Probably, no one would refuse to visit ancient Babylon, to see the mysterious Atlantis and dinosaurs or mammoths with their own eyes. And how many of those who, having committed a rash act, wondered how to return to the past in order to fix everything. Yes, the ability to travel in time excites the minds of people from time immemorial.
There are many stories, the most fantastic and not so, about how people returned to the past or, on the contrary, moved to the future. Is time travel still possible?
Unfortunately, scientists, relying on the laws of logic and science, convince us that today this is unrealistic. In the modern world, there are no technologies that would not be subject to current laws physics. In addition, time travel itself causes a bunch of paradoxes that violate one of the most important laws of the universe - the law of causality (that is, the idea that the effect follows directly from the cause). However, scientists put forward all sorts of theories that may well be implemented in the future.
Faster than the speed of light
This follows from Einstein's famous theory of relativity. So, if an object develops a speed higher than the speed of light, then time for it will slow down in relation to the outside world. Is it possible to return to the past in this way? From a theoretical point of view, yes. After all, if a speed exceeding the speed of light becomes available, then the slowdown of time relative to the outside world will allow the object to reach its destination even before the start. However, today the speed of light is the limiting value. And no one has yet been able to surpass it.
According to Einstein's theory of relativity, in order to give an object a speed exceeding the speed of light, a colossal amount of energy is needed - the mass becomes larger with increasing speed, and therefore more and more energy is needed. On the this moment such a technology that could reproduce so much energy is simply not available to mankind. Alas. Although in the distant future, everything is possible.
Through the wormhole
Wormholes, or black holes, are peculiar curvatures of reality that connect points of space and time. Moreover, such a distance between points is much shorter than in a normal medium. Black holes can connect entire universes, distant galaxies, and perhaps even completely different time periods.
However, just as in the situation with a speed exceeding the speed of light, all this remains only a theory, not fixed in practice. To date, there is no equipment, no technology, no knowledge in order to be able to go through a wormhole. Therefore, the question of whether it is possible to return to the past through a black hole remains open.
Back to the Future
Since there are no practical possibilities to move into the past today, it would be logical to ask a question about the future. After all, it is likely that in tens to hundreds of years people will still be able to come up with a way to return to the past. And if you get into such a “future”, then from there you could go back several millennia.
Regarding travel to the future, scientists are not so categorical. At least, if you take into account the laws of physics, then moving into the future seems more real. So, more than once it has already been said about experiments on a temporary stop of the vital functions of a person. Of course, today the existing technologies are still far from ideal. However, it is likely that in a couple of years such a “time capsule” will still be created. Then, by freezing the human body, it will be possible to keep it completely unaged on great amount time. Humans will be able to transcend existing life spans: fall asleep and then wake up in the distant future.
Revived memories
So, as it has already become clear, today there is no way to travel through time in the truest sense of the word. However, this does not mean that a return to the past is impossible. In order to travel along the alleys of your memory, you do not even need superluminal speed or a wormhole. Go back in time with your own memories.
Of course, you cannot transport yourself to Ancient Rome or see dinosaurs, but you will be able to relive those wonderful moments that you had in the past and which seemed to be impossible to return. Distant memories fade under a pile of recent events, but if you try, you can again feel those long-faded emotions. Thus, your body will exist in the present, and the brain will travel to the past.
But sometimes even evoking the right memories is not as easy as it seems. Therefore, below are the most effective ways to return to the past with the help of memories.
old pictures
Photos are a kind of window into the past. Looking at them, you can not only delve into memories, but also relive long-forgotten emotions. Whenever you feel like going back in time, take out your photo albums or family videos. Just while watching, you should not shed bitter tears and think that all the best things in your life have already happened. Try, looking at the pictures, to remember everyone who is depicted in them (including yourself): character, habits, beliefs, where he works, what is the goal in life, whether he is satisfied with himself, why he smiles or is sad, etc.
Instead of photographs, souvenirs or other memorabilia are also suitable. Examine them and remember those moments when you got them, why and from where.
Effect: Some people believe that after viewing old photographs, they should be burned, as they interfere with moving into the future. Burn or not - it's up to you. However, the very viewing of old pictures helps not only to immerse yourself in the past, but also to understand what does not suit you in the present.
Your own romance
Another great way to go back in time is to write about how things were. It doesn't matter how the text will look, because no one will read what you wrote, except for yourself. Just sit down and write about what happened, how you felt at that moment, what worried you, etc. In this way, you will be able to experience the emotions that you write about. Just do not need to describe in detail everything that happened according to the principle: “I took a cup - poured coffee - sat by the window ...” Write about the main thing - about what worried you then and does not let go even after so many years.
Effect: This method is called the method of therapy with the help of writing. It has been around for quite some time. Psychologists believe that describing past events is good for both mental and physical health. It's also a great way to look at yourself from the outside. Well, if you're lucky, then you get a real romance.
deja vu
If you can’t get out of your head what happened to you, you think that it was the best thing in your life, you want to repeat everything again and wonder how to return to the past - then live this happy day again!
