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Welcome to "Bonus Dad, Bonus Daughter," a heartwarming and insightful podcast celebrating the unique bond between a stepfather Davey, and his stepdaughter Hannah.
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The Physics of Time Travel: From Einstein to the Multiverse
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Could you actually travel through time? The answer might surprise you. In this mind-expanding episode, Dave and Hannah dive into the scientific realities and theoretical possibilities of time travel, revealing that Einstein's theory of relativity has already proven that time isn't absolute—it's relative to your speed and gravitational environment.
We explore how time dilation occurs in everyday life, from commercial flights to GPS satellites that must account for time differences to function correctly. You'll learn how astronauts like Sergei Krikalev have technically "time traveled" by aging slightly slower during their 800+ days in space. The physics is real and happening all around us.
Venturing deeper into theoretical territory, we examine exotic possibilities like wormholes (Einstein-Rosen bridges), cosmic strings, and Tipler cylinders that might potentially enable more dramatic forms of time travel. While these concepts remain mathematically sound, they require conditions like "exotic matter with negative energy density" that we've yet to discover in our universe.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when we consider quantum mechanics and the multiverse theory, suggesting that every decision creates branching realities where different paths play out simultaneously. This concept, popularized in films like "Everything Everywhere All at Once" and "Avengers: Endgame," offers a solution to time travel paradoxes by suggesting that changing the past simply creates a new timeline rather than altering your original one.
Whether you're a science enthusiast or just curious about the nature of time itself, this episode will challenge your understanding of reality and leave you pondering the profound implications of time's flexible nature. Don't forget to join us next week for part two, where we'll explore the philosophical side of time travel!
Introduction to Time Travel
Speaker 1Hello and welcome to Bonus Dad. Bonus Daughter a special father-daughter podcast with me Hannah and me, davie, where we discuss our differences, similarities, share a few laughs and stories within our ever-changing and complex world, Each week we will discuss a topic from our own point of view and influences throughout the decades or you could choose one by contacting us via email, instagram, facebook or TikTok links in bio.
Speaker 2Hello and welcome to another episode of Bonus Dad, bonus Daughter. We are going to talk about time travel today.
Speaker 1Yeah, this one's going to mess with your head.
Speaker 2Yeah, I'm not keen on ever talking about this type of topic, because I just feel that it's going to blow my mind and then I'm going to worry about my purpose in life, but let's continue.
Speaker 1Yeah, I had this as an idea. I've even said, oh, this could be a two-parter, because there's a lot on here. It might not be. We'll kind of see how it goes. We'll see how it goes, uh. But yeah, this, this is gonna, this is gonna really really mess with your head. I don't know if, um, it's probably wise doing this as a subject on at 11 o'clock on a sunday morning, but hey ho does it need a trigger warning?
Speaker 2let's give it.
Speaker 1This may mess with your mind this may mess with your mind completely. So what we're going to talk about? We're going to talk about a little bit of well. We're going to go over einstein's theory of relativity. I think that's quite pertinent to start with time dilation and how astronauts time travel. We're also going to talk about wormholes. Okay, we're going to talk about cosmic strings. We're going to talk about tipler cylinders. We're going to talk about closed time-like curves and we're going to talk about quantum mechanics and the multiverse theory. We need Brian Cox.
Speaker 2We need an astrophysicist yeah.
Speaker 1Of which neither of us are. No, we're not, so we're just going to go over these and some of the words that I will be saying I probably won't understand myself. This isn't going to be a good one.
Speaker 2Oh Lord, okay, Okay. So this is very surface level time travel.
Speaker 1Incredibly surface level time travel. I thought we were going to be talking.
Speaker 2When you told me about this episode, I was like, oh, he's going to be talking about movies and films.
Speaker 1There is movies reference in here as well. Good, because I feel like that's the only place that I could even remotely comment Things like Back to the Future and Interstellar, yes, things like that. Yeah, we will. And actually have. And actually have you seen that film? There's that one I haven't seen. I might actually watch that this afternoon, the film about the girl who goes back to stop the serial killer who's back in time.
Speaker 2I think it might be a comedy yes, yeah, I know exactly what you mean and we have seen it have you seen it, is it good? Yeah, I really enjoyed it did you yeah, I think it's the one that's set. It's got her out of Modern Family in it.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, claire out of Modern Family. Yes, it's very good, is it?
Speaker 2I might watch that this afternoon actually after I've mixed these it's almost like a Scream kind of.
Speaker 1Yeah, slasher.
