quint@RU-BLUE.ARPA (02/03/84)
From: Anne Marie Quint [/amqueue] <quint@RU-BLUE.ARPA>
A few digests back, someone made the comment that no science
fiction authors had ever made use of the fact that according to
quantum physics, faster-than-light travel automatically implied time
travel. One science fiction author HAS made use of the fact: Robert
Heinlein in Time Enough For Love. I can't find my copy, so I can't
give a direct quote, but I believe the concept is first put to Lazarus
when he is still on Secundus. He is looking for something new to do
because after 3000 or 4000 years he is finally bored. Someone
suggests he go back in time. He says How? Apparently, when one makes
a decision of where to come out into the regular universe, one also
makes a decision as to WHEN to come out. Lazarus says:"I'll have to
think about it; it sounds like making an intentional bad landing." He
does use this means to travel back in time, where he has many
adventures of an unusual nature which I don't think I can mention on
the net.
RAH! RAH! RAH!
have fun
/amqueue
-------okie@ihuxs.UUCP (B.K. Cobb) (02/06/84)
Larry Niven has also dealt with this subject. In *A World Out of Time*, a man from the past is awakened from frozen sleep in another body (hmmm -- time travel of another kind?). In his future, he finds that he is in the body of a criminal that must repay his debt to the State. They make him a starship pilot (rammer) and send him out with a ship on a long mission to "seed" worlds for future life. Well, he ends up stealing the ship and heading for the galactic core -- but at one point he has to depend on his ship's computer, which is intelligent. The computer puts him into an FTL course around the black hole at the core (you have to understand a bit about the cosmology of Niven's galaxy for this) and they wind up back on earth a few million years later than when he left. Also, the computer informs the pilot after the fact that they could have arrived home only 70,000 years later had the orbit around the black hole been changed slightly. It's an interesting concept. B.K. Cobb ihnp4!ihuxs!okie
amigo2@ihuxq.UUCP (John Hobson) (02/06/84)
Another author who made use of the time dialation in speeds close to light was Poul Anderson in Tau Zero. Ursula K. LeGuin, in several of her stories (The Left Hand of Darkness and Semmlys'[sp?] Necklace, to name just two) has her NAFAL (Nearly As Fast As Light) drive cause time dialations. In fact, the ending of Semmly's Necklace depends on it, and the fact that Semmly has not aged very much during her voyage, while two generations have passed on her world while she was gone. John Hobson AT&T Bell Labs Naperville, IL (312) 979-0193 ihnp4!ihuxq!amigo2
ntt@dciem.UUCP (Mark Brader) (02/10/84)
ihuxs!okie (B.K. Cobb) cites Larry Niven's "A World Out of Time": ... The computer puts him into an FTL course around the black hole at the core (you have to understand a bit about the cosmology of Niven's galaxy for this) and they wind up back on earth a few million years later than when he left. ... The spaceship in "A World Out of Time" is a Bussard ramship, which certainly does NOT travel Faster Than Light; have YOU ever seen one do it? The displace- ment into the future is just plain old relativistic time dilation as the craft attains speeds VERY NEAR c, and in a strong gravity well to boot. This is not one of Niven's "known space" stories (if it was, Corbell would not have been able to get to the center of the galaxy) and FTL does not figure in the story. The original query was about FTL travel and travel into the PAST, I believe. Mark Brader
john@hp-pcd.UUCP (02/12/84)
Time travel through Faster than light speeds? Superman does it all the time. John Eaton !hplabs!hp-pcd!john
mcewan@uiucdcs.UUCP (mcewan ) (02/23/84)
#R:sri-arpa:-1635700:uiucdcs:12500072:000:1260
uiucdcs!mcewan Feb 22 16:16:00 1984
/***** uiucdcs:net.sf-lovers / ihuxs!okie / 6:22 pm Feb 6, 1984 */
Larry Niven has also dealt with this subject. In *A World Out of Time*,
a man from the past is awakened from frozen sleep in another body (hmmm --
time travel of another kind?). In his future, he finds that he is in the
body of a criminal that must repay his debt to the State. They make him
a starship pilot (rammer) and send him out with a ship on a long mission to
"seed" worlds for future life. Well, he ends up stealing the ship and
heading for the galactic core -- but at one point he has to depend on his
ship's computer, which is intelligent. The computer puts him into an FTL
course around the black hole at the core (you have to understand a bit
about the cosmology of Niven's galaxy for this) and they wind up back on
earth a few million years later than when he left. Also, the computer
informs the pilot after the fact that they could have arrived home only
70,000 years later had the orbit around the black hole been changed slightly.
/* ---------- */
This story does NOT involve FTL travel. The 3 million year time difference
is caused by slower-than-light time dialation.
Scott McEwan
uiucdcs!mcewan