Back in Time

Einstein’s time dilation theory teaches that traveling forward in time is possible. Scientists have tested this theory on small scales, like with subatomic particles. It has proven sound. Today the formulas for time dilation are worked into our GPS systems, which wouldn’t perform accurately without them. All this bodes well for traveling forward in time. However, is it possible to travel back in time (at least in theory)?

I have heard a TED Talks expert claim that traveling back in time is just a natural progression of the existing time dilation formula. It goes something like this. As one approaches the speed of light, time gradually slows down. When the speed of light is reached, time utterly stops. When one exceeds the speed of light, one reverses course and travels back in time.

This “reverse time travel” leads to all sorts of discussion about parallel physical universes, which I found entertaining to play with. The claim is that if one were to travel back, whatever s/he does in the past might seriously unsettle life in the present. To avoid such tampering, the time traveler will have to enter a double of our universe.

Despite all the fun in my intellectual sandbox, I bear serious doubts about parallel physical universes. Usually, when I encounter a deep idea, I try to see if it’s mentioned or even hinted at in the Torah, as I understand it. I never encountered as much as a hint of this idea anywhere in my Torah studies. Admittedly, this alone doesn’t mean much. It’s very silly for me to think that I know even a tiny drop of the Torah given to humans, let alone its counterpart which still lingers in the mind of God. Still, if this step is missing I am left wondering.

Next, I began to question of which is less complicated issue, (a) to deal with the possible problems in the present caused by a time traveler tampering with the past or (b) to create a whole new physical universe just to accommodate someone who has traveled back in time?

Certainly, creating a whole new universe sounds like a far more complicated alternative. This is true even if staying in the same universe would alter the present shocking ways - such as people suddenly appearing or disappearing before our very eyes; because of who was or wasn’t born as a result of the new causes planted in our universe’s past.

However, as my younger daughter pointed out to me, these shocking complications do not necessarily have to be. Let’s say someone traveled to the past. Whatever, s/he did is already incorporated into our past. It is after all the past! As a result, our present has already accounted for it. Perhaps, the only remaining complication to consider is what if a traveler where to meet his/her younger self. Under those conditions would they still be two separate human beings, sort of like identical twins, or would they be one consciousness/soul operating through two bodies?

Even though a less complicated scenario is not an automatic indication of a true scenario, with all else being equal, it’s probably a more likely one. Therefore, I feel that it should at least be accorded first consideration.

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