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Paradox 2
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Question:
Is the space-time continuum a never ending loop and if so could we
now be creating a huge anomaly that could destroy the creation of man in the
next circle around?
Replies:
There is no evidence for this, at least locally. We can make a
distinction between the absolute future and the absolute past. They
are distinct and cannot be deformed into one another. This has to do
with the relativistic length of 4-vectors that describe the "distance"
between different events. We may have events that are further away
in time than in distance (called time-like ) and events that are further
away in distance than in time (called space-like). The time like
events can be separated into two separate classes. This classification
should not change under some distortion of space.
This is a fairly vague answer, but you ask a tough question. Good job.
samuel p bowen
Also, there is fairly good evidence that the second law of
thermodynamics (that disorder, or entropy, always increases) is more valid than
just about any other physical law, and in particular determines
a direction of time. A quantity that is continually increasing
implies that the universe can never return at a later point to exactly
the same spot it occupied previously, so such "returns", although
allowed by every other known physical law, are forbidden by
the second law of thermodynamics.
However, time travel is technically possible, and can mess up
all sorts of things...
Arthur Smith
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Update: June 2012
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