief that ‘a can do b’ is possible in a certain context D, if and only if ‘a’s doing b’ is in agreement with certain opinions consistent with D. Tim can thus only do relative to one set of opinions either A or B, he cannot do relative to the other set. Both sets of facts have to be in the same context soundly to form justified contradiction. Lewis has shown the two sets of possibilities can both be justified but in the end, he is definitive in his argument that the two have not formed a satisfactory contradiction (Time Travel).
David Lewis’ solution to the grandfather paradox is convincing in all the frameworks utilized in explaining. Lewis has justified that the time traveller, Tim can kill his grandfather and at the same time he cannot possibly accomplish the feat. Tim may have everything necessary to kill his grandfather from the perfect setting with no intrusion to the item of choice for killing him, the rifle gun. He can thus kill him but in essence, the time traveller still exists. If the grandfather gets killed in 1920 then how does he get to be recorded in death by natural causes in 1957? (Time Travel). Therefore, the grandfather may encounter Tim as he kills him but he would survive. The past has already occurred and it becomes hard to change chronologically events that have occurred, if the death of grandfather gets recorded in 1957 then he is bound to survive till then and die as the past dictates. Tim is thus unable to kill grandfather owing to his already existing and the chronologies of the past events. Contradictory statements that people seemingly insinuate derived from the terminologies ‘can’ and ‘cannot‘ do not necessitate a contradiction in essence as the terms refer to different things (Time Travel).
Time travel remains largely a wide scope with much intermittent research infringed within. The grandfather paradox that mostly clouds the ulterior possibilities of time travel has received concerning research not just by David Lewis but by other researchers as well such as John Caroll. Most of the solutions given however are known to have flawed inconsistencies that still need to be looked at and defined accurately. It thus makes the paradox to remain roughly undescribed fully in a means of explaining the extent covered. Aside from the grandfather paradox mechanisms needed to make actual-time travelling, the movement of an individual or organism from one position in the present to a time in the past is yet to be made conclusively possible. With the limits set by natural circumstances hindering the possibility, more is needed in the manner of research and creation to build accomplished mannerisms to make time travelling to the past possible. The question however largely remains whether the possibility of time travelling would be advantageous or cause more harm in the process.