Speaker 2Slasher yeah, yeah, it's good, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1I enjoyed it, so shall we dive in. I guess, we ought to. We ought to. Yeah, einstein, albert Einstein, he had a theory of relativity. Back in 1905 he came up with this theory, very, very intelligent man, and he proposed Queen. Victoria's era no, no, no, no this would be one of the Georges I think she was 19, I think it would be one of the Georges by that point, does she?
Speaker 2I think Vicky was off the phone.
Speaker 1Vicky was off the phone.
Speaker 2Vicky was off the throne then. Okay, fair enough. Sorry, Karen.
Speaker 1So Einstein proposed that time is not absolute. It is relative to the observer's speed. The faster you move through space, the slower you move through time. What E equals mc squared? Essentially we have mentioned this before that we do physically time travel when you move through time e equals mc squared.
Einstein's Theory of Relativity
Speaker 2Essentially we have mentioned this before that you, we do physically time travel when you move. I mean, the only time traveling I've ever done is like time zones. Yeah, because you can.
Speaker 1Yeah, you can, you can move. We'll come on to that in reality a bit later on, but you can. If you move quick, as faster than the speed of light, you can effectively travel into the future. You can't travel into light. You can effectively travel into the future. You can't travel into the past, but you can travel into the future, and we do it all the time. Yeah, so, yeah. So if you could travel yeah, actually it's the next line If you could travel at close to the speed of light, time would slow down for you, for you compared to someone else.
Speaker 1Meaning you would age slower. Time slows down, so you would. You would actually travel faster. It's it's called time dilation right.
Speaker 2So okay, okay, okay, right. So in simple terms say, for example it took me 10 minutes to get to mars.
Speaker 1Let's for example, yeah, because we're traveling with speed of light, presumably, yeah at this point, you would effectively time would have been slower for you than it would have been on Earth.
Speaker 2So, going back to Earth, an hour would have passed.
Speaker 1Longer. No, no, I'm just saying At a speed of light it could be years. Yeah, it could be years. It could be years. But I'm just saying relative, relative to just normal stuff. Interestingly enough, this theory has been proven because satellites have slightly different clocks by GPS, because the GPS satellites actually experience time differently to what we do on Earth because of the speed that they're travelling. That's mad. So, in essence also, do you think when you're going on a plane, when you're flying in a plane, at that speed you are effectively, or at only a few seconds, you are effectively time travelling.
Speaker 2I mean domestic flights. Yeah, you think how fast they go they don't go the speed of light though, do they? No, you think how fast they go.
Speaker 1They don't go the speed of light, though, do they? No, you won't be, but you will because of the speed that you're going. You will. There will be a slight like. It could be seconds, milliseconds, but it will be. There will be a factor of time that you will be.
Speaker 2That's just that's crazy.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's called time dilation. Okay, then, 10 years later, old Albert ten years later, old Albert, he threw gravity into the mix. Oh yeah, he showed that massive objects warp space-time black holes.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 1And that time moves more slowly in stronger gravitational fields, and that's why time moves more slowly near a black hole.
Speaker 2I wonder how slow we are relative to other planets then?
Speaker 1I don't know, that's a Brian Cox question that one. Yeah, yes, so you mentioned films.
Speaker 2I did.
Speaker 1You mentioned films, and the film that really talks or really tackles this particular subject, I've already said, is Interstellar. Yes, with all right. All right, all right.
Speaker 2Yeah, matthew McConaughey, murphy's Law.
Speaker 1Matthew McConaughey.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, murphy's Law.
Speaker 1Yeah, Yet where one hour near the black hole equated to seven years on earth? Yeah.
Speaker 2See, that's mad, isn't?
Speaker 1it. That is insane.
Speaker 2Wasn't it for every tick of the clock in that scene was a day going past.
Speaker 1That's right. Is that right yeah?
Speaker 2Yeah, the day going past. Isn't Anne Hathaway in that film? Is it Anne Hathaway who's the woman protagonist?
Speaker 1I think so it could be Anne Hathaway.
Speaker 2Yeah, I remember her mentioning like oh yeah, every I don't know second or something. I can't remember exactly what it? Was a year passing on, or a day or something.
Speaker 1Yeah mad, but because he goes back, doesn't he?
Speaker 2doesn't he go through?
Speaker 1the something at the end and he leaves a note. I can't remember, I can't remember how it goes. Actually, don't say, because it'll ruin the film well it is.
