Time Travelers Disappeared in 3025: A Potential Scientific Predicament
In a groundbreaking study published in the preprint journal arXiv, Andrew Jackson, a research associate from the School of Informatics, has proposed a theory that could challenge our understanding of time travel.
Jackson, who has previously worked at Gizmodo and Paste, is a writer and editor with a focus on sci-fi and the workings of the world. His latest study explores reasons beyond the scientific or technological as to why time travel appears to be impossible.
The crux of Jackson's theory revolves around the continuous timeline change in his model. Statistically, this would create a timeline where time travel was never invented. The new theory suggests that time travel creates its own destruction by introducing instability into certain realities. If time machines introduce temporal instability, then timelines will default to the most stable state, which would be a timeline with no time machines at all.
This concept is reminiscent of classical physics, where objects always return to their most stable state. For example, hot coffee will eventually cool down to room temperature. Jackson's study uses a Markov chain to illustrate this principle, applying it to the concept of time travel.
While Stephen Hawking's theoretical physics (based on Einstein's General Relativity) suggests time travel could be possible in principle, practical and paradoxical limitations likely prevent it. Hawking humorously demonstrated this by hosting a "time traveler party" to which no one came, indicating no known visitors from the future. However, this is not a definitive proof that time travel is impossible—rather, it reflects current technological and physical constraints and our limited understanding of time.
Jackson's study does not definitively prove that time travel is impossible. Instead, it offers Occam's razor as a possible solution to the impossibility of time travel. Occam's razor, a principle that suggests the simplest explanation is usually the correct one, could be applied here to argue that the most stable timeline, without time travel, is the most likely scenario.
The study, titled "Where Are All the Tourists From 3025?", has sparked debate among scientists and sci-fi enthusiasts alike. As our understanding of time and its intricacies continues to evolve, Jackson's theory adds an intriguing perspective to the age-old question: could time travel ever be possible?
