Hey, my name is Gene Lee. I'm a high school senior and I thought you might like to hear one of my theories. Someone's probably already though of this, but here it is anyway.

In order for matter to exist, it must be located in space; without space, all matter ceases to exist. Suppose a 3-dimensional being were to "remove" a being from a 2-dimensional world, such as the one depicted in Flatland. It would be impossible to remove the 2-dimensional being without tearing a hole in his universe. If you do not understand why, picture this: take a blank sheet of paper and with a pencil, draw a circle in the center. The circle represents a 2-dimensional figure; the only way to remove it from its universe-the sheet of paper- is to cut the paper aroung the figure, leaving a hole. The same would hold true for a three dimensional character to step into the fourth dimension. A hole in space would remain where the three dimensional being was located before being transported into the fourth dimension. Beyond this "portal of nothing" there is no space to sustain an object's structure- any being who unknowingly stepped into this abyss of nothingness would simply cease to exist.

I read the Huge Clock theory and in addition to the antithesis of that theory, I thought of another reason why time travel cannot occur in our universe. The problem with time travel is that it leads to physical paradoxes. Contradictions cannot happen in our world, and time travel and the "huge clock theories" lead to contradictions; therefore, there is no such thing as time travel. Here is an example to justify my reasoning: Suppose I build a time machine that can go back in time 5 minutes. Around 9:30 A.M. I set the timer to begin the time travel at 9:40. I wait for a while and at 9:35 there are two time machines in the room: one that has jumped from the past and one that has not yet jumped. For five minutes both machines are on the table, and at 9:40, the timer goes off and the original machine (machine 1) disappears. After 9:40, I am left with only the machine that has jumped back from the future(machine 2). Now suppose that my original time machine is equipped with a device that makes sure that the table is clear of all objects before the "jump" occurs. If the machine senses any object, it overrides the timer and does not reappear in the future. Now repeat the experiment. If machine 2 appears at 9:35, then it will be around at 9:40 and machine 1 will sense it and refuse to make the time leap. And if no jump occurs, then machine 2 does not appear at 9:35. If machine 2 does not appear at 9:35, then machine 1 will make the time leap as planned. If machine 2 makes the time leap, then machine 1 appears at 9:35. Therefore; machine 2 appears if and only if machine 2 does not appear at 9:35. Obviously this cannot happen.

I think time travel can very well be possible. I just read Gene Lee's theory about it not being possible because of paradoxes like the one she described. I think if you jump from the present to the past, then whatever you do there, you have made yourself a totally new timeline from the point where you went into the past.. you can never return back to the timeline you were once in but you have made your own. In addition, traveling into the future isn't possible, because since it has never happened to you yet, and your time line hasn't reached there yet, you cannot go into the future. You can go into the past because your timeline has already got there and has past it. Therefore, if you travel into the past, you're stuck.. and you can never return. Whatever you do then will make your timeline unique to all others. There may be a way to jump between timelines allowing the person to jump back to his reality. Another thing I would like to address is the scenerio in the movie "Groundhog Day." In the movie the main character's "consciousness" is sent back always at the end of groundhog day to the beginning of the day. So no matter what he did, he would always end up in the beginning of the day unscratched, and everything will be as if he did it the first time. I think what happened to him was a time "fluke" where the timeline was broken or somehow malfunctioned. I think in all the days he had lived, he had created tons of unique timelines that went on without his consciousness, because he was always sent back. If he committed suicide, he was sent back, but I think that timeline kept going on as if he were dead. Or if he just went about normally, that time line would go on with him, but he himself has been taken back. Another "him" would replace him in the other timeline. The thing is, if that ever happened to me.. I would be cautious and wonder if this day will be the "real" day for me :).. otherwise I would have some fun ;)

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