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From: cipher@mmm.UUCP (Andre Guirard)
Newsgroups: net.physics,net.sci,net.philosophy
Subject: Re: Re: A Sane Man Proposes A Time Travel Experiment
Message-ID: <1037@mmm.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 5-Aug-86 15:53:39 EDT
Article-I.D.: mmm.1037
Posted: Tue Aug  5 15:53:39 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 7-Aug-86 02:14:19 EDT
References: <289@axiom.UUCP> <5723@lanl.ARPA> <720@riccb.UUCP>
Reply-To: cipher@mmm.UUCP (Andre Guirard)
Organization: 3M Company, St. Paul, Minn.
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Xref: watmath net.physics:4751 net.sci:1459 net.philosophy:6457

In article <720@riccb.UUCP> jmc@riccb.UUCP (Jeff McQuinn ) writes:
>Since time and distance traveled are more or less interchangeable quantities
>(one can't be expressed without the other) it would seem that in order to
>back up in in time, the events that occured between leaving the future and
>arriving in the past would have to "unhappen".  The first event to unhappen
>would be that I tried to move back in time (which may short circuit the 
>attempt).  Secondly, since my time is firmly locked together with the rest
>of the universes time, my events unhappening would need to drag the rest
>of the universe along (to back up to yesterday I would need the earth to back
>up one revolution and so on and so on because universal movements were an
>event that happened during my time).  Next, my concept of having this time
>trip would have to unhappen.  So here I somehow am an hour before with no
>concept of having gotten here, and no idea of whats going to happen.  Since
>my time trip unhappened I didn't do it and since I don't know I didn't do it
>I couldn't prove that I didn't (-: do it.  I would expect a short circuit on
>the attempt and see no results...

But you _could_ prove it!  You need a non-deterministic random-number
generator, one based on atomic decay for instance.  Use this device to
generate a random number in the range 0 to 99.  Then, if the number is
not 42, use your experimental time-machine to reset time to just before
the number was generated.  Repeat this procedure 10,000 times.  If the
time-machine works, you will observe that the random-number generator
generated the same number, 42, 10,000 times.

-- 
===+===                                         Andre Guirard
 /@ @\                                          ihnp4!mmm!cipher
/_____\
( @ @ )    My mission: to explore strange new words.
 \ _ /     To seek out and utilize new applications.
  `-'      To shovel snow that snow plows have shoved before.