To do this, allocate one free day in the present. Remember in great detail those events that you regret, and bring them to life. Even if you don't have enough members, don't be discouraged. This is where your imagination comes in handy. Just imagine that they are nearby. On this day, do everything exactly the same as then. Live the day according to the scenario of "your golden age": go to that very place, cook those same pancakes and listen to the music that your most reverent memories are associated with.
Effect: as a rule, this method helps to calm down and stop regretting what has passed. However, if immediately after the experiment it did not become easier, then you should not abuse it. Otherwise, you risk turning into a faded shadow of your former self, talking to yourself and dejectedly wandering around the "places of military glory."
One Actor Theater
Another way to go back in time is to act out situations. Imagine that you are on the stage of the theater, and the play that you have to perform is a moment in your life that you would like to return to. It is best to play such a performance in the company of friends. Believe me, this is much more effective than talking on the phone for hours, retelling what happened in the manner of “and I told him ...., and he answered me ..., and then we ...”.
However, not everyone will decide on this, many will simply be ashamed. Therefore, you can arrange a "one-man theater". Anyone can become the heroes of the past days: from plasticine men to soft toys.
Effect: having played out your own life situations, you can, albeit temporarily, but feel yourself in the past, see from the outside what happened to you and appreciate all this more deeply.
To briefly return to the past, you can walk through memorable places: the area from your childhood where you have not been for a long time, the school, the first place of work, the church where you got married, the lake shore where you first kissed, etc. Even if something has changed there in the past, memory will helpfully throw up images from the past. And together with them you will remember again how you felt then.
Call your old friends with whom you have long lost contact. It can be your friends from school, first colleagues at work and others. Believe me, remembering happy moments from the past is much better in the company of participants in those events.
Smells also play a big role. They are great for bringing back lost memories. After all, a person associates a lot with a certain smell. Buy the perfume you had during your summer travels and be transported back to those sunny and happy days.
Music also evokes memories. You may feel embarrassed that you once loved to listen so much as a child, but re-listening to old addictions years later can help create the impression that you are back in the past.
The idea that you can get into the past or the future gave rise to a whole genre of chrono-fiction, and it seems that all possible paradoxes and pitfalls have long been known to us. Now we read and watch such works not for the sake of looking at other eras, but for the confusion that inevitably arises when trying to disrupt the flow of time. What tricks over time underlie all chrono-operas and what plots can be assembled from these building blocks? Let's figure it out.
Wake up when the future comes
The easiest task for a time traveler is to get into the future. In such stories, you don’t even have to think about exactly how the time stream works: since the future does not affect our time, the plot will hardly differ from a flight to another planet or to a fairy-tale world. In a sense, we are all already traveling through time - at a rate of one second per second. The only question is how to increase the speed.
AT XVIII-XIX centuries dreams were considered one of the fantastic phenomena. A lethargic dream was adapted for traveling into the future: Rip van Winkle (the hero of the story of the same name by Washington Irving) slept for twenty years and found himself in a world where all his loved ones had already died, and he himself had been forgotten. Such a plot is akin to the Irish myths about the people of the hills, who also knew how to manipulate time: the one who spent one night under the hill returned after a hundred years.
This "hit" method never gets old
With the help of dreams, the writers of that time explained any fantastic assumptions. If the narrator himself admits that he has dreamed of outlandish worlds, what is the demand from him? Louis-Sebastien de Mercier resorted to such a trick when describing a "dream" about a utopian society ("Year 2440") - and this is already a full-fledged time travel!
However, if the journey to the future needs to be plausibly justified, it is also not difficult to do this without contradicting science. The cryo-freezing method famed by Futurama could, in theory, work - which is why many transhumanists now try to preserve their bodies after death in the hope that future medical technologies will allow them to be revived. True, in fact, this is just Van Winkle’s dream adapted to modern times, so it’s hard to say whether this is considered a “real” journey.
faster than light
For those who want to seriously play with time and delve into the wilds of physics, travel at the speed of light is better suited.
Einstein's theory of relativity makes it possible to compress and stretch time at near-light speeds, which is used in science fiction with pleasure. The famous “twin paradox” says that if you rush through space at near-light speed for a long time, a couple of centuries will pass on Earth in a year or two of such flights.
Moreover, the mathematician Gödel proposed a solution for Einstein's equations in which time loops can appear in the universe - something like portals between different times. It was this model that was used in the film "", first showing the difference in the flow of time near the horizon of a black hole, and then throwing a bridge into the past with the help of a "wormhole".
Einstein and Gödel already had all the plot twists that the authors of chrono-operas are now thinking up (filmed on iPhone 5)
Is it possible to get into the past in this way? Scientists strongly doubt this, but their doubts do not interfere with science fiction writers. Suffice it to say that only mere mortals are forbidden to exceed the speed of light. And Superman can make a couple of revolutions around the Earth and go back in time to prevent the death of Lois Lane. Why is there the speed of light - even sleep can work in the opposite direction! And at Mark Twain, the Yankees received a crowbar on the head and at the court of King Arthur.