Speaker 2I mean, the film's been out ages, I know, but some people might not see it. No, no, no. Sorry, spoiler alert. If you don't want to know the ending of Interstellar, skip now. But no, she's old at the end and he finally comes back. Yeah, and she's on her deathbed, but not on a deathbed. She was in cryogenic sleep. They woke her up for him to come back and be like hi. Hello for him to come back and be like hi, hello dad's home, hello daughter, yeah, but she's the oldest, yeah yeah, that's.
Speaker 1I need to bleep that out, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2That would be actually really sad it would be super sad he missed his entire daughter's life oh, no, no, no and he called her murphy murphy's law.
Speaker 1Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, wouldn't do that, wouldn't do that, um well, that's sweet of you, but yeah, I couldn't come back and you'd be old as shit, but you saved the world, so yeah, I'm yeah okay.
Speaker 2This is the whole, like Joel and Ellie debate in the Last of Us, yes, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1So if you could travel or if you could orbit? Back on topic, yeah, if you could orbit near a black hole or travel near night's light speed, you'd actually age more slowly than people back home. That is real, it has been proven it is a thing that's mad, isn't? It so essentially, we can travel into the future. We cannot travel back, but we can travel into the future.
Speaker 2It kind of. It kind of could make someone slightly immortal yes, constantly traveling because you could. You could say, oh, I want the next 10 years on earth to pass before I come back. Yeah, you could strategically.
Speaker 1Oh my, my, my head is already being messed with because I've already just thought about something about um, a book by hg wells called the time machine right, and how he goes like thousands of years into the future and civilization has completely changed. And you know, you've got the people who live below ground and people who live above ground, and I was just thinking about the time machine itself and actually in my mind I've just thought of somehow how that could actually work.
Speaker 1And it's just messed properly with my head. Okay, yeah, but you'd have to by travelling, but staying in the same space, travelling at the speed of light, but staying in the same place as well, which is what he does. There would be a way to do it through distance, or, yeah, sorry, I've just had a little bit of a not light bulb moment, but just a thought of it's actually possible, there is a way that you could do it yeah, if you wanted to yeah, you could build a time machine yeah, but I think why would you want to?
Speaker 2because surely in those 10 years of being on earth you would have the experience and the knowledge to back up what it was. You can't. You can't just leave a place for 10 years, come back and be like, oh, this is how it was back then. It was so much better then how could you enforce anything?
Speaker 1I'm just thinking now if HG Wells would have actually been reading it now, knowing how Einstein's theory of relativity works, if that was just the book putting that into practice.
Speaker 2Well, probably yeah. Smart men doing smart things, it's like one of those penny-dropping moments. Just like when I realised that piracy is called piracy because it came from pirates. What twat I am.
Speaker 1Anyway. So let's talk a little bit about time dilation.
Speaker 2Time I have skipped accidentally.
Time Dilation in Real Life
Speaker 1And time dilation isn't just theoretical, it's measurable. In 1971, scientists flew atomic clocks on commercial jets around the world. There you go what I'm saying commercial jets, yep, and found that they ticked a few nanoseconds slower than those on the ground, just as einstein's theory predicted. So yeah, nanoseconds. So every time you go on a plane, you are traveling into the future, yep.
Speaker 2Dude.
Speaker 1Yes, and Sergei Krikalev.
Speaker 2Does that technically mean I'm older?
Speaker 1Oh, I'd already gone, I'm even younger, am I young? You're younger. You travelled into the future. Sorry, I just clicked my wrist.
Speaker 2Wait, yes, sorry, yes, you would be younger.
Speaker 1Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2Whoa wait. So you'd leave Earth at an age and then come back younger.
Speaker 1No, you'd be the same age, but other people would be older.
Speaker 2Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's how the time. Oh, that's mad.
Speaker 1So Sergei Krikalev, a Russian cosmonaut. He spent over 800 days in space and, due to the time dilation, he aged about one of a 48th of a second less than people on Earth. So it's a very, very minor amount.
Speaker 2Yeah, so he's not younger. The people around him are older. Yes, got it.
Speaker 1Yeah, so it is proof that it is true and it isn't just a sci-fi thing Time travel does genuinely exist.
Speaker 2I feel like, in order to be an astronaut, or want to go into being an astronaut, say, if you were doing the things in the sci-fi programs, it's not that you couldn't have a family. It would be so difficult to have a family because you would miss their life, like your children's lives and what have you?
Speaker 1and well, to be honest, you know in in those types of situations, those types of things as well, you, it would be difficult to have a family because you have to be so knowledgeable, yeah, of that area and that that.
Speaker 2You would spend a lot of your life studying, studying and just your entire life would be consumed by what you do. Which might mean that they maybe lack in street smarts and common sense and stuff like that. Perhaps you know, just thinking.
