You are currently traveling into the future at one second per second
In short: While science fiction relies on flux capacitors and secret machines, real-life time travel is a proven property of our universe. You are already a time traveler, moving forward at a constant rate. However, physics reveals that by manipulating speed and gravity, we can actually alter that pace.
Time travel is not just a trope of cinema; it is a fundamental reality of physics. According to Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity, time is not a constant. Instead, it is an illusion that shifts relative to the observer. This phenomenon, known as time dilation, dictates that the faster you move through space, the slower you experience time. For example, astronauts in orbit age slightly slower than people on Earth. In a famous experiment, a clock flown on an airplane was found to be slightly behind a clock that remained on the ground, proving that high-speed travel physically slows the passage of time.
Gravity plays an equally significant role through Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Massive objects warp the fabric of spacetime, causing clocks to tick more slowly in stronger gravitational fields. Near the surface of a neutron star or the edge of a black hole, this effect becomes extreme. Cosmologist Dave Goldberg notes that a person hanging out near a black hole might experience only a few hours while 1,000 years pass for someone on Earth. If that person were to return to our planet, they would have effectively jumped into the future—a process that is considered completely uncontroversial by scientists.
Traveling to the past remains the 'thorny' frontier of physics. While some theories suggest possibilities like 'closed timelike curves'—loops where an observer returns to their starting point—these remain hypothetical. Early concepts from the 1920s involving spinning cylinders to twist spacetime were only understood as potential time machines in the 1970s. Despite these theories, many physicists, including the late Stephen Hawking, argued against the feasibility of backward travel, noting that the lack of 'tourists from the future' serves as significant evidence against its possibility.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Scientists Find a Way to Travel Through Time
- Also: Is Time Travel Possible? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids
- Also: Is Time Travel Possible? | Scientific American
- Also: www.space.com — Time travel — Is it possible | Space
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