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Stephen Hawking Service: Possibility of Time Travellers 'Can't Be Excluded' (bbc.com)
Organisers of Prof Stephen Hawking's memorial service have seemingly left the door open for time travellers to attend. From a report: Those wishing to honour the theoretical physicist, who died in March aged 76, can apply via a public ballot. Applicants need to give their birth date - which can be any day up to 31 December 2038. Prof Hawking's foundation said the possibility of time travel had not been disproven and could not be excluded. It was London travel blogger IanVisits who noticed that those born from 2019 to 2038 were theoretically permitted to attend the service at Westminster Abbey. He said: "Professor Hawking once threw a party for time travellers, to see if any would turn up if he posted the invite after the party. None did, but it seems perfect that the memorial website allows people born in the future to attend the service. Look out for time travellers at the Abbey."
At the breakneck speed of 60 minutes per hour.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
He had quite a sense of humor, and use it to cope with his condition. In 2009 when the threw a Time Traveller's Party and no one attended, he indicated that this was confirmation that time travel was not possible.
And as far as we can tell, it isn't, to the point of ridiculousness, and our physics is validated and complete enough on this to be almost certain. Time travel introduces unresolvable paradoxes (ie sending a single particle backwards far enough in time would completely change future atmospheric patterns, weather events and thus affect who was born, including those doing the sending) and and would require unfathomable physics to carry out (on the order of constraining the energy of a hydrogen bomb in the volume occupied by a human such that no damage or radiation occurred.)
Not going to happen. If it ever did, being time travel, it already would have.
-- Insert witty one-liner here. --
2038 is when a 32-bit time_t overflows.
Or maybe the software they wrote for the application process is just buggy. Wouldn't be the first time that ever happened.
That is when the world is destroyed by the paradoxes caused by the time traveling device :(
Those of us here are trying to undo the damage.
Colonel Sandurz: Try here. Stop.
Dark Helmet: What the hell am I looking at? When does this happen in the movie?
Colonel Sandurz: Now. You're looking at now, sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now.
Dark Helmet: What happened to then?
Colonel Sandurz: We passed then.
Dark Helmet: When?
Colonel Sandurz: Just now. We're at now now.
Dark Helmet: Go back to then.
Colonel Sandurz: When?
Dark Helmet: Now.
Colonel Sandurz: Now?
Dark Helmet: Now.
Colonel Sandurz: I can't.
Dark Helmet: Why?
Colonel Sandurz: We missed it.
Dark Helmet: When?
Colonel Sandurz: Just now.
Dark Helmet: When will then be now?
Colonel Sandurz: Soon.
Dark Helmet: How soon?
If someone went back in time and changed history, you wouldn't even know it. It's pretty much an impossible to falsify argument. So yeah, it could be true, but then Big Foot could be real along with werewolves, vampires, the Loch Ness Monster, etc. Or how about those sightings of pterodactyls in Papua New Guinea? I mean FFS, if you're going to seriously entertain the time traveler hypothesis, knowing it probably can't be falsified, you can't dismiss things like cryptids either.
he indicated that this was confirmation that time travel was not possible.
All that would prove is that observable time travelers didn't come to the party.
FTFY
Every end has half a stick.
The next day he returns to the bar, orders a beer, and offers a beer to the stool next to him before finishing his drink and leaving.
This continues on for a week before the bartender finally asks, " Why in the world do you keep offering that stool a beer?"
The physicist replies " The laws of physics dictate that there is a slight possibility that at some point the matter above this stool could reform into a beautiful woman, who would then accept the drink."
The bartender is puzzled for a second before replying " The bar is full of beautiful women. Why not see if they will accept your drink?"
The physicist quickly laughs before saying " Yeah, but what are the odds of that happening?"
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
Why the year 2038?
They want someone with a primitive enough time machine they can reverse engineer after beating the time traveler to death for it.