COMPLETE THE CIRCLE - Chapter 8

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Chapter 8

 DEREK CARL’S CHRONOLOGY REPORT

An interview with a top scientist about the possibilities of time travel

DEREK CARL: So, before we talk about the possibilities of time travel, I’d like to ask you straight – are you someone we should be taking really seriously, or are you one of those geeks who likes boasting to the world he’s successfully built a time machine, but then is unable to produce any evidence?

SCIENTIST: You can take me either way. I like to think of myself as a chronologist who’s more than just an expert on cosmological physics. Let’s just say I’m a person who’s familiar with the subject of chronology…

DEREK CARL: Can you explain to us all what chronology is?

SCIENTIST: A chronologist is someone who is an expert on the subject of time, or to give it its correct term, chronology. Now here you can, of course, take me as one of those geeks you describe, but I am perfectly serious about my field. Accordingly, I’d like to think that those who are interested in reading this on the subject of time are also perfectly serious in reading to what I’m going to say. If you’re not interested, then, of course, you don’t have to. But if we go back to 1895 when Lord Kelvin openly declared to the world that heavier than air flying machines were impossible, well, we all know what happened shortly after that. Today, in the 21^st century, there are many eminent scientists who say that time travel is impossible. But I believe it can be done. I’m here today not simply to say to you all ‘Look everyone, I’ve invented a time machine’ or ‘I can build a time machine’, but to draw attention to the possibilities of such a concept.

DEREK CARL: Okay… so, before we go into all the details, perhaps for the benefit of those reading this to be able to understand this… this whole concept, we should perhaps ask you to explain, what exactly is… time?

SCIENTIST: Well, that’s a good question. In fact, scientists still can’t really explain what the concept of time is. Albert Einstein’s interpretation was that time is simply what a clock reads, and this was a belief that was held well into the twentieth century. But that clock could be the rotation of a planet, a metronome, water falling at a constant speed from one container to another with measurements, a digital or analog watch, or simply your pulse.

DEREK CARL: So time is a constant – it’s fixed. It’s not a thing that we can control, alter or manipulate to our own devices.

SCIENTIST: Only if it’s not subject to external forces.

DEREK CARL: Could you explain what you mean by that?

SCIENTIST: Certainly. You have to believe that time is well and truly linked with the three dimensions of space. There’s length – how long something is; breadth – how wide something is; and thickness. The fourth dimension – well, we would call time that fourth dimension. Anything that happens, any kind of activity however big or small, however miniscule or gargantuan it is that is conducted at any given point, happens at a particular point in space and a particular point in time. We call this space-time. Now, this space-time can be distorted by the gravity of large objects such as stars, and as a result it moves more slowly. As I mentioned earlier, until comparatively recently, everyone believed that time was simply just there – it exists, it’s constant, it’s absolute. One second that passes for me is the same second that passes for you. But it was proved that time is simply relative. That means that your time and my time are not the same, as we occupy different positions in space and we move differently.

DEREK CARL: Hang on, don’t we both occupy this same room? And at the very same time? And what about our readers? They’re all reading this at the very same time, aren’t they?

SCIENTIST: Well, you and I do occupy the same room, of course, but we are sitting in two different positions, just as everyone else around us today is occupying a different position around the world. But as far as looking at it in terms of actual space, well, they’re all at different points. We, for example, are not actually occupying the same space. You are over there, and I’m over here.

DEREK CARL: Could you give us an example that would be better understood? Can you prove that my time and your time, my space and your space, are really that different?

SCIENTIST: Yes. For example, if I were to take a plane from San Francisco to Sydney and back, and put an atomic clock on board – the most accurate timekeeping device we have on this planet which is accurate to several milliseconds – and someone in San Francisco also had a similar clock fixed there, and we had them both set at exactly the same time just before I departed, I would find that, when comparing those same clocks upon my return, I would discover that I had, in fact, actually lost a few nanoseconds of time. This shows that the time interval between two events is not fixed. This is what we call ‘time-warping’!

DEREK CARL: Well, flying by plane to lose just a few fractions of a second doesn’t amount to much as regards time travel, does it? And certainly you couldn’t surely measure the difference between the two of us sitting here in this room?

SCIENTIST: Obviously not – you’re really talking about absolute milliseconds, nanoseconds, in that situation, a millionth of a millionth of a millionth of a second as far as difference is concerned. But what the plane experiment proved is that Einstein’s theory of relatively – perhaps the most famous equation ever, E = mc squared, was absolutely correct. Your time and mine can get out of step if we move differently. The effect becomes greater the faster we travel. For example, if we were able to approach the speed of light which travels at around 186,000 miles a second, the time dilation effect on the ship would mean that, on a one-year trip, you’d return many years further into the Earth’s future. This does mean, in effect, that it is theoretically possible to travel forward in time, but not backwards.

DEREK CARL: So you’re saying that if we want to travel around the galaxy like in Star Trek, for example, it’s impossible because every time we go to warp speed we only end up traveling into the future?

SCIENTIST: That’s basically correct as far as known physics is concerned. And as far as known physics is concerned, it is impossible to travel faster than light.

DEREK CARL: So you are saying that time travel is impossible.

SCIENTIST: Many eminent scientists say it’s only theory. There are many who say it can be done.

DEREK CARL: And what about traveling beyond light speed?

SCIENTIST: As I said, the facts say we can’t, but scientists have learned never to say can’t as far as physics is concerned.