Of course, flying into the past is more interesting - just because it is inextricably linked with the present. If the author introduces a time machine into a story, he usually wants to at least confuse the reader with time paradoxes. But most often the main theme in such stories is the struggle with predestination. Is it possible to change one's own destiny if it is already known?
Cause or effect?
The answer to the question of predestination - like the very concept of time travel - depends on how time works in a particular fantasy world.
The laws of physics are not a decree for terminators
In reality, the main problem with traveling into the past is not the speed of light. Sending anything, even a message, back in time would violate a fundamental law of nature: the principle of causality. Even the most seedy prophecy is already, in a sense, time travel! All known to us scientific principles based on the fact that first an event occurs, and then it has consequences. If the effect is ahead of the cause, it breaks the laws of physics.
To “fix” the laws, we need to figure out how the world reacts to such an anomaly. This is where science fiction writers give free rein to the imagination.
If the genre of the film is a comedy, then there is usually no risk of “breaking” time: all the actions of the characters are too insignificant to affect the future, and the main task is to get out of their own problems
It can be said that time is a single and indivisible stream: between the past and the future, a thread is stretched, as it were, along which you can move.
It is in this picture of the world that the most famous loops and paradoxes arise: for example, if you kill your grandfather in the past, you can disappear from the universe. There are paradoxes due to the fact that this concept (philosophers call it "B-theory") states that the past, present and future are as real and unchanging as the three dimensions we are used to. The future is still unknown - but sooner or later we will see the only version of events that must happen.
Such fatalism gives rise to the most ironic stories about time travelers. When an alien from the future tries to correct the events of the past, he suddenly discovers that he himself caused them - moreover, it has always been so. Time in such worlds is not rewritten - a causal loop simply arises in it, and any attempts to change something only reinforce the original version. This paradox was one of the first to be described in detail in the short story “On His Own Footsteps” (1941), where it turns out that the hero was carrying out a task received from himself.
The heroes of the gloomy series "Darkness" from Netflix go back in time to investigate a crime, but involuntarily they are forced to do the things that lead to this crime.
It happens even worse: in more “flexible” worlds, a careless act of a traveler can lead to a “butterfly effect”. Intervention in the past rewrites the entire time stream at once - and the world not only changes, but completely forgets that it has changed. Usually only the traveler himself remembers that everything was different before. In the trilogy "", even Doc Brown could not follow Marty's jumps - but he at least relied on the words of a friend when he described the changes, and usually no one believes such stories.
In general, single-threaded time is a confusing and hopeless thing. Many authors decide not to limit themselves and resort to the help of parallel worlds.
The plot, in which the hero finds himself in a world where someone canceled his birth, came from the Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The bifurcation of time
This concept not only allows you to get rid of contradictions, but also captures the imagination. In such a world, everything is possible: every second it is divided into infinite set reflections similar to each other, differing in a couple of little things. The time traveler does not really change anything, but only jumps between different facets of the multiverse. Such a plot is very popular in TV shows: in almost any show there is a series where the characters find themselves in an alternative future and try to return everything to normal. On an endless field, you can frolic endlessly - and there are no paradoxes!
Now in chrono-fiction, the model with parallel worlds is most often used (frame from Star Trek)
But the most interesting thing begins when the authors abandon the "B-theory" and decide that there is no fixed future. Maybe uncertainty and uncertainty is the normal state of time? In such a picture of the world, specific events occur only on those segments on which there are observers, and the rest of the moments are just a probability.
An excellent example of such "quantum time" was shown by Stephen King in "". When the Gunslinger unwittingly created a time paradox, he almost went insane because he remembered two lines of events at the same time: in one he traveled alone, in the other with a companion. If the hero came across evidence that reminded of past events, the memories of these points formed into one consistent version, but the gaps were like in a fog.
The quantum approach has gained popularity in recent years, partly due to the development quantum physics, and partly because it allows you to show even more intricate and dramatic paradoxes.
Marty McFly almost erased himself from reality by preventing his parents from meeting. I had to fix it right now!
Take, for example, the film Loop of Time (2012): as soon as the young incarnation of the hero performed some actions, an alien from the future immediately remembered them - and before that, fog reigned in his memory. Therefore, he tried not to interfere once again in his past - for example, he did not show his young self a photograph of his future wife, so as not to disrupt their first unexpected meeting.
The "quantum" approach is also visible in "": since the Doctor warns satellites about special "fixed points" - events that cannot be changed or bypassed - it means that the rest of the fabric of time is mobile and plastic.
However, even the probabilistic future pales in comparison with worlds where Time has its own will - or it is guarded by creatures that lie in wait for travelers. In such a universe, laws can work in any way - and it's good if you can negotiate with the guards! Most a prime example- langoliers who, after every midnight, eat yesterday along with everyone who was unfortunate to be there.
How the time machine works
Against the background of such a variety of universes, the technique of time travel itself is a secondary issue. Since the time of the time machine, they have not changed: you can come up with a new principle of operation, but this is unlikely to affect the plot, and from the outside, the journey will look about the same.