Speaker 1Oh, I can definitely verify, that is a thing.
Speaker 2Really.
Speaker 1Oh, 100% that academics've got no common sense.
Speaker 2You gotta be careful what you say now. But yeah, like I would say, I lack a lot of common sense as well. But I think that there's got to be you've got to be a certain type of person to go into that field oh, absolutely a dedicated yeah person that necessarily wants nothing more from life than that.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2It would be so difficult. Just like Interstellar, he had a child, or did he have two children? I think he had two children, actually that must have been so, or that would be so difficult to leave that family unit behind.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Unless you had a very understanding family.
Speaker 1I do you know, I I think that's why I like brian cox so much, because he's got the best.
Speaker 2He has got a lot of common sense and also, he's incredibly knowledgeable in his area yeah, and he's very personable, and I think that's why I wonder if he would go up there you know, I think he would, I think he'd be really excited about it yeah, but he'd find a way to bring his family along oh, yeah, he would I think that's just like yeah, because I know they they can do like voice calls and stuff from yeah yeah, you know from there and stuff, but it's not the same I feel like it's just not the same no you've got to be a certain special type of person to be able to do that.
Speaker 1Those guys that went up into space, I think they were they american what katie perry? No, no, not that the actual proper astronauts, not astronauts from what like neil armstrong? No, the ones who just recently got stuck up there, didn't they for months, and they got brought back, they would. Yeah, their age would be slightly different as well, that's mad or, you know, they would have experienced time slightly.
Speaker 2I think there's. There's that side of it too as well. You've got people that work on the international space station. You've got people that go up there all the time yeah, I guess again, and they would probably have families and stuff. But there's a part of me that's like what if? The what if of you know? Oh no, we're now stuck up here. You know, an unexpected thing happened and you can't get back down to earth for another two years or something. It's like yeah whoa like.
Speaker 2That is not what you bargained for no, not at all is that in the contract? Yeah, do you get compensation? Do your family get compensation like I? Just those all these like logistical questions for me. I'm just curious to know yeah all of these things. Basically, logistics wise, definitely for sure. Yeah, I just feel like I have a lot of respect for astronauts because I feel like you've just got to be a special type of person to be able to go into that field yes, exactly what are you? Going to talk about next father.
Speaker 1So next we're going to talk about wormholes. Wormholes, so this they are a really popular theory about wormholes.
Speaker 2So how wormholes actually work are these different to a black hole? Yes, got it.
Speaker 1Yeah, so you think of into like inter intergalactic planetary, so beast of boy's track. Uh, if you go into, if you think of time travel, if you think of like you're not really you don't. You don't like star wars, do you? No no, you don Wars.
Speaker 2No.
Speaker 1So you know when people go warp speed.
Speaker 2Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do that in the car when it snows, exactly that.
Speaker 1So a wormhole? You would kind of argue that this could be wormholes, okay, so imagine you've got two points and the universe is a folded sheet of paper. Got it? Yeah, you put a hole here and a hole here. So rather than going around like that, you go da-dum.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah. Now if you punch two holes, connect them with the tunnel. That tunnel is essentially a wormhole. So direct point, but time would be different. Theoretically they are allowed by Einstein's field equations and these are called Einstein-Rosen bridges. Okay. Now there is a catch with them, though, because if they did exist, a wormhole right, they would instantly collapse.
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 1Through physics that we know.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 1Now to keep them open, you would need what something's called exotic matter with negative energy density.
Speaker 2Okay, okay.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Is this like, but we?
Speaker 1don't know if that exists, because that's all theoretical. We've got no evidence that we would have that.
Speaker 2In Guardians of the Galaxy.
Speaker 1Yes.
Speaker 2They're called jump points.
Speaker 1Jump points Exactly that Right, okay.
Speaker 2Yes, exactly that, okay. My understanding has now come full circle.
Speaker 1I love this.
Speaker 2I'm saying all this and then you're going in guardians.
Speaker 1It's like, yeah, so we're trying to put those. I feel like I I need to bring the layman into this conversation because I can't.
Speaker 2Yeah, I'm doing this is gonna mess with your head. Yeah, I'm not yeah, I'm not this. I'm not this way inclined.
Speaker 1Yeah, mind way yeah, exactly exactly that, exactly. So some type, some theorists, some scientists. There's a guy called Kip Thorne.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 1He explored whether well he she I suppose assume it's a he Kip Thorne explored whether this type of matter could exist. It is all hypothetical. There's no, we have not discovered that.
