1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works, and iHeart radio and I love all 5 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:24,119 Speaker 1: things tech. And today we're gonna talk about a fun 6 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: science fiction e kind of topic. We're gonna talk about 7 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: time travel. But I don't really want to focus too 8 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:35,479 Speaker 1: much on the various proposed technological approaches to time travel, 9 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: because those are all either pure science fiction or they're 10 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:49,880 Speaker 1: very much hypothetical and based upon lots of of tenuous guesswork. Instead, 11 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 1: I'm gonna do something even more outlandish, like how could 12 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: we tell if time travelers have walked among us? All Right, 13 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:00,280 Speaker 1: so we're gonna talk a little bit about that. I 14 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 1: will cover a bit of the philosophy behind time travel, 15 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:08,039 Speaker 1: because there's still a debate about whether or not time 16 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:12,559 Speaker 1: travel is a technological possibility. I mean, we know that 17 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: time travel works, because we're doing it right now, traveling 18 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,839 Speaker 1: forward in time at the rate of sixty minutes per hour. 19 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 1: That that's just how time works. However, we also know 20 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: that if you were able to say, get in a 21 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: spaceship and push that spaceship too incredible speeds that humans 22 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: have never been able to get to. But let's say 23 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: that you're getting into a spaceship and you're able to 24 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:44,319 Speaker 1: accelerate to near the speed of light, like five the 25 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: speed of light. That is wicked fast. And you know, 26 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: we know the speed of light is the speed limit 27 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: for space time in our universe, so you're not gonna 28 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:57,600 Speaker 1: go faster than that. And you can't really get mass 29 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 1: to the speed of the speed of light as it 30 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: has mass. That that's one of the limiting factors. But 31 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 1: let's say you can get If you were able to 32 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 1: do that, then time to you would seem to pass 33 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: as normal, like a second would be a second, a 34 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: minute would be a minute. It would feel exactly the 35 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: same as if you were anywhere else. However, time with 36 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,800 Speaker 1: respect to someone who's back on Earth, it would seem 37 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:26,360 Speaker 1: to be very different. It would seem as if the 38 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:28,920 Speaker 1: people back on Earth were living out time at a 39 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: much accelerated rate, and that to them, you are experiencing 40 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 1: time at a much slower rate. So let's say you 41 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: go off on a five year adventure of exploration around 42 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 1: the galaxy. So you're zooming around at the speed of light. 43 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 1: After five years, you come back home to Earth, it 44 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:52,960 Speaker 1: would look like everyone had aged decades while you were 45 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: gone for just five years. Like you aged five years, 46 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: everyone else aged fifty years. Everyone else looks much older 47 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: to them. It would seem as if time had barely 48 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: touched you at all. They had lived out their lives 49 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:12,240 Speaker 1: decade after decade, and you are barely any older than 50 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: when you left. So, in a way, that's kind of 51 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: like time travel, right it would be like you are 52 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: traveling to the future, but you're doing so in a 53 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: way that time is still to you, passing exactly the 54 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: way it always has. It's only when you take the 55 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,679 Speaker 1: reference of someone else. Uh, this is why we call 56 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: it special relativity. That's part of the theory of special relativity. 57 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:40,560 Speaker 1: It's relative to the perspective of someone else who's moving 58 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: at a different speed throughout space time. So that kind 59 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: of time travel would be totally possible if you could 60 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: get a spacecraft up to those speeds, which right now 61 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: would be impossible for us. But if you could, you 62 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: would be able to travel to the future. But what 63 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: if you wanted to travel to the asked ah That 64 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: would be super duper hard traveling to the future is easy, 65 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:14,120 Speaker 1: you just wait. Traveling to the past way more tricky. So, scientifically, 66 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 1: based upon what we understand of our universe and the 67 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 1: laws of physics as we understand them right now, we 68 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: would say that if time travel to the past is 69 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: possible at all, it's probably only possible up to the 70 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 1: point where uh are from the point where the time 71 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:39,599 Speaker 1: travel machine was first made. So, in other words, let's 72 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 1: say it's Tuesday afternoon and you don't have anything going on, 73 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,719 Speaker 1: so you build yourself a time machine. Well, any point 74 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: after Tuesday afternoon, you could use that time machine to 75 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: travel back to Tuesday afternoon, but you couldn't go to 76 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:58,840 Speaker 1: Tuesday morning or Monday, or any point before you had 77 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,640 Speaker 1: created the time machine. The time machine would be your 78 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: point zero. So, sadly, this would mean there's no way 79 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: for us to go back to the time of the 80 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: dinosaurs unless we just happened to come across some t 81 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,359 Speaker 1: rex's old time machine sitting around somewhere or something, or 82 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:20,039 Speaker 1: maybe an alien time machine where aliens had visited the 83 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: Earth millions of years ago, and so we find their 84 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: time machine. It's still miraculously works. We figured out how 85 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:28,279 Speaker 1: to use it, and it doesn't turn us into goo. 86 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: That's a lot of ifs. Also, it depends upon aliens 87 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: having visiting us, so a long shot at best, I 88 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: guess we could say, however, we can look for evidence 89 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,600 Speaker 1: to see if time travelers have visited us. So let's 90 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 1: say that someone has infened a time machine at some point. 