Wells' time machine in the 1960 film adaptation. That's where the steampunk is!
Most often, the principle of operation is not explained at all: a person climbs into a booth, admires the buzz and special effects, and then gets out at a different time. This method can be called an instant jump: the fabric of time seems to be pierced at one point. Often, for such a jump, you first need to accelerate - pick up speed in ordinary space, and the technique will already translate this impulse into a jump in time. So did the heroine of the anime "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time", and Doc Brown on the famous DeLorean from the "Back to the Future" trilogy. Apparently, the fabric of time is one of those obstacles that storm with a running start!
DeLorean DMC-12 is a rare time machine that deserves to be called a machine (JMortonPhoto.com & OtoGodfrey.com)
But sometimes the opposite happens: if we consider time as the fourth dimension, in the three ordinary dimensions the traveler must remain in place. The time machine will rush him along the time axis, and in the past or future he will appear at exactly the same point. The main thing is that they do not have time to build anything there - the consequences can be very unpleasant! True, such a model does not take into account the rotation of the Earth - in fact, there are no fixed points - but in the extreme case, everything can be attributed to magic. This is how it worked: each revolution of the magic clock corresponded to one hour, but the travelers did not move from their place.
The most severe of all such "static" travels were treated in the film "Detonator" (2004): there the time machine squandered exactly one minute for a minute. To get to yesterday, you had to sit in an iron box for 24 hours!
Sometimes a model that more than three measurements are interpreted even more cunningly. Let us recall Gödel's theory, according to which loops and tunnels can be laid between different times. If it is correct, you can try to get through additional dimensions to another time - which the hero "" took advantage of.
In earlier fiction, a "time vortex" worked on a similar principle: a kind of subspace where you can get into it on purpose (on Doctor Who's TARDIS) or by accident, as happened with the crew of the destroyer in the movie The Philadelphia Experiment (1984). Flying through the funnel is usually accompanied by dizzying special effects, and leaving the ship is not recommended, so as not to get lost in time forever. But in fact, this is still the same ordinary time machine, delivering passengers from one year to another.
For some reason, lightning always strikes inside temporary funnels and sometimes credits fly
If the authors do not want to delve into the jungle of theories, the anomaly of time can exist on its own, without any adaptations. It is enough to enter the wrong door, and now the hero is already in the distant past. Is it a tunnel, a pinhole or magic - who will take it apart? Main question- how to get back!
What can't be done
However, usually science fiction still works according to the rules, albeit fictional, - therefore, restrictions are often invented for time travel. For example, one can say, following modern physicists, that it is still impossible to move bodies faster than the speed of light (that is, into the past). But in some theories there is a particle called "tachyon", which is not affected by this limitation, because it has no mass ... Maybe consciousness or information can still be sent into the past?
When Makoto Shinkai takes on time travel, he still comes up with a touching story of friendship and love ("Your Name")
In reality, most likely, it will not work to cheat like that - all because of the same principle of causality, which does not care about the type of particles. But in science fiction, the "informational" approach seems more plausible - and even more original. It allows the hero, for example, to be in his own young body or go on a journey through other people's minds, as happened with the hero of the Quantum Leap series. And in the Steins;Gate anime, at first they only knew how to send SMS to the past - try to change the course of history with such restrictions! But plots only benefit from limitations: the more difficult the task, the more interesting it is to watch how it is solved.
A hybrid phone with a microwave to connect with the past (Steins;Gate)
Sometimes additional conditions are imposed on ordinary, physical time travel. For example, often a time machine cannot send anyone back in time before the moment when it was invented. And in the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, time travelers forgot how to go into the past beyond a certain date, because on that day a catastrophe occurred that damaged the fabric of time.
And here the most interesting begins. Uncomplicated leaps into the past and even time paradoxes This is just the tip of the science fiction iceberg. If time can be changed or even corrupted, what else can be done with it?
Paradox upon paradox
We love time travel for its confusion. Even a simple leap into the past generates twists like the butterfly effect and the grandpa paradox, depending on how time works. But using this technique, you can build much more complex combinations: for example, jump into the past not once, but several times in a row. This creates a stable time loop, or Groundhog Day.
Do you have deja vu?
"Haven't you already asked me about this?"
You can loop for one day or several - the main thing is that everything ends with a “reset” of all changes and a journey back to the past. If we are dealing with linear and unchanging time, such loops themselves arise from causal paradoxes: the hero receives a note, goes to the past, writes this note, sends it to himself ... If time is rewritten every time or creates parallel worlds, it turns out to be an ideal trap : a person experiences the same events over and over again, but any changes still end up resetting to the original position.
Most often, such plots are devoted to attempts to unravel the cause of the time loop and break out of it. Sometimes the loops are tied to the emotions or tragic fates of the characters - this element is especially loved in anime ("Magical Girl Madoka", "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", "When Cicadas Cry").
