Popular Science
Let's Do the Time Warp Again
The science and the fiction of time travel are weird. But the science is weirder.
by Scott Mowbray
Dreamworks' remake of The Time Machine, which opens this month, is the latest expression of our fascination with time travel.
[747 Radio-Ate]
I must admit, that I am one of those fascinated by time travel. To me the most interesting aspect of time travel is how easy it should be. To travel in time, you simply need to release yourself from your current timeline. I imagine it is very much like Kurt Vonnegut's description of time travel in Slaughterhouse-5, you become unstuck in time.
To comprehend how it might work, I think about two-dimensional creatures. Things like limpets that live on a two-dimensional surface and have limited, if any, comprehension of a third dimension. A limpet may comprehend his world, that is everything that is on the flat surface that he traverses, but he cannot comprehend the world that exists above him. He has no reason to comprehend that world because it has no bearing on his existence. If a wave comes along an knocks the limpet off his rock, he will travel through the third dimension and land on a new surface. The limpet cannot comprehend what has happened, since he lives in a two dimensional world, but he has been transported to an "new" world.
We, on the other hand, live in a three-dimensional world where time is linear. It moves forward. There is nothing that says you cannot move forward, backwards, or sideways through time. But we are limited to perceiving forward movement through time, because that is how our world is. If a "wave" comes through and knocks us off our timeline we will land in a new time.
In short, it's all a matter of learning how to surf.
5:24:19 PM 
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