Speaker 2Oh phew, okay, but when you think about things that we don't know, we still don't know so much I think mitchell mentioned something to me the other day that they have found something that our current physics cannot explain oh, we keep finding stuff all the time.
Speaker 1We're constantly yeah, we're constantly rewriting science books and again. So I'm I'm gonna bring religion into it warn the audience before you have your religious rant. This will not be a religious rant, but this is just a point okay a point about remember when I said about beliefs and ideas.
Wormholes and Cosmic Strings
Speaker 1Yes, there's a reason why I don't like religions is because they are beliefs and you cannot change a belief, whereas science it's an idea and then they test the idea and then it's proven and if the if it's wrong, they will go back and re-look at it and get the facts yeah, yeah, I think there's room for uh discovery, yeah, in science, whereas religion doesn't have that same flexibility, flexibility, flexibility and that is my biggest problem with religion, that is, that is when we go down to the crux of it.
Speaker 1That's why I don't like all religions yeah in the format that they're in you. You know, to me you can have an idea until it's proven. Yeah, simple as that. It's very, very simple concept yeah I'm a very simple man very simple man okay, I don't love the idea of beliefs because you can't change your belief, but you can change an idea now. That is the beauty of science, because we keep looking at things and going actually, we were wrong, we've got that wrong, we've now got this, and we're constantly finding things.
Speaker 2Look at, look at quantum, the quantum computer that's coming out now yeah yeah that, that's blown my mind the storage problem that we had will hopefully no longer exist no longer exist.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, it's, it's. It's insane to think of that like that.
Speaker 2That mess, that messes with my head and I know I know this is like again bringing it back down to kind of layman's terms, but I recently bought a one terabyte hard drive yes and I I'm actually like almost dumbfounded how quickly I am filling that one terabyte. I thought that was going to do us for a while for this podcast yeah and I'm filling it quickly exactly and I'm like, oh shite, I should have bought two terabyte, that's it.
Speaker 2Yeah. And there's a part of me that's like do I get rid of the raw footage or do I keep the raw footage? It's like it's so difficult on my laptop.
Speaker 1this is the thing I need to have clear out, because I have got all the Audacity files. I've got the raw audio and I've got the completed audio, so I have got for every single episode that we've done, I've got three separate files. I don't know why I've still kept the Audacity files, because if I needed to remix it I could just put the new one back in, and but I've kept the original, just in case yeah, I know, it's that just in case, like oh god but do any.
Speaker 1But I do have an external hard drive, which I think is three terabytes yeah which is so I do the work on the laptop and then put it onto the hard drive.
Speaker 2It takes forever to upload to the hard drive as well. Hours yeah, it takes a while it takes ages you don't know how much work goes into this podcast, how much storage, and I do remember you're familiar with the slow-mo guys, aren't you? Yes, gavin Free. Oh, the amount of storage spaces that they have Because of the way slow motion is filmed. It's filmed.
Speaker 1Frames per second.
Speaker 2Yeah, frames per second, so you've got a tiny amount of time. This is time travel related I would say, yeah, you've got a tiny amount of time split over an hour's. Like what hours and hours worth of footage is this tiny, tiny moment in time? Um, and he was all. I remember him always saying, like you know, storage is my biggest problem. Like he was probably having gigabyte hard drives. He's now probably got terabytes of them on terabytes of footage. Because, again, where do you, where do you? You can't store that in the cloud.
Speaker 1Well, you said it's not about chat gpt and the environmental environmental impact on chat gpt because of the sheer level of servers the server space that is needed yeah to do it and you think about anything. You think about Facebook, Twitter.
Speaker 2And now they've got a quantum computer, that's this tiny spec, yeah, and you're like what?
Speaker 1And it's just storage, storage. You think of the content that is being thrown out and all the sites, the internet.
Speaker 2The internet itself, I wonder.
Speaker 1It's exponentially growing.
Speaker 2I wonder how much in gigabytes do I even want to say gigabytes? In terabytes, how much, how big the internet is?
Speaker 1it's just, it's just insane is it infallible.
Speaker 2Is there a? Is there an? Actual yeah, don't even want to think about it I, I kind of want to know if there is a I don't know. Yeah, I want to know how big the internet is in terms of storage.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's absolutely nuts it's crazy um, but so kip thorne sorry, yeah, we're back to wormholes. He uh he. She suggested that might be possible in tiny amounts. So in theory, if one of the, if one end of the wormhole were moved at near light speed and then brought back, time at each end would be out of as well. Oh god, what? No, it just. You know everything, you. It's almost like everything you thought you know about physics, just whip that out your brain, bin it bin it.
