The Problems of Time Travel

As I See the Problems of Time Travel

  First of all, is it even possible? Well, we seem to be traveling forward in time as we speak. So going from the present to the future is happening all the, well, …time. The operative words in that sentence are “seem to be”, and a whole philosophical discussion can proceed from there. But for our purposes, let’s just say that we are moving in a singular direction from present to future as we go about our daily lives. I will try to avoid, at least for the most part and for the sake of this discussion, the whole consciousness/persistent illusion aspect of reality that Einstein alluded to. So far, none of us knows how to turn this about and go back from whence we came, otherwise, you wouldn't find too many old people (or me) around.

  So, according to what we know today and what is possible according to Einstein’s theories, time travel might be possible but in one direction only. And that would be only from the here and now to the future. It would be a one way trip. To do so would require a lot of energy and travelling very fast. Caution: this sort of time travel should only be taken advantage of to avoid impending doom or unsavory present day circumstances; because everything and everyone you know and love will be dead and gone by the “time” you get to the end of your journey.

  Now let’s look at a somewhat misleading word in the whole time travel scenario. The word “travel” implies that you have to go somewhere…move from point A to point B. But we all know that I can just sit here going nowhere and stare at this screen, and, low and behold, the hands on the clock have moved whereas I haven’t. So to “travel” through time does not necessarily imply that motion is required. So the old adage, “Time waits for no man,” seems to apply. That would then imply that time is somehow this outside separate force of nature that moves on relentlessly whether we like it or not. But is it really? Is it something palpable like water flowing through a pipe, or electricity flowing through a wire? Is time flowing through the matter and plasma of the universe like some unstoppable river? In other words, when we say things like “space-time” what are we really saying?

  In the quantum physics realm these days the boundaries of the physical world are becoming more and more blurred. Matter itself is no longer seen as some solid particles that bounce around like billiard balls. Instead a sort of shadowy realm of infinite possibilities exists and only manifest into what we call reality when an observer is present. So if matter is only potential reality, what then is space? We usually think of space as all that emptiness in between the hard stuff (matter). But then what is this emptiness? The ancients used to call it the ether but that notion has pretty much fallen to the wayside. Now scientists are talking about dark matter and dark energy even though the only sign of it is that one of their pet theories doesn't seem to work without it. Space. Emptiness. Nothing. How can this nothing only sparsely populated by more ephemeral nothingness be wrapped up in another flowing invisible force we call time?

  My point here is that if all this outward stuff that we call the universe really only exist within our own perceptions, then perhaps time, too, is just a persistent illusion. So then, how do you travel through an illusion? It would seem, therefore, the only real way to travel through time would be somehow to remove your conscious perceptions from the here and now to somewhere else in the continuum. Not likely that this is possible. This sort of time travel however is free from the paradoxes created in sci-fi imagined time travel at least. It would be more like taking a light source and lighting up a particular piece of a long movie film strip. You might be able to be a witness to that part of the film and experience the illusion of time passing as you moved your consciousness from frame to frame. But you would not be able to alter the outcome of the film in any way. (Therein lays another whole discussion about predestination.)

  So will we ever be able to invent a time machine and, like H. G. Wells’ character, get in it and just go else-when?  I’m going with Stephen Hawking on this one. If we could, then we probably would have already been visited by many such time travelers (maybe even our own future selves) from the future just like Bill and Ted in their excellent adventure. But in spite of all this, I still love a good sci-fi time travel story.

Almost Home

Almost Home

 Do you know that feeling you get when you've been away for a while and then you get close to where you live? That "no place like" feeling that comes over you? That's not to say you didn't enjoy your getaway, or that travels are not often exhilarating and fun. Sometimes you have to be away whether you want to be or not. Or you just have to go to work and put in some long, tough hours doing things that you don't really want to do, or like to do, but find it necessary because, well, it's the only way you can come up with to keep that homestead of yours. I think most of us are familiar with that little sigh of relief moment; that lifting of a ton of bricks off your shoulders moment when you get close to your home. The one place in the world where you really want to be. "Home, where my thoughts escaping, Home, where my music's playing, Home, where my love lights waiting silently for me."  Yeah, that place. Well, that place for me is on that little road that you can just make out there on the right in that picture above. It's where I wish I was right now. The air seems so much freer there; so less troubled. Its one of the most relaxing places I've ever been. 

  I don't know what took me so long to get there. Life I guess. It has a funny way of twisting you about to and fro to places you didn't really want to go with people you didn't really want to be with. This little simple place in the picture above is where I should have been a long time ago. And there is still much that keeps me from it a good bit of the time. Right now I'm at the point in life where it seems I have more behind me than ahead. And sometimes, when I think about it, I get that same feeling of traveling and of being away from home way too long. When I get to the point where I can see the end of the road just ahead, I for one will sigh deeply and think, "Thank goodness, I'm almost there! Home at last." The journey has been a good one, all in all, but Home is where I really want to be.

