Time travel from Ancient Mythology to Modern Science
Time travel has always been one of the topics that has most intrigued mankind since ancient times. In contemporary times, it is the subject of numerous novels and science fiction subjects. While many people think that time travel is simply absurd, some of the brightest scientists of our time believe that it may one day become a reality.
What is time? When no one asks me, I know; but if someone asks me and I want to explain it to them, I don't know!
With this lapidary statement, Augustine of Hippo, philosopher and theologian of the 6th AD, admitted the difficulty of philosophy in understanding such an elusive concept as time.
But it is not only philosophy that has to deal with this difficulty. When Albert Einstein, with his Theory of Relativity, revealed that time is a dimension of reality together with space, physicists began to study its nature, increasingly discovering that it is a notion that often goes beyond human understanding of 'Universe'.
Especially because Einstein's equations suggest that time is not an absolute dimension, but a relative one. The German physicist understood that the closer an object moves to the speed of light, the more its relative time slows down. To explain this phenomenon, it is useful to know the story of the twins.
After time took on the dignity of dimension, many scientists wondered whether, as with space, it is possible to move within it, going backwards into the past or forwards into the future. The numerous paradoxes linked to hypothetical time travel have, however, convinced most to believe that this possibility is simply prevented due to the intimate structure of the universe.
Yet, several theoretical physicists say they are convinced of the opposite. According to them, one day humanity will be able to move through time both in the past and in the future, with all the ethical problems that this entails. What would be the consequences of any alteration of the past and what effects would they have on the future. Whoever would have access to this technology would essentially have the power to change history.
Time travel in ancient mythology
Although time travel seems to be a theme only in science fiction and theoretical physics, many ancient texts refer to this possibility.
Hindu mythology refers to the story of the Raivata king Kakudmi, who travels through time to meet Brahma, the creator of the world. Although the journey was not very long, when Kakudmi returned to Earth 108 yugas had passed (one yuga is thought to represent approximately 4 million human years and 12,000 divine years). The explanation Brahma gave to Kakudmi was that time flows differently on different planes of existence.
Likewise, there are references to time travel in the Christian tradition as well, in what is called the story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. The story narrated mainly in the Legenda Aurea by Jacopo da Varazze, by Gregory of Tours and by Paul the Deacon in his Historia Langobardorum.
During the persecution of Christians promoted by the emperor Decius in 250, seven young Christians from Ephesus were called before a tribunal because of their faith. They, refusing to sacrifice to pagan idols, were condemned but temporarily released.
To avoid arrest again they hid in a cave on Mount Celion. Discovered by the Romans, they were walled up alive in the cave itself. The seven young men fell asleep in their prison awaiting death.
When the young people were awakened by a group of bricklayers who, having broken through the wall, wanted to build a sheepfold, they realized that two hundred years had passed. Returning to Ephesus, they discovered with amazement that Christianity was not only now tolerated, but had even become the religion of the Empire. One of the young men, thought to be crazy, was later believed when the bishop and the citizens went up to the cave, confirming the story.
The story of the sleepers is not exclusive to the Christian world. Even in Islam it has a central role, so much so that the story gives its title to a sura of the Koran, the eighteenth, called the Sura of the Cave. The story presents some differences compared to the Christian one. Trying to escape persecution, under God's guidance, the young men took refuge in a cave where God put them to sleep. When they awoke, the men realized that 309 years had passed.
Another narrative is contained in the Japanese legend of Urashima Taro, who is said to have visited the underwater palace of the Dragon God Ryujin. Urashima remained there for three days, but when he returned to the surface he realized that 300 years had passed.
Finally, in the Buddhist text Pali Canon we learn that in the paradise of the thirty Devas (the place of the Gods), time flows with a different rhythm, where one hundred earthly years correspond to a single day for the gods. A similar conception of time is also contained in the Jewish-Christian Bible, where in Psalm 89/90 we read that in the eyes of God a thousand years are like yesterday that has passed.
Contemporary 'mythology' and modern science
Probably one of the best-known recent stories about time travel in the West is that of the so-called Philadelphia Experiment.
The experiment would take place in 1943, with the aim of making an entire warship invisible to enemy radar. However, the results of the experiment were of a completely different nature. The ship, USS Eldridge, not only physically disappeared from Philadelphia Harbor, but was teleported to Norfolk, making a 10-second leap back in time.
When the ship appeared again, some of the crew were found physically fused to the ship's bulkheads, many developed mental disorders, others disappeared permanently, and still others claimed to have been some in the past and some in the future.
In 1960, another interesting case was reported, concerning the scientist Pellegrino Ernetti, who claimed to have invented a device capable of seeing events from the past, the so-called Chronovisor. The development of this technology was based on the theory that everything that happens in the Universe leaves an energetic trace behind it that can never be destroyed. His ideation device would be able to detect, magnify, and convert this energy into an image, something similar to a television showing events from the past.
An Iranian scientist, Ali Razeqi, CEO of the Iranian Center for Strategic Inventions claims to have invented a device capable of seeing 3 to 5 years into the future. Curiously, his ad disappeared from the internet a few hours after it was published.
Fast forward to 2004, Marlin Pohlman, a scientist and engineer, has applied to patent a device that can distort gravity and cause time displacement. And just a few years ago, Wasfi Alshdaifat filed a patent for a machine capable of compressing and dilating time, a phenomenon that he said could be used to travel through time.
Physicist Ronald Mallett Lawrence of the University of Connecticut has been working on the concept of time travel for some years, building on the fallout from Einstein's theory of relativity. He is absolutely convinced that it is possible to move through time, even if it will not be possible before the end of this century. Particle physicist Brian Cox also agrees on this possibility, but he believes it is only possible to move in one direction.
In short, time travel, as in the past, continues to fascinate and inspire numerous men of science and inventors. Will the day come when humanity will be able to move through time? What if someone from the future has already gone back and changed our past?