Speaker 1So we also have a thing called cosmic strings. Oh lord now what they are. They are theoretical defects in space and time. They're thin, incredibly dense strands left over from the early universe.
Speaker 2Oh god.
Speaker 1Now, a theorist, theoretical physicist by the name of J Richard Gott thought that they could warp space-time enough to allow closed time-like curves, paths that loop back in time. What? What allow closed time, like curves, paths that loop back in time? What I just know? So basically, there'll be two moving cosmic strings passing near each other at high speed could allow you to take a shortcut backwards in time? Now, this is completely theoretical. They've never I hope so. They've never found anything sci-fi. As far as we know, we cannot travel back in time there. Now, this is completely theoretical. They've never found I hope so They've never found anything. This is sci-fi. As far as we know, we cannot travel back in time. There is no way that we think we can do that.
Speaker 2We've never found any cosmic strings and they're purely speculative, but mathematically sound Exactly.
Speaker 1Yeah, exactly the theory.
Speaker 2I need to. There's so many ducks in this episode, yeah.
Speaker 1The theory is there. Okay, the theory works, but we've never found the cosmic strings. But just because we haven't found them, doesn't mean they're not there, maths, the maths work.
Speaker 2Do you know what? Sometimes ignorance is just bliss. You know Exactly, it's blowing your mind. Honestly's, stuff like this always makes me think of I have no purpose in life yeah it makes me feel so purposeless, but for some people that brings comfort yeah because they're like ah, what I do doesn't matter. But that also makes someone perhaps behave in a way that yeah, oh, that doesn't matter.
Speaker 1Oh, I've just realized this is definitely going to be a two-parter. Okay, because I've got some.
Speaker 1Uh, I also did write another section I feel like we need to give people's brains a break, yeah yeah, because we're also, because, to go on about the philosophy of time travel, I put that as another segment, yeah, and that's, that's a whole episode by itself, okay, so, yes, so that's cosmic strings. Theoretically we could go back, but we've got no evidence to say that we can, and but the maths works what would we do, though, if we could go back this?
Speaker 2this is, this is where sci-fi comes into it.
Speaker 1Right, because if you went back in time, I'm going to probably say don't say what you're going to say now, because that will come into the philosophy side of things. Yeah, I will, I will I know, I know my philosophical brain is going I know where you're going it's because I'm more philosophy than I am science so I think my brain is always like what, if you know, should we? Like yeah, there's a few. Yeah, that comes under the when you talk about the butterfly effect yes, I will be quiet.
Speaker 2Yeah, exactly because I don't believe in that I, yeah, yeah, I will be quiet uh, but then.
Tipler Cylinders and Time Loops
Speaker 1Well, then you've got butterfly foot, so does that create? Oh, another timeline, another? Yeah, okay right, weird yeah yeah, we're going into back on track. We're going into some weird charter, some weird uncharted territory, right? Tipler cylinders you ever heard of tipler cylinders? No, a guy by the name of Frank J Tipler was born. I knew it would be his name. Yeah, in 1974, the year before I was born, Ooh, we're coming into our time span.
Speaker 2Yeah, oh, frankie, baby he proposed Frankie baby.
Speaker 1He proposed another. I thought say something light. Proposed another exotic solution A rotating cylinder made of dense matter, spinning near the speed of light. Okay, Right. The idea would be that, as it spins near that speed of light, the cylinder would twist the space and time continuum around it, creating closed loops in time, so basically a time loop.
Speaker 2Right, okay, yep, like Groundhog Day. Yes, it creating closed loops in time. So basically a time loop, right, okay, yep like groundhog day.
Speaker 1Yes, so theoretically, theoretically, a spaceship flying around this cylinder might be able to go back in time, because it's a closed loop okay yeah, but to make it work, the cylinder would need to be infinite in length, which makes it impossible with the current understanding of the universe.
Speaker 2Okay, I like it when some of these things are like oh, this is impossible. I'm like okay, I can breathe for a moment.
Speaker 1Yeah. So he did have a play around to see if he could do it and it just didn't kind of work Incredible, because you would need a mass amount of energy and a mass amount of materials. This is what I was thinking earlier when I was saying about the time machine, about this loop. And that's what I was saying about having something almost staying in the same place, but travelling through time, through distance. Yeah, that's where my mind went. Right With that, that's what I was thinking. Okay, how's your brain?
Speaker 2It's barely holding on.
Speaker 1It's barely holding on, okay.
Speaker 2We're coming up for half an hour.