  This Thursday, I'm getting on a plane (American Airlines--oh my!) and flying to San Diego, California to visit with my granddaughter. My wife and daughter are going with me. I'm so excited about the trip and can't wait to see our beautiful youngster and her husband again. Not to mention that I have never been that far west before and can't wait to see what it looks like. Making new memories, seeing new sights, eating at new restaurants, and meeting new people are always something I enjoy doing. But even now, I'm anticipating that moment when I drive down that little country road and get almost home. I hope that each and every one of you has such a place in your life where nothing else matters, and you can just be yourself.

Why Star Trek Worked

                                                                Why Star Trek Worked

  A topic to be sure that has been hashed to death by Trekkies the world over. Most will tell you its because of the positive spin the series put on the future of man on Earth. In the Federation, men and women live and work as equals regardless of race. Want has been abolished. We evidently will solve our energy crisis and over population (we can just send the excess somewhere else!). And here on Earth at least we all live as one big happy Americanized family.

  All that is true, I guess. Unlike movies like Blade Runner where the future looks quite dreary, or Alien where we seem to have been taken over by one large business conglomerate...likewise in Avatar...Star Trek makes the future look positively bright and hopeful. After all it is what science has been promising us all along---that they can answer all our questions and solve all of our problems eventually as long as we continue to pour our hard earned cash into it. There's is also a promise to stay one step ahead of their equal propensity for coming up with devices that can make us all extinct in one fell swoop.

  Anyway, what worked for me about Star Trek is something I don't see discussed quite as much. It was the dynamics between Kirk, Spock, and Bones. Spock represents the rational, scientific aspect of man devoid of emotion and those dreaded feelings. With Logic and a slide rule (computer) Spock intends to measure the universe and our place in it. Every action and every move has to be measured against the backdrop of pure logic. Bones aka Dr. McCoy, on the other hand, represents emotions and feelings. "Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor, not an engineer." Logic does not guide Bones. Feelings are all important. What do you feel and how would you feel in his shoes are the principal questions that guide his every move. There's no place for the rational, logical world view of Spock in McCoy's eyes and vice versa.

  James Tiberius Kirk on the other hand represented the perfect blending of the two (except when he let his libido take control). Captain Kirk always approached every decision logically but balanced that logic against his own very human feelings and ultimately did what felt right. Therein lies the lesson of Star Trek. If we veer too far off the course and embrace one or the other extremes of the things that make us human, we might just find ourselves adrift like a ship with no sail or rudder. This same dynamic played out on Captain Picard's Enterprise as well with Data (logic), Counselor Troy (Feelings/Emotions) and Picard (blending of the two).

  In this day and ever increasing secular age, I worry that we may be drifting ever so slowly towards a modern man that will be too much Spock and not enough Dr. McCoy. I for one think that, if that day ever comes, where we go too far in that direction, mankind will be lost. There will definitely be no place in such a world for poets and dreamers like you and me.

The Simple Things

 

   The Simple Things

  

  How do you stay positive when the whole world sometimes seems to be circling the drain? When I focus on the news of the day, politics, the next crisis just over the horizon, and all the terrible things brought to me live and in color on the daily news shows, it is hard to keep a positive attitude. Knowledge of the world can be very depressing. Is the answer to shut it out completely, do my best imitation of an ostrich, stick my fingers in my ears? That's the course I see many of my friends taking. They simply don't want to know about anything that might disturb them. Sometimes, I am a little jealous of their ability to do that. They seem like happy, peaceful people. So, is ignorance bliss? I guess if you can pull it off it may be. But I don't seem to be one of those that can. I've never been able to completely ignore current events. When I've tried it, I get that uneasy feeling like I've forgotten something. You know that feeling like, "Did I leave the stove on? Did I lock my car door before I came into the house?" Yeah, that feeling that something is just not right. So, yes, I like a little warning before I wake up one morning with a stormtrooper in my house pointing an automatic rifle at my head demanding I turn over all my weapons, demanding I watch only CNN, stay off the internet, and eat my genetically modified breakfast, or else I will be brought to prison without being charged with a crime, without access to a lawyer or a phone, and where I will be waterboarded until I confess to something I didn't do. Call me paranoid, but I would like just a little heads-up before something like that happens to me.

  So how do you stay positive when so many negative things are swirling all around you? Personally, I tend to employ three different methods to keep myself informed yet positive in outlook. I don't rely on all three at the same time, and sometimes I lean more heavily on one strategy more than the others. Method one is to focus on the little things in my life. I love to sit on our deck in the morning and drink my coffee with my wife. I find much pleasure and peace watching the birds feeding and squirrels frolicking about running up and down the tall pines. A cool breeze, the soft sound of tinkling wind chimes, the buzz of a passing hummingbird all make the cares of the world seem not quite so important or ominous. Walking through the woods and by the lake can do wonders for freeing the spirit of negative things. So method number one is all about appreciating the little things that we often take for granted.

