How to see the past
(Written: Feb 2015)
For centuries humans have pondered the idea of time travel. The idea of changing the past could be viewed as a luxury to anyone who wishes they could have changed something in order to make their present day life more desirable. Some people wish to see a passed away loved one, some to alter the course of history and some just wish they could feel what they felt in a moment of time that has now fleeted their current situation. When thinking about time travel humans tend to imagine that we could make a device where we could actually travel back in time and experience or alter the past. This notion is almost always imagined as a time travelling vehicle or “time machine”.
Let us imagine for a moment that this is possible. The problem with this type of approach is that there would be potential consequences with altering and interacting with people from the past. What if there was a way to experience the past in real time without actually harming or altering it? Wouldn't this be a better solution? Wouldn't it be less risky to view and experience the past without taking the potential risks of physically traveling through time? Not only could we risk bodily harm but we would also risk the possibility of not being able to return. This familiar scenario has played out in many T.V. shows and movies throughout the years. Humans intrinsically are fascinated about the notion of time travel and it’s feasibility. There do not seem to be many solutions or feasible approaches to this time travelling innovation in the near future. After all, if there was a way to jump through time; don’t you think we would have had more interactions with people from the future by now?
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Normally real solutions to future ideas are not created how they were originally imagined. Take a television for example; if you were to travel back in time and explain what a television is to people hundreds of years ago, you would perhaps describe it as a window that can see to other parts of the world. You would then go on to describe it as being almost instantaneous. Most people would assume you are crazy and/or have a very active imagination. Well, eventually it happened! So did flying through the sky on metal that weighs tens of thousands of pounds not to mention landing on the moon.
When thinking about this fascinating notion, I began to think about the feasibility of time travel and what it is we desire from this experience. If there was a way to experience the past without actually harming or altering, it or ourselves. Wouldn’t that be desirable? After all, it seems what we are really wanting to do is experience and learn about history without actually risking our own lives or the lives of others. Being a researcher I started to think about space, time and lightspeed. In the following text I will explain a feasible solution for the future. Although what I am about to tell you isn’t possible yet (just like the window that could see across the world used to be) it is a lot more feasible than a time machine.
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Background:
Perhaps you have seen this fact on the internet but didn’t pay it too much attention: When we look through a telescope what we see is not really there right now, it is just light from the past. What we are seeing is the way that a star looked like in the time of the dinosaurs here on Earth. The light we are seeing from these stars is millions of years old (before humans even existed). We are actually looking at everything we see in space in its past form.
For example; when looking at stars, we are looking millions of years into the past of what once existed. In contrast, when looking at the sun, we are looking at the sun 8 minutes ago. Why is this? Well it has to do with the speed of light. Although we feel as though light on Earth is instantaneous, it actually is not. It takes time for light to travel just like anything else. In this situation the sun is much closer than the stars we see in the sky. Light is the fastest traveling thing currently known to man. So, with this understanding it is possible that if we placed a man on a far away star, with a super powerful telescope, that that man could hypothetically look back at Earth and see the dinosaurs roaming Pangia. What does this have to do with traveling through time you ask?
Perhaps you have seen this fact on the internet but didn’t pay it too much attention: When we look through a telescope what we see is not really there right now, it is just light from the past. What we are seeing is the way that a star looked like in the time of the dinosaurs here on Earth. The light we are seeing from these stars is millions of years old (before humans even existed). We are actually looking at everything we see in space in its past form.
For example; when looking at stars, we are looking millions of years into the past of what once existed. In contrast, when looking at the sun, we are looking at the sun 8 minutes ago. Why is this? Well it has to do with the speed of light. Although we feel as though light on Earth is instantaneous, it actually is not. It takes time for light to travel just like anything else. In this situation the sun is much closer than the stars we see in the sky. Light is the fastest traveling thing currently known to man. So, with this understanding it is possible that if we placed a man on a far away star, with a super powerful telescope, that that man could hypothetically look back at Earth and see the dinosaurs roaming Pangia. What does this have to do with traveling through time you ask?
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Some things to Consider:
So now that we understand how light works and how we are seeing into the past when looking at the universe, we can begin to understand how we could go about looking into the past on Earth. First of all let’s forget about the notion of sending a human out to another planet with a powerful telescope and let’s think “easier”. We need to take two things into consideration: Camera power and something faster than light speed.
First let’s focus on camera power. Technology has been changing and moving forward exponentially over the last few decades. Not only have we figured out how to make cameras much smaller but we have figured out how to make them more powerful with many more features. Over the next couple decades we should expect cameras to be microscopic with exponential zooming power. Perhaps in the next fifty years they can be mere particles; it is only a matter of time.
Next let’s talk about the speed of light being the fastest thing that humans are aware of. It would be foolish to think that there is not another type of energy in the universe that is faster than the speed of light. Light is the fastest energy that we are AWARE of. If this notion sounds ridiculous, just think about how we used to think the world was flat or how people used to think it was impossible to fly through the sky. There will eventually be another discovery in the future that will expose something faster than the speed of light. Perhaps this will happen faster (no pun intended) than we think.
So now that we understand how light works and how we are seeing into the past when looking at the universe, we can begin to understand how we could go about looking into the past on Earth. First of all let’s forget about the notion of sending a human out to another planet with a powerful telescope and let’s think “easier”. We need to take two things into consideration: Camera power and something faster than light speed.