But "groundhog days" have a definite plus: they allow, due to endless attempts, sooner or later to succeed in any endeavor. No wonder Doctor Who, having fallen into such a trap, recalled the legend of a bird that for many thousands of years grinded away a stone rock crumbly, and his colleague managed to bring an extraterrestrial demon to white heat with his “negotiations”! In this case, you can destroy the loop not with a heroic deed or insight, but with ordinary perseverance - and along the way, learn a couple of useful skills, as happened with the hero of Groundhog Day.
In "Edge of Tomorrow" aliens use time loops as a weapon - to calculate the perfect battle tactics
Another way to build a more complex structure from ordinary jumps is to synchronize two segments of time. In the movie "X-Men: Days of Future Past" and in "Time Scout", the time portal could only be opened at a fixed distance. Roughly speaking, at noon on Sunday, you can move to noon on Saturday, and an hour later - already at one in the afternoon. With such a restriction, an element appears in the story about a journey into the past, which, it would seem, cannot be there - time pressure! Yes, you can go back and try to fix something, but in the future, time goes on as usual - and the hero, for example, may be late to return.
To complicate the traveler's life, you can make time jumps random - take away control over what is happening from him. In the TV series Lost, such a disaster happened to Desmond, who interacted too closely with a temporary anomaly. But back in the 1980s, the series Quantum Leap was built on the same idea. The hero constantly found himself in different bodies and eras, but did not know how long he would last in this time - and even more so he could not return "home".
We twist the time
The heroine of the game Life is Strange faces a difficult choice: to undo all the changes that she made to the fabric of time in order to save her friend, or to destroy the whole city
The second technique with which to diversify time travel is to change the speed. If you can skip a couple of years to find yourself in the past or the future, why not, for example, put time on pause?
As Wells showed in the story "The Newest Accelerator", even slowing down time for everyone except yourself is a very powerful tool, and even if you stop it completely, you can secretly penetrate somewhere or win a duel - and completely unnoticed by the enemy. And in the web series "Worm" one superhero was able to "freeze" objects in time. With the help of this simple technique, it was possible, for example, to derail a train by placing an ordinary sheet of paper in its path - after all, an object frozen in time cannot change or move!
Enemies frozen in time are very convenient. In the Quantum Break shooter, you can see this for yourself
The speed can also be changed to a negative one, and then you get the counterwinds familiar to readers of the Strugatskys - people living "in the opposite direction." This is possible only in worlds where the "B-theory" works: the entire time axis is already predetermined, the only question is in what order we perceive it. To further confuse the plot, you can launch two time travelers in different directions. This is what happened to the Doctor and River Song in the Doctor Who series: they jumped back and forth through the eras, but the first (for the Doctor) their meeting for River was the last, the second - the penultimate one, and so on. To avoid paradoxes, the heroine had to be careful not to accidentally spoil his future to the Doctor. Then, however, the order of their meetings turned into a complete leapfrog, but the heroes of Doctor Who are no strangers to this!
Worlds with "static" time give rise not only to counter-winders: creatures often appear in science fiction who simultaneously see all points of their life path. Thanks to this, the Trafalmadorians from Slaughterhouse Five treat any misadventures with philosophical humility: for them, even death is just one of the many details of the overall picture. Doctor Manhattan from "" because of such an inhuman perception of time, moved away from people and fell into fatalism. Abraxas from The Endless Journey regularly messed up grammar, trying to figure out which event had already happened and which would happen tomorrow. And the aliens from Ted Chan's story "The Story of Your Life" had a special language: everyone who learned it also began to see the past, present and future at the same time.
The movie "Arrival", based on "The Story of Your Life", begins with flashbacks ... Or not?
However, if countermeasures or Trafalmadorians really travel in time, then with the abilities of Quicksilver or the Flash, everything is not so obvious. After all, in fact, it is they who are accelerating relative to everyone else - how can we assume that the whole world around is actually slowing down?
Physicists will notice that the theory of relativity is called that way for a reason. It is possible to speed up the world and slow down the observer - this is the same thing, the only question is what to take as a starting point. And biologists will say that there is no fantasy here, because time is a subjective concept. An ordinary fly also sees the world "in slow-mo" - so quickly its brain processes signals. But you can not limit yourself to the fly or the Flash, because in some chrono-operas there are parallel worlds. Who prevents them from letting time pass at different speeds - or even in different directions?
A well-known example of such a technique is the Chronicles of Narnia, where there is no formal time travel. But time in Narnia flows much faster than on Earth, so the same heroes fall into different eras - and observe the history of a fairy-tale country from its creation to its fall. But in Homestuck, which is perhaps the most confusing story about time travel and parallel worlds, two worlds were launched in different directions - and the contacts between these universes had the same confusion that the Doctor had with River Song.
If clock faces haven't been invented yet, the hourglass will do too (Prince of Persia)
kill time
Any of these devices can be used to write a story that would make even Wells' head crack. But modern authors are happy to use the entire palette at once, tying time loops and parallel worlds into a ball. Paradoxes with this approach accumulate in batches. Even with one jump into the past, a traveler can inadvertently kill his grandfather and disappear from reality - or even become his own father. Perhaps, he mocked the “paradox of causality” best of all in the story “All you zombies”, where the hero turns out to be both his own father and mother.