91 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 1: Presumably that would mean someone from the future could come 92 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 1: back to some point in our past up to present day, 93 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:00,479 Speaker 1: any point where the time machine had been made forward, 94 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:04,160 Speaker 1: and we would potentially be able to figure that out. 95 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: How would we do that? How do we identify the 96 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: time travelers who secretly walk among us? Well, maybe they 97 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,200 Speaker 1: would identify themselves. So the first person I want to 98 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: talk about is someone that I actually did a full 99 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 1: episode of tech stuff about years and years ago. This 100 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:26,039 Speaker 1: would be John t toor or tight towards t I 101 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:30,039 Speaker 1: t O R. This is one of those Internet memes 102 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:33,279 Speaker 1: from the early early days of the Internet, back in 103 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:36,600 Speaker 1: the late nineties early two thousands, was actually a radio 104 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 1: thing before it was an Internet thing. And the story 105 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: is that, supposedly, according to the narrative, a guy living 106 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:53,480 Speaker 1: in the year twenty six travels back in time, and 107 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: the purpose for traveling back in time. According to the guy, 108 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:00,920 Speaker 1: was that he needed to get a specific compute, one 109 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 1: of the early portable computers. And by portable, I mean 110 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:06,919 Speaker 1: you could in theory lug it around, but it was 111 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: super heavy, like many many, many pounds. It was a 112 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 1: nineteen computer, the IBM fifty. I think it was like 113 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: fifty pounds if I'm not mistaken in weight, not in 114 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:24,040 Speaker 1: not in cost. And that, uh, this computer somehow was 115 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: going to be able to fix a problem that existed 116 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 1: in his present day of twenty thirty six, that problem 117 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:38,320 Speaker 1: being largely this issue of a Y two K like problem. 118 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,480 Speaker 1: So if you remember the Y two K issue, it 119 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:45,760 Speaker 1: was that a lot of computer programming had designated years 120 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: as being two digit numbers. Because this was back in 121 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 1: the nineteen hundreds, the late nineteen hundreds, when no one 122 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 1: was really thinking, oh, the system I build now is 123 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:57,240 Speaker 1: going to be the same one we're gonna rely on 124 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: thirty years from now. So pro members were building in 125 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 1: the shortcut of of you know, abbreviating the year to 126 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:08,680 Speaker 1: two digits. The game. By the time this is getting 127 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: to the point where we're at nine, surely will have 128 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: moved on to a different architecture. Software architecture, and they 129 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:21,680 Speaker 1: were wrong, because if we can build onto existing structures 130 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:24,320 Speaker 1: without having to redo the whole thing, that's usually the 131 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 1: choice we make. So the Y two K problem was 132 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: that no one was really sure what would happen when 133 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: the year rolled over from to two thousand and all 134 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:37,880 Speaker 1: those two digit numbers would now say zero zero instead 135 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: of nine nine. Would that mean that the systems would 136 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: suddenly think that we had rolled over and now the 137 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,600 Speaker 1: year was nineteen hundred and a lot of those systems 138 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: were important for things like calculating things like interest and uh, 139 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:56,560 Speaker 1: you know, financial issues, and other control systems. There's a 140 00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: worry that things were really going to go pear shaped 141 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: on January one, two thousand, when all these computer systems 142 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 1: might spontaneously fail, and so there's a huge effort made 143 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 1: to fix that. Well, there's a similar issue in Unix, 144 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: except instead of it being the year two thousand, it 145 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:19,160 Speaker 1: would be the year twenty thirty eight. And so John Titor, 146 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:22,320 Speaker 1: as he called himself, said that was why he came 147 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:24,680 Speaker 1: back in time, was to get hold of this particular 148 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: computer in order to solve this problem in the future 149 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:31,840 Speaker 1: and head off a terrible calamity of all the computer 150 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:36,480 Speaker 1: systems in in the world failing in various ways. The 151 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:41,640 Speaker 1: very first appearance of this personality was in a facts 152 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:44,760 Speaker 1: that used to be a thing still is in a 153 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:47,080 Speaker 1: few rare cases, but the facts that was sent to 154 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 1: Art Bell, who was the host of a show called 155 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:54,600 Speaker 1: Coast to Coast a m which was really a show 156 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: that focused on all sorts of weird fringe theories and 157 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,280 Speaker 1: paranormal phenomenon and things like that. This is back in 158 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:07,960 Speaker 1: nineteen and in that message, the person claimed that the 159 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 1: Y two K problem had created a huge catastrophe in 160 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 1: the future. And so there were a lot of warnings 161 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 1: that John Titor would give. Over the course of the 162 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: next several years. He would show up on various message 163 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 1: boards giving various details about the future according to his travels. 