First let’s focus on camera power. Technology has been changing and moving forward exponentially over the last few decades. Not only have we figured out how to make cameras much smaller but we have figured out how to make them more powerful with many more features. Over the next couple decades we should expect cameras to be microscopic with exponential zooming power. Perhaps in the next fifty years they can be mere particles; it is only a matter of time.
Next let’s talk about the speed of light being the fastest thing that humans are aware of. It would be foolish to think that there is not another type of energy in the universe that is faster than the speed of light. Light is the fastest energy that we are AWARE of. If this notion sounds ridiculous, just think about how we used to think the world was flat or how people used to think it was impossible to fly through the sky. There will eventually be another discovery in the future that will expose something faster than the speed of light. Perhaps this will happen faster (no pun intended) than we think.
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Note:
This idea serves as a way to feasibly understand how we would be able to look into the past. This is not claiming that this will absolutely happen but rather serves as a framework on how to approach this when these technologies and discoveries become available to us. The world is changing faster than ever and things you only imagined decades ago are already becoming reality.
Sometimes technology inspires innovation and sometimes innovation inspires technology. I will be focusing on the latter.
How it would work:
Let’s say we have advanced to the point where we have cameras the size of small particles and have harnessed an energy that is much faster than the speed of light. Now we can begin to construct a feasible way to look into the past on Earth. We would have to harness these microscopic cameras within the energy or element (the latter which could be transported by this energy) that travels much faster than the speed of light. We could now hypothetically shoot these cameras out with this new energy source or element out into space. We would shoot cameras out to the very distance that the light from the specific year, month or date from Earth has travelled. At this location we could use these powerful cameras to zoom in on Earth and see what happened. Note that these cameras don’t need to travel millions of light years, they would just travel the amount of light years, months or days away from the current date. For example if we wanted to see December 4, 1994, we would shoot out the cameras exactly 20 light years out from the date December 4, 2014 (if that is today’s date).
Perhaps these future cameras will be so powerful that they will be able to view the Earth as a real time “Google Earth” or whatever it is called at that point. There will be a way to zoom in on certain parts of the world and witness various historical events like the building of the pyramids, the first olympic games or to the very date and time your parents met. This could all be done without actually changing the past or harming a time traveler. These cameras can be placed on various dates and remain in position for a certain date or perhaps they could quickly travel to whatever year they are looking to view.
Perhaps at some point all humans will have access to this technology through an application and this type of technology will help solve crimes, experience history or anything else the user desires. The user could select a year, month or date and then begin viewing and zooming in on different areas of the Earth.
This idea serves as a way to feasibly understand how we would be able to look into the past. This is not claiming that this will absolutely happen but rather serves as a framework on how to approach this when these technologies and discoveries become available to us. The world is changing faster than ever and things you only imagined decades ago are already becoming reality.
Sometimes technology inspires innovation and sometimes innovation inspires technology. I will be focusing on the latter.
How it would work:
Let’s say we have advanced to the point where we have cameras the size of small particles and have harnessed an energy that is much faster than the speed of light. Now we can begin to construct a feasible way to look into the past on Earth. We would have to harness these microscopic cameras within the energy or element (the latter which could be transported by this energy) that travels much faster than the speed of light. We could now hypothetically shoot these cameras out with this new energy source or element out into space. We would shoot cameras out to the very distance that the light from the specific year, month or date from Earth has travelled. At this location we could use these powerful cameras to zoom in on Earth and see what happened. Note that these cameras don’t need to travel millions of light years, they would just travel the amount of light years, months or days away from the current date. For example if we wanted to see December 4, 1994, we would shoot out the cameras exactly 20 light years out from the date December 4, 2014 (if that is today’s date).
Perhaps these future cameras will be so powerful that they will be able to view the Earth as a real time “Google Earth” or whatever it is called at that point. There will be a way to zoom in on certain parts of the world and witness various historical events like the building of the pyramids, the first olympic games or to the very date and time your parents met. This could all be done without actually changing the past or harming a time traveler. These cameras can be placed on various dates and remain in position for a certain date or perhaps they could quickly travel to whatever year they are looking to view.
Perhaps at some point all humans will have access to this technology through an application and this type of technology will help solve crimes, experience history or anything else the user desires. The user could select a year, month or date and then begin viewing and zooming in on different areas of the Earth.
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Some dark patterns and solutions to consider:
This type of technology will need to be used with caution, being that it could also be used for other purposes that infringe on people's privacy. Just like any new technology, there are concerns that should not be taken lightly and privacy is the biggest factor for this type of innovation..
Some solutions to this problem could be:
1. A lag on the number of years humans are allowed to view the Earth
2. This could only be used by select few people in the name of research which would then be made public for viewing after proper approval.
This type of technology will need to be used with caution, being that it could also be used for other purposes that infringe on people's privacy. Just like any new technology, there are concerns that should not be taken lightly and privacy is the biggest factor for this type of innovation..
Some solutions to this problem could be:
1. A lag on the number of years humans are allowed to view the Earth
2. This could only be used by select few people in the name of research which would then be made public for viewing after proper approval.