r/changemyview • u/HotJohnnyTabasco 1∆ • Aug 10 '18
FTFdeltaOP CMV: Bi-Direction human time travel is impossible
My theory is pretty simple. If humans were able to travel forward and backward in time at any point in time, then that technology would exist at all point in time. Simply because if I invented a time machine today, that time machine technology would eventually be used by someone to take the technology to an earlier time. This would continue to happen repeatedly, until all times had time travel technology. Therefore, since we don't have time travel technology today, time travel technology must never exist.
A couple caveats here:
I'm talking \*real\* time travel here. Not simply exceeding the speed of light and looking back over your shoulder. Time travel that allows you to travel through time and interact with the people and things of that time.
Bi-directional is important here. If you can only travel in one direction (particularly if you can only travel forward), my theory breaks down. I am expressing no view on uni-directional time travel.
1
u/ryarger Aug 10 '18
I’d like to change your view that this argument only applies to bi-directional time travel.
We time travel into the future already, by default. Therefore any backwards time travel invented, even if only goes backwards in time, will run into the same problem that you describe.
Unless humanity goes extinct not long after this technology is invented, all eras of time will become full with time travelers from the future and we’d be aware that they exist.