Based on the story "All You Zombies", the film "Time Patrol" (2014) was made. Almost all of his characters are the same person.
Of course, paradoxes must be somehow resolved - therefore, in worlds with linear time, it is often restored by itself, by the will of fate. For example, almost all first-time travelers decide to kill Hitler first. In worlds where time can be rewritten, he will die (but according to the law of meanness, the resulting world will be even worse). Asprin's attempt in "Time Scouts" will fail: either the gun will jam, or something else will happen.
And in worlds where fatalism is not respected, you have to monitor the safety of the past on your own: for such cases, they create a special “time police” that catches travelers before they do trouble. In the film Looper, the role of such police was taken over by the mafia: the past for them is too valuable a resource to be allowed to spoil it.
If there is no fate, no chronopolice, travelers run the risk of simply breaking time. At best, it will turn out like in Jasper Fforde’s “Thursday Nonetoth” cycle, where the time police played to the point that they accidentally canceled the very invention of time travel. At worst, the fabric of reality will collapse.
As Doctor Who has repeatedly shown, time is a fragile thing: a single explosion can cause cracks in the universe across all eras, and an attempt to rewrite a “fixed point” can collapse both the past and the future. In Homestuck, after such an incident, the world had to be recreated, and in all eras they mixed together, which is why the events of the books can no longer be combined into a consistent chronology ... Well, in the manga Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, the son of his own clone, erased from reality, had to replace himself with a new person, so that in the events that have already happened there was at least some character.
Some heroes of the Tsubasa multiverse exist in at least three incarnations and come from other works of the same studio
Fans' favorite pastime is to draw for the most intricate pieces of chronology
Sound crazy? But for such madness, we love time travel - they push the boundaries of logic. Sometime, it must be, even a simple leap into the past could drive an unaccustomed reader crazy. Now, chrono-fiction truly shines at long distances, when the authors have room to turn around, and time loops and paradoxes are layered on top of each other, giving rise to the most unimaginable combinations.
Alas, it often happens that the construction develops under its own weight: either there are too many jumps in time to make sense to follow them, or the authors change the rules of the universe on the go. How many times has Skynet rewritten the past? And who can say now how time works in Doctor Who?
On the other hand, if chrono-fiction, with all its paradoxes, turns out to be harmonious and internally consistent, it is remembered for a long time. This is what bribes BioShock Infinite, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle or Homestuck. The more complex and intricate the plot, the stronger the impression left on those who got to the end and managed to look at the whole canvas at once.
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Time travel, parallel worlds and the rewriting of reality are inextricably linked, which is why almost no science fiction work can do without them now - whether it's fantasy like "Game of Thrones" or science fiction exploration of the latest theories of physics, like in "Interstellar". Few plots give the same scope for imagination - after all, in a story where any event can be canceled or repeated several times, everything is possible. At the same time, the elements that make up all these stories are quite simple.
It seems that over the past hundred years, the authors have done everything that is possible with time: they let them go forward, backward, in a circle, in one stream and in several ... Therefore, the best of these stories, as in all genres, are based on characters: on the one who came again from ancient Greek tragedies to the theme of the struggle with fate, on attempts to correct one's own mistakes and on the difficult choice between different branches of events. But no matter how the chronology jumps, history will still develop in only one direction - in the one that is most interesting to viewers and readers.
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The concept of a time machine conjures up images of an implausible device that is used all too often in sci-fi plots. However, according to Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which explains how gravity works in the universe, time travel is not just a figment of the imagination. And if time travel is a plot twist in movies, what about reality?
Traveling forward in time, according to Einstein's theory, is absolutely possible. Essentially, physicists have managed to send tiny particles called muons, much like electrons, forward in time by manipulating the gravity around them. This does not mean that the technology to send people forward into the future will become possible in the next 100 years, but still.
1. Wormholes
Astrophysicist Eric Davis International Institute Advanced Research EarthTech in Austin believes this is possible. All you need is mole Hole or a wormhole, a theoretical passage through the fabric of space-time predicted by the theory of relativity.
Wormholes have not yet been proven, and if they are ever found, they will be so small that even a person will not fit in them, let alone spaceship. With all this, Davis believes that wormholes can be used to travel back to the past.
Both general relativity and quantum theory offer several possibilities for travel - for example, a "closed timelike curve" or a path that shortens space-time, that is, a time machine.
Davies argues that the current scientific understanding of the laws of physics is "teeming with time machines, that is, numerous solutions to the geometry of space-time that allow time travel or have the properties of a time machine."
As you understand, a wormhole would allow a ship, for example, to pass from one point to another faster than the speed of light - almost like in a warp bubble. This is because the ship will arrive at its destination before the beam of light, taking a short path through space-time. The transport would thus not violate the universal speed limit rule that the light imposes, since the ship itself does not travel at that speed.
Such a wormhole could theoretically lead not through space, but also through time.
“Time machines are inevitable in our physical spacetime,” Davis writes in the paper. - "Wormhole accesses turn on time machines."
