# Time Travel **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel/209788 "2003-10-27T04:22:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lilithsm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lilithsm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lilithsm)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel/209788/1 "2003-10-27T04:22:06Z")
I’ve always wondered as a child if I traveled back in time would I be the age I was in that year or would I be the age that I was when I traveled back and see myself younger. Would I be two different people? It’s more of a question of deminsions. By traveling back in time do I create my own deminsion, or are there no deminsions besides now? but then again, if this is the only deminsion, then how could I manipulate time by traveling back? Yes many questions… take a stab at this one ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel/209788/2 "2003-10-27T04:29:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lilithsm \* > \*\*take a stab at this one \*\* The laws of physics as they are currently understood do not allow for travel backward in time, so your question has no answer. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel/209788/3 "2003-10-27T04:38:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joe Random \* > \*\*The laws of physics as they are currently understood do not allow for travel backward in time, so your question has no answer. \*\* I read that, due to relativity, you can plot trajectories near very dense and fast-spinning objects where the end-point is earlier in time than it’s beginning point. The possibility of travelling backwards in time has not been ruled out completely. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel/209788/4 "2003-10-27T04:44:42Z")
Actually, time travel is permitted by relativity, although the means of attaining it involve such exotic materials, energies, or forces that there seems to be no meaningful way for even particles to move backward in time. (See the umpty million zillion threads on time travel already on the Boards.) And the answer to **Lilithsm** question has also been well worked out in theory. You have to think of your three-dimensional being moving forward in your own personal time. This is called a worldline. Your personal worldline can only go forward. Therefore your trip through time (whatever that means in practice) always has you being you, with you being exactly the age you were when you started, and your aging one second for every second you spend traveling or in the past (or future, for that matter). It’s not a question of dimensions. If you saw yourself you would see a self of another age. There are also a zillion books on this subject. One that should answer all the questions you have and many others is [How to Build a Time Machine, by P. C. W. Davies](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0670030635/qid=1067230113/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-2171110-1070335?v=glance&n=507846). It’s very short and basic, and there are probably better overall explanations of the subject, but it’s aimed at beginners. ---
**Author:** ![Lilithsm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lilithsm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lilithsm)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel/209788/5 "2003-10-27T05:06:37Z")
Thanks Mapcase, you’ve answered a lot of my questions, and yes my lack of education and age has restricted my knoweledge of the subject… I think I will try to pick up that book…somewhere and yes it makes sense because you age forward… going back in time would the be opposite, so you would just age backwards or thats what i think you were saying… or part of it anyway ---
**Author:** ![Ottoerotic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/6de8d8/32.png) [@Ottoerotic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ottoerotic)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel/209788/6 "2003-10-27T06:15:37Z")
[Link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=219771) ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel/209788/7 "2003-10-27T07:21:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > \*\*I read that, due to relativity, you can plot trajectories near very dense and fast-spinning objects where the end-point is earlier in time than it’s beginning point. The possibility of travelling backwards in time has not been ruled out completely. \*\* So in order to go back in time we may need to simply go to the nearest pulsar? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel/209788/8 "2003-10-27T16:46:53Z")
**kniz** , Nope, even pulsars are way too small and weak to supply the exotic materials needed. Think infinitely long and spinning at the speed of light (or very very close) **Lilithsm** , No, when going back in time you do **not** age backward. You continue to age forward always, without exception. Although time travel is theoretically possible, I know of nothing in theory that says that aging backward is possible. ---
**Author:** ![criminalcatalog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@criminalcatalog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/criminalcatalog)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel/209788/9 "2003-10-27T17:58:41Z")
what’s a deminsion? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel/209788/10 "2003-10-27T18:22:43Z")
Ask [**Dex**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=218612). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Micro\_Furry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Micro\_Furry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Micro_Furry)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel/209788/11 "2003-10-27T19:01:47Z")
I’ve always thought that one of the best possible superpowers would be the “save game” superpower. The ability to actually rewind your life to an earlier point and relive it from that point, retaining your knowledge of what went on “after” the point you reloaded to… ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel/209788/12 "2003-10-27T19:03:13Z")
**Lilithsm** , DO NOT use misleading thread titles when posting questions around here. Also, DO NOT post the same question twice. If you repeat these offenses you will lose your posting privileges. - **xash** General Questions Moderator