164 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:35,679 Speaker 1: You know, he's making all these these claims that were unsubstantiated, 165 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:37,360 Speaker 1: although if you wait around long enough you could find 166 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:39,640 Speaker 1: out if they were true. But a lot of his 167 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 1: predictions failed failed to play out the way he had said. 168 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:44,880 Speaker 1: Like he said, why two K was gonna lead to 169 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 1: massive disaster? It didn't. It did cause problems, but nothing 170 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: nearly on the level that what of what people were 171 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: afraid of? He said the two thousand four Olympics would 172 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,839 Speaker 1: get canceled. They didn't. He also said that by the 173 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:04,280 Speaker 1: United States would split into warring factions and there'd be 174 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: a great civil war, which did not happen. I mean, 175 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:09,760 Speaker 1: you could say that people are more polarized than ever before, 176 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:14,080 Speaker 1: but we haven't turned into tribal groups that are actually 177 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:17,440 Speaker 1: making war on each other in uh, in the way 178 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 1: that he was suggesting. And he did say, however, that 179 00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 1: he was really from a parallel universe, one that was 180 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:30,040 Speaker 1: nearly identical to ours, but that there was probably a 181 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:34,680 Speaker 1: deviation between one to two per cent, so that things 182 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 1: that happened in his universe may not happen exactly the 183 00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:42,559 Speaker 1: same way in ours, but largely things would be more 184 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 1: or less the same. He also said eventually that the 185 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:49,599 Speaker 1: future wasn't necessarily fixed, which is another get out of 186 00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:52,960 Speaker 1: jail free car card if you're a time traveler. I 187 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:56,680 Speaker 1: guess uh. Eventually, there was some evidence that suggested that 188 00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:59,400 Speaker 1: this was all the work of a couple of brothers 189 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: in Florida who had sort of orchestrated the whole thing. 190 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 1: There was another person who claimed that he was sort 191 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:08,559 Speaker 1: of consulted as part of this and that was kind 192 00:12:08,559 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 1: of a collaborative storytelling exercise that sort of snowballed out 193 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:16,600 Speaker 1: of control. So chances are not a real time traveler. 194 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:21,280 Speaker 1: So then there was also the sad but fascinating tale 195 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:24,840 Speaker 1: of a man who used the pseudonym Bob White among others. 196 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:27,440 Speaker 1: This was back in the early two thousand's and this 197 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:33,000 Speaker 1: guy sent out emails in huge blasts, like millions of 198 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,800 Speaker 1: people were getting these emails, and essentially this was a 199 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:40,240 Speaker 1: spam email, but instead of trying to sell something, uh, 200 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:45,679 Speaker 1: this spam email was asking for some pretty crazy fictional technology. 201 00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:49,000 Speaker 1: It was like a three page long manifesto and it 202 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,280 Speaker 1: included things saying that the person needed something like an 203 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:56,040 Speaker 1: AcBe five by twenty four series time transducing capacitor was 204 00:12:56,080 --> 00:13:00,680 Speaker 1: built in temporal displacement, which is not a thing, but 205 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:03,880 Speaker 1: was asked for. So a guy named Dave Hill responded 206 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,080 Speaker 1: to this. He found it fascinating and he went so 207 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:11,160 Speaker 1: far as to even send an old hard drive, calling 208 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,720 Speaker 1: it a warp generator. But then he found out that 209 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:18,160 Speaker 1: the recipient wasn't just someone like making a joke on 210 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,440 Speaker 1: the internet. It was someone who actually seemed to truly 211 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:24,680 Speaker 1: believe in what they were saying, and they were showing 212 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:28,560 Speaker 1: some signs of paranoia and some other concerns. And it 213 00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:32,160 Speaker 1: turned out that this was Robert Robbie Todino, who had 214 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:34,959 Speaker 1: been sending millions of emails since November two thousand one. 215 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:37,440 Speaker 1: He was in his twenties. He had founded a company 216 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:40,560 Speaker 1: called RT Marketing, which sent out spam messages about all 217 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:43,440 Speaker 1: sorts of products on behalf of various clients. But he 218 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 1: was eventually hit with a five thousand dollar fine from 219 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:48,840 Speaker 1: the state of Massachusetts in a cease and desist order 220 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:51,120 Speaker 1: for that sort of stuff. That's around the time when 221 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:53,400 Speaker 1: he started sending out these anonymous calls for help in 222 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:58,880 Speaker 1: obtaining various science e sounding but largely fictional pieces of equipment. 223 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:01,559 Speaker 1: And he said that his life had been quote severely 224 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,440 Speaker 1: tampered with end quote and they needed to find a 225 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:07,200 Speaker 1: way to rewind time to fix it. And he called 226 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:10,040 Speaker 1: himself Bob Wyatt or Tim Jones or several other aliases 227 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:13,840 Speaker 1: as he corresponded with other people. His father said that 228 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:19,120 Speaker 1: Tudino had mental health problems, including dissociative disorder, and that 229 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: the interactions with people had made it worse. Some people 230 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:25,240 Speaker 1: were likely taking advantage of him it's a very sad story. 