Still, Davis adds, turning a wormhole into a time machine won't be easy. It will take a titanic effort. This is because once the wormhole is created, one or both of its ends will need to be accelerated in time to the destination, which follows from the general theory of relativity.
2. Time Machine: Tipler Cylinder
To use the Tipler Cylinder Time Machine, you need to leave Earth in a spaceship and go into space to the cylinder that is spinning there. When you get close enough to the surface of the cylinder (the space around it will be mostly "warped", deformed), you will need to go around it several times and return to Earth. You will arrive in the past.
How far into the past depends on how many times you orbit the cylinder. Even if your own time appears to be moving forward as usual as you circle the cylinder, outside of the distorted space you will inevitably move into the past. It's like walking up a spiral staircase and finding yourself one rung down with every full circle.
3. Donut Vacuum
According to Amos Ory of the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, space can be twisted enough to create a local gravitational field, which resembles a donut of a certain size. The gravitational field forms circles around this doughnut, so space and time are tightly twisted.
It is important to note that this state of affairs negates the need for any hypothetical exotic matter. Although how it will look in real world quite difficult to describe. Ori says the math has shown that at regular intervals, a time machine will form inside a donut in a vacuum.
All you need is to get there. In theory, it would be possible to travel to any point in time since the time machine was built.
4. Exotic matter
In physics, exotic matter is matter that is somehow different from normal and has some "exotic" properties. Since time travel is considered non-physical, physicists believe that the so-called tachyons (hypothetical particles for which the speed of light is a state of rest) either do not exist or are unable to interact with normal matter.
But when negative energy or mass - that same exotic matter or substance - twists space-time, all incredible phenomena become possible: wormholes, which can act as tunnels connecting distant parts of the universe; a warp drive that would allow travel faster than the speed of light; time machines that will allow you to travel to the past.
5. Cosmic strings
Cosmic strings are hypothetical 1-dimensional (spatially) topological defects in the fabric of space-time, left over from the formation of the universe. With their help, fields of closed timelike curves can be formed in theory, allowing one to travel into the past. Some scientists suggest using "cosmic strings" to build a time machine.
If you bring two cosmic strings close enough to one another, or one string to a black hole, in theory this could create a whole array of "closed timelike curves." If you make a carefully calculated "eight" on a spaceship around two infinitely long cosmic strings, in theory you can be anywhere and anytime.
6. Through a black hole
A black hole has an incredible effect on time, slowing it down like nothing else in the galaxy. In fact, it is a natural time machine. If the mission to fly around the black hole were run by a ground agency, it would take them 16 minutes to fly around the orbit. But for brave people on board a ship that is close to massive object time would go very slowly. Much slower than on Earth. Time for the team would have slowed down by half. For every 16 minutes, they would only experience 8.
With the advent of such a genre as a fantasy novel in literature (and later with the development of cinema), the theme of time travel became very popular. So, for example, the heroes of the George Lucas trilogy "Back to the Future" move in time, interfering in the course of certain events, thereby changing their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Agree, this is quite an exciting idea. After all, you can not only correct the mistakes of the past, but also find out the truth about certain periods in the history of our planet. You can meet and personally get acquainted with outstanding personalities, for example, with Aristotle or Omar Khayyam. You can try to save from the fire, and someone will even try to prevent Adolf Hitler from becoming the leader of Germany, and so on. Traveling to the future can be no less exciting... but is time travel really possible? And if so, is such pleasure available to everyone? However, is it fun? In this article, we will try to figure out how close scientists have come to creating the notorious time machine. It seems that we will not sin against the truth if we dare to assume that such attempts have taken place, and more than once. And to convince readers that the impossible is possible, consider the facts of time travel recorded in world history.
Philadelphia experiment
This case could be called the first officially registered fact, in which there was a movement in time and space, if not for one BUT. The American government classified all the materials on this case, moreover, it even denies the fact of the experiment itself. Nevertheless, information about him leaks into the media. mass media, and Hollywood even made feature films about those events.
Let's take a quick look at this scientific experiment. The events described occurred on October 28, 1943 in the military port of Philadelphia. The naval destroyer (DE 173, better known as U.S.S. Eldridge) was equipped with several electromagnetic generators. It was assumed that the mentioned equipment would generate huge electromagnetic fields that would cause radio and light waves to wrap around the destroyer, making it invisible. After turning on the generators, the ship was allegedly enveloped in a greenish fog, after which both the ship and the fog itself began to dissolve and completely disappeared. A few minutes later, the destroyer appeared at the same place, but later it became known that at the time of his disappearance at the place of the experiment (Philadelphia), he appeared, and then disappeared at his base in the docks of Norfolk (Virginia). The project was led by none other than Albert Einstein. It is believed that the scientist, through his generators, made a hole in space and time. He was so shocked by the results that he burned all his notes on this experiment and declared that humanity was not yet ready to use this kind of force.
