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Far-Fetched Time Travel Concept Receives Private Funds

Posted by Zonk on from the if-you're-going-to-make-a-time-machine-do-it-with-some-style dept.

WED Fan writes "A University of Washington researcher who couldn't find funds the old fashioned way has raised funds from private parties to continue with his studies of 'time travel'. He is studying the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox. Basically, using spooky action, he wants to be able to use entangled pairs to send messages, not only through space, but also in time. 'As the evidence for this has accumulated, several fairly contorted and unsatisfying efforts have been aimed at solving the puzzle. Cramer has proposed an explanation that doesn't violate the speed of light but does kind of mess with the traditional concept of time.' Despite the implausibility of the science here laypeople have been inspired by the researcher's idea, enough to donate almost $35,000 to his project."

10 of 505 comments (clear)

  1. I'm all for the scientific method... by DanQuixote · · Score: 3, Insightful


    But I also admire folks who can inspire others toward some dream...

    --
    "We think people rightly feel that once they buy something, it stays bought," --Suw Charman, Open Rights Grp
    1. Re:I'm all for the scientific method... by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The difference between a crackpot and a scientist with a dream is that the scientist still relies on the rigorous application of the scientific method even if their theory is way outside of mainstream. It sounds like this guy is taking the latter tack. He has experiments in mind, and is completely open to the idea that they may fail.

      You don't have to pick between dreaming and scientific rigor. The scientific method is how you turn your dreams into a reality -- if reality is ammenable to your dreams.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    2. Re:I'm all for the scientific method... by magarity · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How exactly would $350,000 help substantiate his loony idea better than $35,000?
       
      The wealthier you are the more other people take you seriously.

  2. ROI by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If time travel can be produced, it's worth (asymptotically) nearly any amount of investmemnt to get it.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

    1. Re:ROI by cowscows · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not to mention that there are plenty of people out there for which $35,000 is really a drop in the bucket. Giving that money to this guy is most likely money wasted, but if that money was most likely just going to sit in the bank with a few other tens of millions of dollars until you die, then you haven't really lost anything worth worrying about anyways.

      If you've got more money than you know what to do with, why not take a couple long-shot bets?

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

  3. List of investors? by MECC · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I wonder if there's a way to get the names of the people who gave him money, and their contact info.

    --
    "We are all geniuses when we dream"
    - E.M. Cioran
  4. Re:obligatory by Intron · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If this worked then there would already be investors lined up who have sent messages to themselves from the future.

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    Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
  5. Re:obligatory by CommunistHamster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The trouble is that there is no such thing as universal simultaneity. What clock do we measure by when measuring "before the message was created"?

  6. These People aren't Investors by m1a1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Most of the comments here make no sense.

    These people are not investors. They did not get "scammed". Those of us who read the article know that this scientist did not even approach them for cash. Rather, news of his plight got out and people wanted to donate. He is a respected particle physicist with a theory that is a little odd. He wants to perform a relatively cheap experiment which should show whether his theory has enough going for it to be worth further examination. If these experiments fail, oh well, back to the drawing board.

    This is the way science is SUPPOSED to work. There's nothing wrong with being skeptical, but acting like this guy is a scam artist is ridiculous. This guy runs a super collider, yet everyone here is so damn sure they understand quantum phenomenon better than he does.

  7. Two counterpoints by BeanThere · · Score: 4, Insightful

    (1) Perhaps there are, and these investors are them.
    (2) Not necessarily, if one needs to develop a special kind of "receiver" in order to receive the messages, then the first point in time at which such messages could be received would be when such receiver technology was invented (such point in time would be in the future still). If that point was in, say, 2015, then you could send messages from 2019 to 2015 but not from 2019 to 2007. You could *send* such messages, but nobody would have the technology to even realise that such messages were being sent. Like transmitting radio signals to cavemen.