231 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:29,400 Speaker 1: But he was seemingly convinced that time travelers were in 232 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:34,560 Speaker 1: fact real and walking among us, but no actual evidence 233 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:36,960 Speaker 1: came from that. So that's one way we can look 234 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 1: for time travelers, look for people who claimed to be them. 235 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:42,880 Speaker 1: But maybe that won't work. Maybe people are maybe they're 236 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:44,600 Speaker 1: a little more shy. So what if we were to 237 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:48,560 Speaker 1: ask them to show up at a particular place in time. 238 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:51,440 Speaker 1: So that was the thought behind the m i T 239 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: Time Traveler Convention. On May seven, two thousand five, students 240 00:14:56,560 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: at m i T, who were led by an Electrical 241 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:02,120 Speaker 1: engineering and Computer scien it's graduate student named Amal Dora 242 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:07,200 Speaker 1: I held an official convention for time travelers and according 243 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:10,920 Speaker 1: to Dora, any real lifetime traveler was welcome to show 244 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:14,120 Speaker 1: up with no rs VP. They just had to bring 245 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:17,640 Speaker 1: proof that he or she was from the future. And 246 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 1: and what I think was a pretty clever move. They 247 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:23,960 Speaker 1: focused very heavily on getting the word out to the press. 248 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: And this wasn't just about night marketing a goofy silly event. 249 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: It was a vital part of this experiment because by 250 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: publicizing the event, by spreading the word wide, they could 251 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: better ensure that people time travelers in the future learn 252 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:50,400 Speaker 1: about that convention, that party, and that as a result, 253 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:53,280 Speaker 1: they could travel back to that moment in time to 254 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:57,200 Speaker 1: attend the party. And as they said, this web page 255 00:15:57,240 --> 00:15:59,600 Speaker 1: is insufficient. In less than a year, it will be 256 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: taken down when I graduate. Spoiler alert, it wasn't taken down. 257 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 1: It's still up. And furthermore, the World Wide Web is 258 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 1: unlikely to remain in its present form permanently. Probably true, 259 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:12,600 Speaker 1: but it's still pretty much the way it was back then. 260 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 1: We need volunteers to publish the details of the convention 261 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 1: in enduring forms so that the time travelers of future 262 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 1: millennia will be aware of the convention. This convention can 263 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:26,280 Speaker 1: never be forgotten. We need publicity in major outlets, not 264 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:30,120 Speaker 1: just Internet news. Think New York Times, Washington Post, books, 265 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:33,160 Speaker 1: that sort of thing. If you have any strings, please 266 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 1: pull them. And you could ask, well, what what can 267 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 1: I do? And they said that's great. Uh, write it 268 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: down on a piece of acid free paper and slip 269 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:46,239 Speaker 1: those pieces of paper into obscure books in academic libraries, 270 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 1: carve them into a clay tablet. If you write for 271 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:52,400 Speaker 1: a newspaper, insert a few details about the convention, tell 272 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:54,360 Speaker 1: your friends so that the word of the convention will 273 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:57,640 Speaker 1: be preserved in our oral history. Time travel is a 274 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:00,280 Speaker 1: hard problem and it may not be invented until long 275 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,520 Speaker 1: after m I t itself has faded into oblivion. Thus 276 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:07,320 Speaker 1: we ask you to include the latitude longitude information when 277 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 1: you publicize the convention. You can also make an absolute 278 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:14,080 Speaker 1: commitment to publicize the convention afterwards. In that case, bring 279 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: a time counsel or whatever it may be to the party, 280 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:19,560 Speaker 1: and then bury it afterwards. So I got a lot 281 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:21,800 Speaker 1: of coverage. They even got our rite up in Nature 282 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:25,679 Speaker 1: News that was called Time Travelers Snub Conference, So I 283 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:28,440 Speaker 1: guess you can see how that turned out. The website, 284 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:30,640 Speaker 1: which like I said, is still up to this day, 285 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: says update. The convention was a mixed success. Unfortunately we 286 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:40,680 Speaker 1: had no confirmed time travelers visit us, yet many time 287 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:44,920 Speaker 1: travelers could have attended incognito to avoid endless questions about 288 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:48,480 Speaker 1: the future. We had a great series of lectures, awesome bands, 289 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:51,880 Speaker 1: and even a DeLorean. We regret having had to turn 290 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:56,000 Speaker 1: away visitors, but there was were capacity restrictions governing Morse Hall. 291 00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:58,600 Speaker 1: Thanks so much to the dozens of people who helped, 292 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:02,119 Speaker 1: I've got a lot more to talk about trying to 293 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:05,560 Speaker 1: track down those pesky time travelers, but first let's take 294 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 1: a little time out to thank our sponsor sticking with 295 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:20,119 Speaker 1: these events that are being held for time travelers. On 296 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 1: June two thousand nine, Stephen Hawking held a party in 297 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 1: Cambridge for time travelers. All time travelers were invited to come, 298 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: but the catch was he did not issue the invitation 299 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:37,800 Speaker 1: to the party until after the party had already taken place. 