Speaker 1Mark, we are indeed. Yes, so we've also got something called a closed time like curve. Okay, so closed time like curve ctc for those in the know the ctc. We used to say that about the music studio the ctc no, no, no, it wouldn't be the music studio.
Speaker 1We'd say, yeah, you know, say, oh, what, what? What you're doing this this weekend? Oh, we're recording at the music studio. Oh, sorry, if you're a musician, the stew, the stew. Benji does it all the time. The stew Calls it the stew. We're off to the stew. Quite like that, yeah.
Speaker 2It does make me think of broth, though.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2And beef.
Speaker 1Yeah, beef bouillon. I think of broth, though. Yeah, yeah, and beef, yeah, beef bouillon. I put some pork in the slow cooker today, did you? Yeah, all right. Yeah, there's some pork in the oven, have you? Yeah, I got pork in the oven. Yeah, yeah, there's some white wine, some rosemary, um, a little bit chicken. Uh, what's the word? Chicken, chicken, chicken.
Speaker 2Um, all of them cubes, oxo, cubes why did you put chicken stock cube in a?
Speaker 1pork. It tastes really nice. Okay, some rosemary, some bay leaves, a little bit of black pepper and a cube of garlic. Fresh bay leaves, yes, fresh bay leaves nice. The only thing is, though, when we do, because I then make the gravy out of that, out of that mixture. Yeah, it should be chicken gravy at this point but unfortunately no, because the pork juice is going through as well. It's very tasty. The only thing is, though, is because we used to give Archie the gravy, didn't we that?
Speaker 2was left over.
Speaker 1We can't with this because it's got wine in it.
Speaker 2And he gets very. Don't get him drunk.
Speaker 1He gets very upset, does Archie, when we don't give him gravy, can you not do him like some albisto?
Speaker 2It could make some upset for him, so he doesn't feel left out.
Speaker 1He loves it when we have a roast dinner. He does Because he knows he gets leftover broccoli and all of that.
Speaker 2He absolutely loved it. That's like his treat as well.
Speaker 1Yeah, so that was a little interval of just.
Speaker 2To relax the brain, to relax your brain. A little bit Back to CTCs.
Speaker 1So CTCs Closed.
Speaker 2Timelike Curves.
Speaker 1Is a path through space-time that loops back to the same point in space and time.
Speaker 2Yeah, Uh, I heard your sentence but, I will be honest, didn't digest it. Can I please? So a closed time-like curve is a path through space and time that loops back to the same point in space and time.
Speaker 1So where does it go? Well, it just loops back to the same point. So, theoretically, groundhog Day, groundhog Day, yeah, good lord it go. Well, it just loops back to the same point. So, theoretically, groundhog day, groundhog day.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's lord I love that episode of supernatural oh, it's tuesday.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's tuesday. Yeah, yeah, there was, uh someone. I saw a post the other day on facebook and it said um, if you had to watch one episode of supernatural for 24 hours?
Speaker 2what would you watch?
Speaker 1Immediately I went to Yellow Fever as well. Yeah, that is by far the best episode in Supernatural.
Speaker 2Did you see the reel I sent you, yes Of the girl who reenacts it?
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's brilliant, that's brilliant. That was scary.
Speaker 2Yeah, oh my gosh, that's so funny.
Speaker 1Isn't Yellow Fever the episode where he plays his leg as well?
Speaker 2Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was the girl. Oh, that was the girl. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1So it is a mathematically consistent solution to Einstein's equations, but the universe might not allow it.
Speaker 2Oh the universe predicts. It's not the universe saying nope, not allow it. Oh, the universe predicts.
Speaker 1It's not the universe saying nope, not allowing that. It's saying that the current laws of physics that we've got, we don't think it would work With our current understanding of the laws of physics.
Speaker 2Yeah, I hate it when they say that.
Speaker 1So our boy, stephen Hawking, our boy, our boy. He proposed the chronology protection conjecture, an idea that something perhaps quantum effects would always prevent these loops from forming, thereby protecting the timeline. So, it's like the timeline bureau in Marvel.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah, protecting the same, nope, not happening. So, unless we. But until we fully understand quantum gravity, a unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity, we can't say for sure. So again, it's all theory at the moment.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's all theory, we just but it could become a reality. It could become a reality. So we'll finish off this episode with quantum mechanics and the multiverse theory. Let's do that, I'll do a quick summary, which will just be a couple of seconds, and then next week we'll go on to the philosophy of time travel hey, where I might be able to step in a bit more, which? Is your bag.
Quantum Mechanics and Multiverse Theory
Speaker 2Your bag a bit more my bag. Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 1So quantum mechanics and multiverse theory. So quantum theory does throw all of what I've just said into chaos.
