Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics, and Science Fiction"Here's a gem of a book...all peppered with delightful notes from science fiction films, novels, and comics. I can't turn a page without finding a jewel." Clifford Stoll, University of California, Berkeley, author of The Cuckoo's Egg "The research that has gone into this book is impressive." Nature "For professional physicists much of the value lies in the extensive technical appendices and footnotes, and the exhaustive list of references. But if, like me, you are a child at heart, the real fun lies in the zany stories and wild speculations." Physics World Time Machines explores the idea of time travel from the first account in English literature to the latest theories of physicists such as Kip Thorne and Igor Novikov. This very readable work covers a variety of topics including the history of time travel in fiction; the fundamental scientific concepts of time, spacetime, and the fourth dimension; the speculations of Einstein, Richard Feynman, Kurt Goedel, and others; time travel paradoxes, and much more. |
Contents
Machineless Time Travel Without Dreams or Drugs | 13 |
Traveling to the Past | 30 |
Backward in TimeCan It Really Be Done? | 43 |
Ways to Avoid Paradoxes 656 | 57 |
Skepticism and Time Travelers | 72 |
Einstein Gödel and the Past | 79 |
Quantum Mechanics Black Holes Singularities | 85 |
Tiplers Time Machine | 92 |
Other Arrows of Time | 236 |
Time Travel Paradoxes | 245 |
Early Science Fiction Speculations | 251 |
Can the Present Change the Past? | 259 |
Changing the Past vs Affecting It | 269 |
Why Cant a Time Traveler Kill His Grandfather? | 285 |
Quantum Mechanics and Time Travel | 294 |
Causal Loops | 304 |
What Is Time? | 98 |
Has the Past Been for Ever? | 109 |
Time and Clocks | 115 |
Monsters in Hyperspace | 125 |
Time as the Fourth Dimension | 140 |
Spacetime Omniscience and Free Will | 161 |
Does the Future Already Exist? Is the Past | 170 |
The Arrows of Time | 179 |
Cause and Effect | 185 |
Backward Causation | 191 |
What Does Now Mean? | 198 |
Irreversibility | 205 |
The Philosophy and Physics of Reversed Time | 220 |
Entropy as Times Arrow | 227 |
Sexual Paradoxes | 319 |
Communication with the Past | 327 |
Absorber Theory and Signaling to the Past | 336 |
Tachyonic Signals Spooky Actions | 342 |
Epilogue | 355 |
Notes and References | 367 |
Tech Notes | 415 |
Spacetime Diagrams Light Cones Metrics | 439 |
A HighSpeed Rocket Is a OneWay | 467 |
Backward Time Travel According to Gödel | 489 |
Solving the Einstein Gravitational Field | 527 |
Glossary of Important Terms and Concepts | 545 |
618 | |
Other editions - View all
Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics, and Science Fiction Paul J. Nahin No preview available - 2014 |
Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics, and Science Fiction Paul J. Nahin No preview available - 1993 |
Common terms and phrases
acceleration actually appeared argued argument arrow backward causation backward time travel black hole block universe called Cauchy horizon causal loops cause century changing the past chronology protection chronology protection conjecture classic clock closed timelike curves concept cosmic string course cylinder discussed Earth Edited effect Einstein electromagnetic energy entropy equations example exist explain fact fantasy faster than light Feynman field film four-dimensional fourth dimension future gadget Gödel's grandfather paradox happen Hawking hyperspace idea imagine infinite Journal later light cones logical machine mathematical matter movie moving novel observer paper particle philosophers Philosophy of Science photon Physical Review physicists possible present problem Professor puzzle quantum gravity quantum mechanics reversed rocket rotating science fiction writers simply singularity space spacetime special relativity speed of light star tachyons tale Tech Note temporal theory things time-traveling tion Tipler trip warp Wheeler world line wormhole write wrote York