300 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 1: So the invitation flyer read you are cordially invited to 301 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:45,320 Speaker 1: a reception for time Travelers hosted by Professor Stephen Hawking, 302 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:48,200 Speaker 1: to be held at the University of Cambridge, Gonville and 303 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:52,520 Speaker 1: Caius College, Trinity Street, Cambridge. And then it's gave the 304 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:56,680 Speaker 1: exact global positioning coordinates for the party and said champagne 305 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,920 Speaker 1: would be served. But I guess it wasn't that rally 306 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 1: party because it was it was held at noon, unless 307 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,119 Speaker 1: I don't know, kay, Cambridge, if you're out there, do 308 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:14,360 Speaker 1: you get turned up at noon? If so? Well done? Anyway, 309 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:18,600 Speaker 1: Later on, after the party had happened, he publicized the 310 00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:21,160 Speaker 1: party in the press and on the web, and had 311 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,479 Speaker 1: an elegantly designed version of this flyer printed up and 312 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: placed on sale, and said I'm hoping copies of it, 313 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:30,760 Speaker 1: in one form or another, will survive for many thousands 314 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:33,720 Speaker 1: of years. Maybe one day someone living in the future 315 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,399 Speaker 1: will find this information and use a wormhole time machine 316 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 1: to come back to my party, proving that time travel 317 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:43,040 Speaker 1: will one day be possible. But no one showed up. 318 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,320 Speaker 1: Hawking later said during an interview at the two thousand 319 00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:50,120 Speaker 1: twelve Seattle Science Festival, I have experimental evidence that time 320 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:53,720 Speaker 1: travel is not possible. I gave a party for time travelers, 321 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:56,560 Speaker 1: but I didn't send out the invitations until after the party. 322 00:19:56,800 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 1: I sat there a long time, but no one came. 323 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:03,400 Speaker 1: So I guess Stephen Hawking just kind of watched champagne 324 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 1: slowly go flat. So if they're not showing up to 325 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:11,480 Speaker 1: our parties, maybe maybe there's some you know, weird laws 326 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:14,199 Speaker 1: in the future about time travel and keeping it secret. 327 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:17,520 Speaker 1: What if we were to use big data to mind 328 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:22,080 Speaker 1: for the presence of time travelers. There is a paper 329 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:27,359 Speaker 1: that was written back in or released in It was 330 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:31,679 Speaker 1: written before that, titled searching the Internet for Evidence of 331 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,439 Speaker 1: Time Travelers. It was written by Robert J. Nemerov and 332 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:40,920 Speaker 1: Theresa Wilson over at the Michigan Technological University's physics department, 333 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,680 Speaker 1: and they looked for evidence of time travelers by sifting 334 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,879 Speaker 1: through enormous amounts of data on the Internet. And the 335 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 1: idea was that if travelers from the future were to 336 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 1: come to the Internet age, they might not, you know, 337 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:58,479 Speaker 1: come forward and proclaim themselves as time travelers, but they 338 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:01,600 Speaker 1: might leave some sort of race of their presence on 339 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:05,439 Speaker 1: the web if you just looked for things that showed 340 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:09,480 Speaker 1: evidence of what they called prescient knowledge, in other words, 341 00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:14,520 Speaker 1: looking for any indications that someone knows about something before 342 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:18,840 Speaker 1: that something actually happens. And they used three main methods 343 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 1: to do this. First, they looked back at the web 344 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:24,679 Speaker 1: for terms that would not have made any sense at 345 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,639 Speaker 1: the time they were published, but which now referred to 346 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:31,800 Speaker 1: something meaningful. They gave examples. They said, search terms related 347 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 1: to comment I sn I S O N, which was 348 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:38,520 Speaker 1: not discovered until September twenty first, two thousand twelve. Or 349 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:44,639 Speaker 1: Pope Francis, which was formerly Cardinal Jorge Mario Burgoglio uh. 350 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:48,000 Speaker 1: He chose the name Francis in March two thousand thirteen, 351 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:52,080 Speaker 1: but before March two thirteen there was no Pope Francis. 352 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: There never been a Pope Francis, he's the first one. 353 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:59,440 Speaker 1: So if they said we find evidence of these terms 354 00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:04,160 Speaker 1: existing before those dates, that could indicate a time traveler 355 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:08,320 Speaker 1: who was googling around or maybe popping on Facebook or 356 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:12,399 Speaker 1: Twitter or something and looking for these terms, but it 357 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:16,520 Speaker 1: was before those things had happened. The next method they 358 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 1: used was they looked for prescient search terms in search 359 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:24,359 Speaker 1: engine history. So again, if let's say that they're not 360 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 1: posting to Facebook or Twitter or whatever. Also, Facebook is 361 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:29,520 Speaker 1: problematic because you could back date posts for a really 362 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:33,800 Speaker 1: long time, so you could actually cheat. You could post 363 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:36,119 Speaker 1: about you could set the date on a post to 364 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:39,680 Speaker 1: being before the thing actually happened, so that would be 365 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:41,679 Speaker 1: it would look like you were a time traveler, but 366 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:43,960 Speaker 1: it was just because Facebook allowed you to do it. Anyway, 367 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 1: they said, let's see if there's any evidence of search 368 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:51,200 Speaker 1: terms being used before these things happened. Google trends didn't 369 