Speaker 2Because science is all about coming up with the new ideas and disproving your current ideas.
Speaker 1Exactly that. Exactly that. So there's the many worlds interpretation. So there's the many worlds interpretation. So every time a quantum decision is made, the universe splits into multiple versions, each one playing out a different outcome. Yeah, so, with every decision that you make.
Speaker 2Yeah, there's a part of me that doesn't find this that spicy to get my head around, because I feel like, yes, I made the decision to. For example, I made the decision to stay at home and study as opposed to go to Nottingham.
Speaker 1Your life would be vastly different.
Speaker 2I think it would be I wouldn't have met Mitchell, for example. Yeah, you know stuff like that. So I feel like I like the way that my life turned out, but there's a part of me that's like I wonder what would have happened. Would we have eventually found each other? You know, I'm thinking well, that's fate.
Speaker 1That's when you're talking about fate.
Speaker 2I was trying not to use those words but yeah I wonder if some part of our lives are. This is philosophy, I suppose, but uh, some parts of our life are already predetermined. But yeah, I guess we'll talk about that in the next episode more. But yeah, I I often do wonder about this and it's it's not something that upsets my brain to think about there was, I mean, I can't remember.
Speaker 1We did an episode on dreams quite a while ago and I can't remember if I mentioned it in that episode about the theory regarding dreams, that the theory is that when you dream, quite often it's yourself, but in a different situation and is that, as you tapping into one of those other universes where a different decision has been made or you have made about your life, and because you think, you think of the amount of things where it's by chance or a split second, your life goes down a completely different path?
Speaker 2I think there's. I think I think dreams are more related to the subconscious and what you're actually experiencing in your life.
Speaker 1I made a split decision to move back to Norwich when I was in my twenties. Yeah, Split decision. I was like no, I'm done with Sleaford.
Speaker 2This podcast would not have been a thing, I would not have known you, no, or mum?
Speaker 1I could still be living in Sleaford now.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1You know completely different life, not doing the job that I do completely different job. Or you know there's so many, there's millions upon theory is the many worlds. Is that every time like if I haven't made that? Decision that timeline broke but then that one carried on going that way. Yeah, yeah. So if, if this is true, okay, and that this does happen, then traveling back in time it actually wouldn't overwrite your present it would just branch off onto a different reality.
Speaker 1Yeah, why I prefer this theory. Uh, there is a popular yeah, I think, avengers, endgame, rick and morty and everything everywhere all at once. I absolutely love that sausage fingers yeah, yeah, good yeah, um, so some theories suggest that time may not be not what may not be linear, it could be non-linear at the quantum level. Quantum particles can influence each other in sustainously across space, right, so potentially across time as well. Yeah, so they, they exist, but they exist everywhere all at once yeah, yeah exactly.
Speaker 1Uh, yeah, so it does show that we, we, we have no idea. We are still learning so much about time, yeah, that we, we, just, we just don't know. Everything we know could be wrong, but who knows? So we will finish off on a couple of scientific takeaways okay this isn't like a chinese takeaway or a indian or takeaway I didn't do last night or?
Speaker 2or a Indian takeaway. I had an Indian takeaway last night. It was very nice or a?
Speaker 1fish and chips takeaway. It's scientific. Okay, so forward, as we've said, forward time travel is possible. It does happen. It happens all the time. That has been confirmed by relativity and time dilation. Boom, we know that is a thing.
Speaker 2We have gone back to the future.
Speaker 1We have confirmed forward time travel works. Backward time travel not totally ruled out, but current understanding of science and physics, we can't do it. Yeah, doesn't happen. Done so, but yeah, it would require those conditions wormholes, cosmic strings, infinite cylinders, all the multiverse theories. Our biggest obstacle at the moment is energy requirements, causality, paradoxes and our just level of understanding of quantum theory. Yeah, so there you go boom, how's your head?
Speaker 2almost about ready to explode yeah yeah, I'm ready for philosophy next time you ready for philosophy? Or in a couple of minutes for us.
Speaker 1Okay, let's end today. Let's end it there. Let's hope all our listeners and viewers are.
Speaker 2Suitably mind-blown, mind-blown, wonderful. If you've enjoyed this episode, I would check out next week's episode, where we follow on from this time travel side of things. So this was time travel part one, and we will see you in Time Travel Part 2. Cue the outro. Thanks for joining us on Bonus Dad, bonus Daughter. Don't forget to follow us on all our socials and share the podcast with someone who'd love it. We are available on all streaming platforms. See you next time. Bye-bye you.