Problem with time travel is that the planet moves at a considerable speed, so you need to catch up or sit in empty space where earth is going to be in x years..
Seriously.... when you are simply standing in one spot on the planet and not trying to move, does the planet suddenly move away from under you?
So, why would it do so if you were in a time machine that didn't move itself through space either?
Yes, its obvious that travelling through time means travelling through space, but either way the earth is just going to carry you along with it, so as far as the immediate environment is concerned, you don't actually seem to move at all.
It is much worse than that, the whole solar system will be far far away.
However, if we go with the rather speculative theories for time travel that could perhaps work... Those involve travelling to a region with very strange geometry, perhaps next to a black hole, and then back again. It will also be a continuous process, not a teleport-like jump. Any problems relating to the position of the Earth are insignificant compared to those of getting to the black hole and back.
Teleport-like time travel would seem to require an underlying absolute position. The universe does not have that.
Enjoy outer space (Score:2)
Problem with time travel is that the planet moves at a considerable speed, so you need to catch up or sit in empty space where earth is going to be in x years..
Re: (Score:2)
Why?
Seriously.... when you are simply standing in one spot on the planet and not trying to move, does the planet suddenly move away from under you?
So, why would it do so if you were in a time machine that didn't move itself through space either?
Yes, its obvious that travelling through time means travelling through space, but either way the earth is just going to carry you along with it, so as far as the immediate environment is concerned, you don't actually seem to move at all.
Re: Enjoy outer space (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: Enjoy outer space (Score:2)
It is much worse than that, the whole solar system will be far far away.
However, if we go with the rather speculative theories for time travel that could perhaps work... Those involve travelling to a region with very strange geometry, perhaps next to a black hole, and then back again. It will also be a continuous process, not a teleport-like jump. Any problems relating to the position of the Earth are insignificant compared to those of getting to the black hole and back.
Teleport-like time travel would seem to require an underlying absolute position. The universe does not have that.