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,000 Speaker 1: really turn up any interesting results. But then they pointed 370 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:58,119 Speaker 1: out Google aggregates this data and it very well. Maybe 371 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:00,760 Speaker 1: that if it's a time traveler who's come back to 372 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:03,760 Speaker 1: present day, there might not be enough information there for 373 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:07,840 Speaker 1: you to draw an in conclusions. Uh, one of the 374 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:10,920 Speaker 1: studies authors happened to have access to the back end 375 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,639 Speaker 1: for NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day subsite, so he 376 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,560 Speaker 1: checked to see if anyone had searched for any evidence 377 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:21,680 Speaker 1: of common ice and before it had been discovered. And Third, 378 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:24,480 Speaker 1: they invited the future people to travel into the past 379 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:28,640 Speaker 1: before the end of August tweet at them with one 380 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:31,360 Speaker 1: of two hashtags. They said, if you're a time traveler, 381 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:34,159 Speaker 1: go back to the past. Use Twitter and send on 382 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: the message and include one of these two hashtags. Either 383 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 1: hashtag I can change the past. Two. That would be 384 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:45,400 Speaker 1: if the time travelers says yes, I can travel through 385 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:49,800 Speaker 1: time and history is plastic, which means the past is changeable. 386 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:53,040 Speaker 1: You can go back in time and change things, and 387 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,400 Speaker 1: the present and the future are not set in stone. 388 00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 1: The second was hashtag I cannot change the past two, 389 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 1: and that would be if time travel works, but it 390 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:07,920 Speaker 1: works in a fixed history scenario, which means it's possible. 391 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:12,959 Speaker 1: But the stuff that we experience is already part of 392 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: the whole time travel thing. Like you, you wouldn't be 393 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:16,959 Speaker 1: able to change the future. It would have to be 394 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:20,240 Speaker 1: stuff that it's the way it's always happened. It's a 395 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:24,160 Speaker 1: little confusing. It actually goes into a principle called self consistency. 396 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:28,760 Speaker 1: They were careful to not use the hashtag in search 397 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:32,800 Speaker 1: until after their advertisement asking for past tweets in order 398 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,360 Speaker 1: to prevent time paradoxes, and it didn't turn up any results. 399 00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: So in the end they discovered no prescient knowledge through 400 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,680 Speaker 1: any of these inquiries. So that leads to the question 401 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:46,200 Speaker 1: of if time travel is possible, why haven't we seen 402 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:50,679 Speaker 1: any evidence of it. So, so possibility number one is 403 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,159 Speaker 1: time travel to the past is impossible. It's just not 404 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:56,639 Speaker 1: possible at all, at least not for human beings, or 405 00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:59,119 Speaker 1: we never figure out how to do it. The next 406 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 1: is that, yes, time travel is possible, but we have 407 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:04,040 Speaker 1: that limit of you can only go back as far 408 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:07,000 Speaker 1: as a time travel machine has been invented, and so 409 00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:11,080 Speaker 1: far no one's invented one. That's the next possibility. Then 410 00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:17,840 Speaker 1: there's the concept of causality branching, or the multiple world's theory, 411 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:22,520 Speaker 1: the idea that that our timeline is one of many, 412 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 1: and anytime you travel through back through time, you're actually 413 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: creating a split from your timeline. So you have your 414 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:36,200 Speaker 1: original timeline where everything is the same and nothing in 415 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:39,160 Speaker 1: the past gets changed. Then you have the new timeline 416 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 1: that splits off to the moment when you travel back 417 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:45,080 Speaker 1: to it, and so you can make changes to that, 418 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: and everything in that timeline is affected by your actions. 419 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:52,480 Speaker 1: But your original timeline, the one you traveled from, continues 420 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:55,320 Speaker 1: to go without you in it because you've you've moved 421 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:59,160 Speaker 1: away from it, but it doesn't the past events don't 422 00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:02,760 Speaker 1: get changed round, so you're looking at lots of parallel universes. 423 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:05,600 Speaker 1: So this would allow you to do stuff like actually 424 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:09,919 Speaker 1: go back in time and to kill yourself or your father, 425 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:14,199 Speaker 1: or your grandfather or or any of your ancestors. And 426 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: it wouldn't affect you, the person who traveled back, because 427 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: you're from a parallel timeline, But it would mean that 428 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:25,840 Speaker 1: the alternate version of you would either die or never 429 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:31,680 Speaker 1: be born because you eliminated them and called blood you, 430 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:37,400 Speaker 1: you crazy person. So the other possibility is that maybe 431 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:39,760 Speaker 1: time travelers from the future are just hiding from us 432 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:43,439 Speaker 1: and are just really really good at it. Uh So 433 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:48,040 Speaker 1: that's also a question of how would that be possible. 434 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:50,639 Speaker 1: I mean, people make mistakes all the time, so you 435 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 1: would think someone somewhere would have slipped up if they 436 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:56,040 Speaker 1: had traveled back in time. There's gotta be some goofs, right, 437 00:26:56,359 --> 00:26:59,040 Speaker 1: if time travel is possible, some goofs eventually gets hold 438 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:03,439 Speaker 1: of time travel and makes a complete mess of things. 