History of Time Travel

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	Revision 19 . . (edit) October 28, 2001 6:43 am by Dachshund [linked "exotic matter"]
	Revision 18 . . October 28, 2001 6:38 am by Jagged [Changed Timemaster's author to Dr. Robert L. Forward, there is another SF author named Robert Forward.]
	Revision 17 . . October 28, 2001 3:51 am by The ansible [expanded a bit on wormholes, someone could explain it better though...]
	Revision 16 . . October 27, 2001 12:13 pm by (logged).34.161.xxx [added Niven's "proof" of the impossibility of time travel]
	Revision 15 . . October 27, 2001 11:25 am by Eean [clarified some points, organized page]
	Revision 14 . . (edit) October 8, 2001 9:45 am by Eean [Only some of the solutions of relativity require the universe to be different]
	Revision 13 . . (edit) October 7, 2001 8:46 am by Eean [Another reason of why studying time travel is useful]
	Revision 12 . . August 9, 2001 9:07 pm by Andy Leighton

Difference (from prior major revision) (minor diff, author diff)

Changed: 8c8

Creating a wormhole of useful size, keeping it stable, and moving one end if it around would require significant energy, many orders of magnitude more than the sun can produce in it's lifetime. Construction of a wormhole would also require the existence of a substance known as 'exotic matter', which, while its existence is not impossible, there is not evidence that it does in fact exist. Therefore it is unlikely such a device will be ever constructed, even with highly advanced technology.

Creating a wormhole of useful size, keeping it stable, and moving one end if it around would require significant energy, many orders of magnitude more than the sun can produce in it's lifetime. Construction of a wormhole would also require the existence of a substance known as '[exotic matter]?', which, while its existence is not impossible, there is not evidence that it does in fact exist. Therefore it is unlikely such a device will be ever constructed, even with highly advanced technology.

Changed: 29c29

Example: You have a device that can send a single bit of information back to itself at a precise moment in time. You receive a bit at 10:00:00 PM, then no bits for thirty seconds after that. If you send a bit back to 10:00:00 PM, everything works fine. However, if you try to send a bit to 10:00:15 PM (a time at which no bit was received), your transmitter will mysteriously fail. Or your dog will distract you for fifteen seconds. Or your transmitter will appear to work, but as it turns out your receiver failed at exactly 10:00:15 PM. Etc, etc. An excellent example of this kind of universe is found in Timemaster, a novel by [Robert Forward]?.