DEREK CARL: So are you about to tell us that you believe you could build a faster-than-light space ship or even a time machine?

SCIENTIST: Not a ship as we would understand it that can travel at such speeds, no. As I said, it would close to impossible.

DEREK CARL: Why is that?

SCIENTIST: Well, the problem is, that, when the mass of anything – our time machine, space craft, or even a simple atom – has to travel at such speeds, it requires additional power from somewhere to power it to that speed. That, in turn, would increase its mass – that’s the amount of physical matter that it is made up of. The faster you go, the more power you will need, and the more the mass of your machine will increase as you take on board the extra energy required to get that extra power. As you approach the speed of light you would require an enormous power source. And as we further increase the power, we further increase the mass, and by the time we reach the speed of light we’d need an infinite amount of power stored in an infinitely large mass. In a nutshell, light speed requires an infinite amount of power. To put it in more laymen’s terms, even if we were able to reach 99 per cent of light speed we would need around 2000 years output from the Earth’s entire energy supply!

DEREK CARL: So you’re saying that traveling across space to other planets and galaxies in a short time is impossible.

SCIENTIST: As regards our current thinking and the known physical laws are concerned, I’m afraid so.

DEREK CARL: And the same for time travel?

SCIENTIST: We can do that, if you remember–

DEREK CARL: Ah yes, that it’s theoretically possible to travel a very short distance forward in time with what we have today – a few milliseconds. But not back, right?

SCIENTIST: By this means, correct, but I believe not impossible by another means.

DEREK CARL: Another method? So you are saying a time machine is in fact possible?

SCIENTIST: Theoretically, yes.

DEREK CARL: So how would such a machine work?

SCIENTIST: Well, I’ve been studying this subject for some considerable time now, and I’ve also made copious notes about it. I honestly believe the theory behind such a machine is sound. The problem is that there are elements missing. There are parts of the overall equation that I alone am unable to solve. It’s difficult to go into those finer points but if there’s anyone out there, reading this blog who is serious enough to assist me further, well, I’ll certainly show them some of the details. I would be interested to talk to them.

DEREK CARL: But surely you can give us some idea as to how such a machine would work, even if it’s not by traveling at light speed?

SCIENTIST: Well, we have to go back to this notion of interstellar travel. I believe it is possible to do it through a wormhole in space – a gateway, or stargate, if you like, a bridge, a tunnel that links two separate parts of the universe and time.

DEREK CARL: A wormhole?

SCIENTIST: Yes. It’s a particular kind of black hole – well, two black holes, in fact, that are linked together by a bridge. If you enter the right one, it can take you to another time – or even another part of our universe.

DEREK CARL: And what is a black hole?

SCIENTIST: Well, it’s the result of the death of a very large star, a star that’s so big its gravity is several times stronger than our sun. When it dies, that immense gravity it has will make it collapse in on itself, making itself smaller and smaller until eventually it has a finite thickness – it’s like having a pancake so thin it’s impossible to measure. This has now become a black hole. Now, that black hole’s gravity is so powerful even light can’t escape from it. Some of those holes are spinning: these are holes that haven’t collapsed to a point, but have become ‘spinning rings’, with centrifugal forces that keep it from collapsing totally.

DEREK CARL: So where can we find these particular… spinning black holes?

SCIENTIST: That’s one of those subjects I still have to try and find out. But cosmological scientists are certain they do exist, but they’re not what you’d imagine. It’ll take a while to explain.

DEREK CARL: So are you going to build a machine that’s able to cross one of these wormholes… one of these bridges? To basically travel through time?

SCIENTIST: I’d like to think that it would be possible. I’m not saying I’m the man who can build such a thing or that I would even do so. I’m not one of those people who claim to have built time machines and actually traveled, but certainly no one has done so by the methods I’ve mentioned.

DEREK CARL: So why haven’t these guys who claim to have built successful time machines saying anything, then?

SCIENTIST: Derek, am I someone you should take seriously or some kind of crazy fantasist? Perhaps there are people out there who really did invent such a device, and perhaps they have attempted to tell the world. But no journalist in their right mind would believe them without absolute proof. It's rather like claiming you've seen aliens. And frankly, I don’t think any of them have managed to prove anything because I don’t believe they have absolute proof… I don’t know, I haven’t spoken to any of them about it, I haven’t honestly met anyone with a creditable name who’s claimed to have done so.

DEREK CARL: Do you plan to build such a machine?

SCIENTIST: To be frank, if you really want me to give you an absolutely affirmative answer, then I may as well cart myself off to some kind of secure institution. I‘m still several years away from even constructing such a device – should I decide to do so - maybe even in my entire lifetime I might not get that far. But I might be able to help those to get closer to the answer.

DEREK CARL: Well, I can’t say I’ve managed to actually grasp all that you’ve said today, and I’d love to talk to you more on the subject, but thank you very much for allowing me to talk to you.

SCIENTIST: My pleasure.

And with that, after reading it aloud to himself from his laptop, Carl Pickover pressed publish. His blog, featuring a mock interview with himself, was now available for the world to read. As to how many would read it, he would have thought that was probably going to be pretty minimal. After all, he felt, he wrote this just to get a few things off his chest even if it was not particularly important. But he liked the title, Derek Carl’s Chronology Report, using his first two names as a synonym. It would be at least a week before many of the Internet search engines would find it, so if he expected any kind of response, it would not be for some time yet.

Chapter 9 >