  Method number two is where I try to focus on more grandiose things. I look at the bigger picture of history, the world, and the universe. I often let my mind wander through the universe and imagine what I might find out there. The majesty of the stars at night is breathtaking and reminds me how small and petty human endeavors are compared to the infinity of the cosmos. I am humbled by the thought of how all of humanity and all our endeavors may only be a small footnote in the history of the universe. The Bible says human life is a vapor - here one moment and gone the next. Pondering infinity then seems to do the trick at times and gets my mind off of my worries and fears about the future.

  Method number three perhaps is the one that many rely on, and it may surprise many of my friends that I do too. I lay my burdens on Jesus. My faith is not a crutch as some have argued. If it is, then it is a crutch worth having. For it gives me peace of mind above all else. My faith was not given to me in some inspirational flash when I was at my weakest moment. It was not the result of peer pressure or brainwashing. I grew up without the benefit of such things. I grew up in a Godless environment, and my family didn't even own a Bible. And the subject never came up. My faith was obtained through conscious choices when I got old enough to read and study what my options were. I looked at all the possibilities, weighed all the evidence, or lack thereof, and after much consideration, I just decided to choose faith because the alternative worldview was just too bleak to desire at all. I was overjoyed to find that once I made my choice, Jesus chose me to be part of him as well and filled me with a peaceful spirit. I still see all the negative things that happen and keep happening in the world. I still feel the impact of them on my life and my consciousness. But now I have a shield that keeps those things from fundamentally changing or damaging who I am. Besides, all the negative things in the world such as evil men or evil spirits can only kill my body once. But now, I no longer fear even death because of my faith which provides a peaceful refuge from the world. So in the big picture with my faith as my shield, I can stay positive in the face of all the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." And I highly recommend you at least give my three methods a try with the greatest emphasis on method number three. I hope you will give it careful consideration as a means for holding on to your sanity and your soul in the face of so much negativity in the world today.

First Time

Recognizing a good story when you see one is not always easy if you let your own prejudices and convictions get in the way. Samuel Ben White has a good story to tell. He puts a lot of what is near and dear to his own heart into his time travel adventures. Is the writing perfect? No. Is the science behind the time travel valid? Some would argue that time travel is not and never will be possible. But that’s why they call it science fiction. Jules Verne’s sci-fi stories seemed totally outrageous at the time. But many of his fanciful conjectures are reality now. My creative writing instructor in college always told me to write about what you know. I always thought that was good advice. I’ve read sci-fi since the fifties growing up with Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke. So when I decided to do some writing, I naturally chose sci-fi as the genre for my stories since that is what I knew best. Is the science in my stories totally one hundred percent accurate? No, probably not. Most of what makes my story sci-fi is pure speculation on my part. But that’s what makes this genre so exciting to me. I am a big fan of “What if?”

  Samuel Ben White is a Christian Minister so he chose to write about what he knows best. I for one can’t fault him for that. Hard core sci-fi fans won’t like my stories any more than his. Should we have both just kept them to ourselves for that reason? No way! I can’t speak for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. White’s time travel adventures. I was also totally intrigued by his portrayal of “Marcus”. Oh, how it made me wish I had a friend like that! As I read about him, I realized finally that I already did. So if Mr. White reached no one else with his work of fiction, he reached me. And that, my friends, was well worth the effort. I just hope that my own story will reach at least one person profoundly as his did me, and that one person will look up from the pages of my book (overlooking the little boo boos here and there) and say, “Wow, what if?”

Pointing out the Truth

OK, so you think you’re doing the right thing when you begin to explain to your  friends or even the people on your facebook friends list the geo-political facts-of-life, the truth about how the world really works and how the The Powers That Be surreptitiously finesse our thinking through mass media. And you explain how they control our countries through their banking systems with mountains of debt.

  "Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws." -Mayer Rothschild

"Whomsoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce, and when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depressions originate." - James Garfield

Unfortunately within a few weeks of slamming the moneychangers with the above statement, President James Garfield was assassinated.

 Feeling good about informing your friends about the truth, to your surprise, they get angry with you. You’ve violated their comfort zone. How dare you ruin their perfect day with the facts! You’re a depressing naysayer, a downer, a negative Nelly who characterizes himself as an intellectual. We don’t like intellectuals. Hey look at the guys we usually elect to lead us. Are they college professors? Rocket scientists? Of course not. We don’t want smart people that are going to tell us the truth all the time. We like to be coddled and lied to so we can go on with our daily lives thinking everything is okay, turn on the TV and forget about the real world. Even our “reality” shows are fake.

 So I promise I won't rock the boat anymore. I won't interrupt you and shake up your studied complacency. It’s not my job. I will leave you to your dream land and let come what may. But when the wolves come knocking at your door, you will have to forgive me if I hesitate in giving aid just long enough to say I told you so.