439 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 1: But we haven't really noticed that. I'm gonna put political 440 00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 1: commentary aside. Let me take another quick break, and then 441 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:22,800 Speaker 1: we'll conclude our discussion about searching for time travelers. All right, 442 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:26,200 Speaker 1: So we talked to a little bit about the different 443 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:29,760 Speaker 1: ways that we might be able to to find time travelers. 444 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:31,760 Speaker 1: There are a couple of other things I think would 445 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:34,720 Speaker 1: be kind of fun to talk about, like, uh, evidence 446 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 1: supposedly of time travel. You may have heard about Chaplain's 447 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:42,960 Speaker 1: film about the Circus, and there's a image of a 448 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: woman in the background. Um, it's this movie was made 449 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,000 Speaker 1: in nineteen and there's a woman in the background who 450 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:53,240 Speaker 1: looks like she's on a smartphone, Like it looks like 451 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:56,280 Speaker 1: she's holding a smartphone to her face, and you're thinking, nine, 452 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:00,480 Speaker 1: this is someone from the future, but so far in 453 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:02,800 Speaker 1: the future that smartphones are no longer a thing. Although 454 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:06,840 Speaker 1: it raises interesting questions like what network would that smartphone 455 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:09,320 Speaker 1: be on if you had traveled back to nineteen eight. 456 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:13,600 Speaker 1: There's no infrastructure there to support it. It turns out 457 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:18,199 Speaker 1: it probably was just a very large hearing aid, because 458 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,960 Speaker 1: hearing aids of that sort of size, portable hearing aids 459 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,240 Speaker 1: that you could carry around, but they were quite large, 460 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,600 Speaker 1: had been around for a few years. Uh. Prototypes have 461 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 1: been around for at least a couple of years. One 462 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,840 Speaker 1: had been patented as early as nineteen twenty four, so 463 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:38,120 Speaker 1: night was still pretty early for that. They might probably 464 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:42,360 Speaker 1: were pretty rare, but it seems like a more accurate 465 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 1: guests than a woman had time traveled to be an 466 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,640 Speaker 1: extra and a Charlie Chaplin film. Uh. There's also the 467 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:52,440 Speaker 1: famous picture of a group of people standing around looking 468 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:54,840 Speaker 1: at a bridge and one of them looks like a 469 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 1: hipster from modern day, wearing like a it looks like 470 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 1: a print T shirt, and them crazy looking sunglasses. And 471 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:06,320 Speaker 1: the picture was taken in ninety one at South Fork 472 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:12,600 Speaker 1: Bridge in gold Bridge, British Columbia. However, upon closer examinations, 473 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 1: people pointed out the glasses the guys wearing were totally contemporary. 474 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:21,440 Speaker 1: They existed in the forties. They the leather side guards 475 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:24,360 Speaker 1: were a little antiquated. It wasn't something that you frequently 476 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:28,840 Speaker 1: saw in nineteen forties, but they did exist before then. Uh, 477 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,600 Speaker 1: And also that the print t shirt he's wearing was 478 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:38,120 Speaker 1: actually probably more of a sweater and cardigan layer with 479 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:41,880 Speaker 1: a with a logo knit on the sweaters. In fact, 480 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 1: there's some guests that it probably was the logo of 481 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 1: a local hockey team, So that kind of puts the 482 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:57,600 Speaker 1: the the lid on that particular one. Um, So there 483 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:01,400 Speaker 1: are other ones that I've seen h people who supposedly 484 00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:05,320 Speaker 1: are time travelers. In some cases you would argue this 485 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:09,680 Speaker 1: could easily be photoshop, or it could just be a 486 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:13,400 Speaker 1: case of, you know, mistaking one thing that was actually 487 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:16,840 Speaker 1: quite common during that era as something that came from 488 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:22,760 Speaker 1: outside of that time. Sadly, no no actual hard evidence 489 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:27,400 Speaker 1: there either, and I am I am hurt to say that. 490 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:30,640 Speaker 1: So what else can we do? Maybe we could provide 491 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:34,520 Speaker 1: an incentive for time travelers to show up and and 492 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:39,040 Speaker 1: leave evidence of time travel. But to do that, we'd 493 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 1: have to figure out what motivates time travelers, like what 494 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: what would be considered valuable. I mean, if grabbing a 495 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:51,000 Speaker 1: drink with one of the most famous scientists of the 496 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:55,520 Speaker 1: modern age isn't enough to convince you to pop on 497 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:59,640 Speaker 1: over to Cambridge at noon and have some Champagne. I 498 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:03,880 Speaker 1: don't what is so. I'm not sure that we could 499 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:09,080 Speaker 1: come up with something even if time travel were possible now. Ultimately, 500 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:13,400 Speaker 1: I don't think time travel is going to be possible 501 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:17,840 Speaker 1: any time in our lifetimes. Like if we ever do 502 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 1: design a time travel device, my guess is it's far 503 00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:26,280 Speaker 1: into the future. And I also think that the scientists 504 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 1: are right on the money that no one will be 505 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:31,320 Speaker 1: able to travel back further than the moment when the 506 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:33,640 Speaker 1: time travel machine was made. I think it far more 507 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:38,720 Speaker 1: likely that we will develop faster propulsion systems that will 508 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:44,440 Speaker 1: ultimately bring special relativity into the situation where we will 509 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,880 Speaker 1: have some discrepancies between how much time seems to have 510 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 1: passed for one person versus another. But that's not quite 511 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:54,400 Speaker 1: the same thing, and I don't think it's going to 512 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:59,040 Speaker 1: be so dramatic as traveling at the speed of light. 