The Time Traveler's paradox

[Genecks]

If I have not encountered a time traveler that suits my needs in life at any point in time, then does that mean that time travelers do not exist?

Edited September 28, 2016 by Genecks

[Daecon]

I'm not sure I'm following the paradox here?

[Sensei]

If I have not encountered a time traveler that suits my needs in life at any point in time, then does that mean that time travelers do not exist?

 

Did you encounter any dinosaurs.. ?

Did you encounter any mammoths.. ?

Did you encounter any knights and kings.. ?

Did you encounter any terrorists, murderers, thieves.. ?

Personally, not just view TV.

Edited September 29, 2016 by Sensei

[MigL]

How do you know you haven't encountered any ?

Why would they tell you ?

 

How do you know Sensei is not a time traveler sent back from the future to terminate you ?

[Strange]

What is a "time traveler that suits your needs"?

[swansont]

Stephen Hawking had a party for time travelers. Nobody showed. He advertised it afterwards, of course.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/07/02/stephen-hawking-time-travel_n_1643488.html

[fred2014]

Now where did I put my tub of resublimated thiotimoline?

(one for old SF freaks out there)

 

Of course time is just an abstract concept and you can't tavel through a concept.

[Strange]

Of course time is just an abstract concept and you can't tavel through a concept.

 

Of course, distance is just an abstract concept and you can't travel through a concept.

[imatfaal]

Now where did I put my tub of resublimated thiotimoline?

(one for old SF freaks out there)

 

Of course time is just an abstract concept and you can't tavel through a concept.

 

You should be careful of that stuff - the endochronic properties can be quite severe.

 

And pretty sure Africa is only a concept really - and you can travel around and about in Africa

[Delta1212]

Stephen Hawking had a party for time travelers. Nobody showed. He advertised it afterwards, of course.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/07/02/stephen-hawking-time-travel_n_1643488.html

From this, of course, we can deduce that either time travelers don't exist, or they consider Stephen Hawking to be that kid whose parties nobody wants to go to.

[fred2014]

 

Of course, distance is just an abstract concept and you can't travel through a concept.

 

I have a 12 inch ruler here - it measures distance.

If I can measure it and take "readings" of it - I know it exists.

 

Please show me a device that measures time.

[Strange]

 

I have a 12 inch ruler here - it measures distance.

If I can measure it and take "readings" of it - I know it exists.

 

Please show me a device that measures time.

 

I have a 12 hour clock here - it measures time.

If I can measure it and take "readings" of it - I know it exists.

[fred2014]

Your clock isn't measuring anything and certainly isn't taking any readings of anything.

It is merely indicating that it still has a power source capable

of turning its gears.

 

It's an indicating device not a measuring device.

[Strange]

My clock doesn't have any gears. And, by definition, time is what clocks measure.

[fred2014]

It doesnt matter whether a clock has gears or not. It doesn't "measure" anything.

It is a device rigged to indicate the rotation of the earth around the sun and

is re-synchronised when it goes out of whack.

That is an example of "rigging" not of "callibrating."

 

The definition as a measuring device is incorrect.

[Sriman Dutta]

Oh I laughed heartily after viewing the conversation between Strange and fred2014.....

Nice, carry on.

[Strange]

It doesnt matter whether a clock has gears or not. It doesn't "measure" anything.

 

Of course it does.

 

It is a device rigged to indicate the rotation of the earth around the sun and

 

It has nothing to do with the rotation of the Earth.

 

I assume you are just trolling now.

[StringJunky]

It doesnt matter whether a clock has gears or not. It doesn't "measure" anything.

If we put a clock in different parts of a gravity well, or or alter its velocity, in relation to another clock its time will change accordingly; it follows that it is measuring something that is changing i.e. time

Edited October 4, 2016 by StringJunky

[Strange]

And, even more fundamentally, if you want to meet somebody then you need to specify four pieces of information: x, y, z and t (e.g. latitude, longitude, altitude and time). These all have standard units of measurement and devices for measuring them.

 

If time could not be measured as fred2014 suggests, then we would never be able to coordinate lunch dates or missions to other planets in the solar system.

[Endy0816]

If you go down the road and count mile markers you can figure out how far you've gone.

 

How we tell time is like that.

 

What it measures is the time between markers, what appears on the clock face is the count.

 

Imagine a little imp flipping over an hourglass and moving the hands of the clock. We used to have people whose job this was, now we've advanced to having Swansont monitor the imps. Science!

 

You don't like the 24 hour format, make up your own. We use different systems depending on the situation.

 

 

 

 

From this, of course, we can deduce that either time travelers don't exist, or they consider Stephen Hawking to be that kid whose parties nobody wants to go to.

 

They went at first, but after he refused to serve drinks to the AI's, they retroactively decided not to.

 

 

 

 

[Strange]

If you go down the road and count mile markers you can figure out how far you've gone.

 

How we tell time is like that.

 

What it measures is the time between markers, what appears on the clock face is the count.

 

 

Except, as has been explained every time this comes up, there is no motion involved. So measuring time does not involve measuring distance travelled.

Edited October 5, 2016 by Strange

[Delta1212]

 

 

Except, as has been explained every time this comes up, there is no motion involved. So measuring time does not involve measuring distance travelled.

It's measuring distance travelled through time. That's actually a fairly good metaphor.

 

Clocks are odometers of time, and metronomes are rulers of time. Counting mile markers is approximately the same as using an odometer, so it works if you're talking about measuring elapsed time.

[Strange]

Ah, fair enough. If it is just a metaphor for the equivalence of the measurements. I (mis)interpreted it to mean that time was measured in terms of the distance travelled.

[swansont]

Your clock isn't measuring anything and certainly isn't taking any readings of anything.

It is merely indicating that it still has a power source capable

of turning its gears.

 

It's an indicating device not a measuring device.

 

 

So is a ruler. It has lines — indications — on it. We have decided that it's length, and we can use it as a comparison to make that measurement.

 

Which is what we decided to do with oscillators of various sorts. We use them to measure time intervals.

[Endy0816]

Ah, fair enough. If it is just a metaphor for the equivalence of the measurements. I (mis)interpreted it to mean that time was measured in terms of the distance travelled.

 

Yeah, I'm not sure metaphor vs allegory vs reality, but makes conceptualizing it easier. You can see mile markers. Less obvious that the flipping of an hourglass can be considered equivalent

 

You can use an odometer as a clock, but don't have to use an odometer as a clock. Though hoisting up a car and keeping the speed at 60mph would make for a pretty awesome clock.

 

 

Which is what we decided to do with oscillators of various sorts. We use them to measure time intervals.

 

Do you happen to have any links you can provide for better understanding the workings of atomic clocks? Wiki doesn't go very in-depth on some of it.

Edited October 5, 2016 by Endy0816