Friday 18 February 2022

Arriving Late

See Havig's Travels.

The main point here was just that when we imagine "traveling through time," we should not start to think of two times as if they were two places coexisting at the same time. If I leave London half an hour after you and we travel at the same speed, then I will arrive in New York half an hour after you whereas, if I leave 2022 half an hour after you, then I am not obliged to arrive in 2021 half an hour after you! - but I have heard such assumptions made when discussing time travel. By traveling too slowly through space, I can arrive at my destination half an hour later than I had intended to but I cannot, by traveling too slowly through time, arrive at four o'clock tomorrow afternoon half an hour later than I had intended to. And so on. Discussions of time travel soon become incoherent because people forget that they are talking about times, not places.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And my head, metaphorically speaking, hurts trying to make sense of time traveling! (Smiles)

Ad astra! Sean