513 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,480 Speaker 1: I don't think we're gonna get that fast, but we 514 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:04,640 Speaker 1: might get fast enough where you know, the clock on 515 00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:06,960 Speaker 1: the ship is not going to match the clocks on Earth. 516 00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:09,920 Speaker 1: We already have to account for this sort of stuff 517 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: due to both special and general relativity with our satellite systems. 518 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:16,840 Speaker 1: I talked a bit about that in a recent episode 519 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:21,360 Speaker 1: about how special relativity has to do with the relative 520 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:27,040 Speaker 1: speed of various bodies traveling through spacetime. General general relativity 521 00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:33,360 Speaker 1: involves time in its relationship with gravity, so both of 522 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:39,720 Speaker 1: those things affect the apparent passage of time for respective bodies. 523 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:44,120 Speaker 1: And again, it's all relative, right, because your experience of 524 00:32:44,200 --> 00:32:48,320 Speaker 1: time is dependent upon those factors, And if those factors change, 525 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 1: then the way your experience of time happens will like 526 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:54,880 Speaker 1: to you. It will seem the same until you meet 527 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:56,760 Speaker 1: up with somebody else who has been going through a 528 00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:00,560 Speaker 1: different experience, and then you'll realize that they don't match up. 529 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:04,760 Speaker 1: And you might say, I don't understand only five minutes 530 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 1: have gone by, and the other person says, no, you 531 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:10,040 Speaker 1: were gone for an hour, and because of the actual 532 00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:13,480 Speaker 1: factors involved, you both could be right. It's the crazy 533 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:17,120 Speaker 1: thing about relativity. Man, it's awesome. I loved thinking about 534 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:19,840 Speaker 1: this stuff. I didn't really touch on things like wormholes 535 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:27,440 Speaker 1: and other hypothetical kind of possibilities, largely because they might 536 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:31,600 Speaker 1: end up being a promising way to look at the 537 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,120 Speaker 1: possibility of time travel. I didn't talk about faster than 538 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:36,240 Speaker 1: light travel either, because as far as we can tell, 539 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 1: that's not really possible. Uh, but maybe in the future 540 00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:44,160 Speaker 1: ha ha, I will co into those a little bit more. 541 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:46,560 Speaker 1: Maybe I can get somebody on who's kind of an 542 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:51,720 Speaker 1: expert in these sort of physical, uh these physics problems, 543 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:56,080 Speaker 1: and to talk about the possibilities and which ones are 544 00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:03,040 Speaker 1: pure science fiction versus well, hypothetically that's possible, and which 545 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:05,800 Speaker 1: ones are no. We might totally do that. I'm very 546 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:10,040 Speaker 1: curious what about you, guys, And I'm also curious what's 547 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:12,759 Speaker 1: your favorite time travel movie? I want to I want 548 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 1: to hear responses because there's so many out there, and 549 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:20,120 Speaker 1: my favorites change. I really like them Back to the 550 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 1: Future series, even though if you look at it from 551 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:27,480 Speaker 1: a theoretical time travel point of view, it gets super messy. 552 00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:30,600 Speaker 1: But I really like that series. Uh. I also really 553 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:34,080 Speaker 1: like Bill and Ted, and they're excellent adventure I think 554 00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:36,080 Speaker 1: that one's a lot of fun. I really like time 555 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 1: travel movies that don't take it too seriously, because time 556 00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:41,360 Speaker 1: travel is hard to do well. But there are a 557 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:44,040 Speaker 1: few out there, a few serious sci fi movies that 558 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:46,440 Speaker 1: use time travel that do it quite well. Do you 559 00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:48,319 Speaker 1: have any favorites I want to hear Also, if you 560 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:51,120 Speaker 1: have any suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff. Whether 561 00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:54,200 Speaker 1: it's a technology, maybe it's a company, maybe it's a 562 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:56,600 Speaker 1: person in tech. Let me know. Send me an email. 563 00:34:56,640 --> 00:35:01,360 Speaker 1: The address is tech stuff at how stuff works dot com. 564 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:04,279 Speaker 1: You can go to our website that's tech Stuff podcast 565 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:07,480 Speaker 1: dot com. You'll find links to other ways to contact me, 566 00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:10,719 Speaker 1: like on Facebook or Twitter. You'll find more information about 567 00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:13,359 Speaker 1: the show. You'll find all the episodes there. Sorry, does 568 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:15,200 Speaker 1: a great job on that, so go check that out. 569 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:17,839 Speaker 1: You also can head on over to our store that's 570 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:21,240 Speaker 1: over at t public dot com slash tech stuff. Remember, 571 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:23,440 Speaker 1: every purchase you make goes to the show. We greatly 572 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:26,319 Speaker 1: appreciate it, and we're always having fun coming up with 573 00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:31,040 Speaker 1: new and uh goofy designs. I mean it's me. You 574 00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:34,400 Speaker 1: know it's gonna be goofy. I I gave up trying 575 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:37,799 Speaker 1: to be cool years ago after it was abundantly clear 576 00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:41,160 Speaker 1: I would never achieve that status. So that's all right. 577 00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:43,839 Speaker 1: I'm all right with who I am now, and that's 578 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:47,040 Speaker 1: it for me. I'll talk to you again really soon 579 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:54,919 Speaker 1: for more on this and bathands of other topics. Because 580 00:35:54,960 --> 00:36:01,760 Speaker 1: it how stuff works dot com. Wh whe