Findings from the Philadelphia Experiment
Although the visible part of it was successful, the results were disastrous. Of the 181 crew members of the ship, only 21 (!) people returned unharmed. It turned out that most of them became mentally ill, some sailors disappeared altogether, and their fate remained unknown. But the most mysterious and terrible thing is that five people were, as it were, "fused" into the metal structures of the ship. Many of the "returned" had severe burns, from which they died a few hours later. The participants of the project said that they got into another, apparently a parallel world, in which they observed creatures they did not understand. That had such a strong impact on their psyche. Half of the surviving officers and crew members turned out to be completely insane, most of them ended their days in a psychiatric clinic. A completely incomprehensible incident happened to one of the members of the experiment: in front of his wife and child, he passed through the wall of his own apartment, and since then no one has seen him.
Not surprisingly, the US government did not dare to publish such results. That's how jokes can end up over time. Before moving on to the modern vision of scientists on this issue, consider the cases of time travel that were recorded in various periods of our history.
Facts that have no explanation
Despite the rapid development of all branches of science, today there is no evidence that time travel is real. However, no one can prove otherwise. At the same time, many things have been accumulated in the history of mankind that make one think and admit that time travel is possible. Such cases are described even in the annals of the era of the pharaohs and the Middle Ages. Similar facts continue to accumulate today. In order not to be unfounded, let's look at some of them.
Cases of people moving in time
This story took place in August 1897, in Siberian city Tobolsk. A man by the name of Krapivin, who was distinguished by very strange behavior and appearance, was detained. He was taken to the police station and interrogated, the results of which surprised the investigators. And there was something to be surprised! The man claimed that he was born in 1965 in Angarsk and works as a PC operator. The mystery man could not explain in any way how he appeared in Tobolsk, according to him, he felt a severe headache and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I saw an unfamiliar town in front of me. A doctor was called, who diagnosed him with "silent insanity", and the man was sent to a lunatic asylum.
There is other evidence of time travel as well. Here are a couple of them:
1. In 1976, Soviet pilot V. Orlov said that during a flight on a MiG-25 aircraft, he saw that hostilities were underway on the ground. According to the descriptions of the pilot, he was an eyewitness to the battle that took place near Gettysburg in 1863. It should be noted that the Soviet military, unlike their American counterparts, have always been restrained in such statements, because such information could put an end to their career.
2. In 1986, a similar situation occurred with another Soviet pilot - A. Ustimov. During the mission, he discovered that he was above... Ancient Egypt. According to him, he saw that one pyramid was completely built, and the foundations of others were located nearby, near which people were swarming.
And what do foreign pilots say?
In 1985, a NATO pilot, while flying over Africa, noticed that it was not a desert that stretched below him, but a huge savannah with large trees. He also allegedly saw dinosaurs grazing peacefully on the lawns. Soon the vision disappeared.
Another American pilot (again NATO) said that in May 1999, flying over Germany, he saw a group of fighters approaching him. All planes were somehow unusual. Flying closer, the pilot recognized them as German Messerschmitts. While the American was thinking about what to do, a Soviet fighter appeared, attacking the enemy. Soon the vision disappeared.
Many such facts (failures into the past) could be cited, but they also do not prove anything. Now let's look at examples of travel into the future.
Aliens from the past in modern warfare
In 1944, during the fighting on the territory of Estonia, not far from the Gulf of Finland, a tank reconnaissance battalion Soviet troops under the command of Troshin, he ran into a group of cavalrymen dressed in an old uniform. The latter, at the sight of tanks, rushed to their heels. As a result of the persecution, one fugitive was detained, who was taken to the headquarters. The cavalryman explained French. Our people were not at a loss, they quickly found an interpreter, and the man was interrogated. He claimed to be a cuirassier in the French army commanded by Napoleon. The remnants of his corps are trying to get out of the encirclement after retreating from Moscow. In addition, the soldier claimed to have been born in 1772. The further fate of the cavalryman is not known, since he was taken away by employees of a special department.
The following fact takes us to the 80s of the 20th century. As a result of a storm, the diesel forces of the USSR under the command of captain second rank I. Zalygin were forced to make an emergency ascent not far from the coast of Sakhalin. The watch officer reported to the captain that there was a floating craft directly ahead, which turned out to be a lifeboat. It contained a man in military uniform Japanese sailor during World War II. During a search, documents issued in 1940 were found on him. The incident was reported to headquarters, the captain was ordered to proceed to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, where the detainee was handed over to counterintelligence.
Road accident victim
In 1952, a strange story happened in New York. There was an accident on Broadway, as a result of which a pedestrian died. The policemen were surprised by the clothes of the victim - they were of an old design, and an old watch and a knife made in the last century were found in the pockets. With the victim, they found a certificate issued 80 years ago, and business cards, which indicated the victim's profession - a traveling salesman. The police checked the address recorded in the documents. It turned out that this street has not existed for about 50 years. Subsequently, it turned out that a person with such data lived in New York and disappeared about 70 years ago. Moreover, it turned out that at that time his daughter was alive, who provided photographs of her father, depicting the deceased under the wheels.
You can endlessly enumerate cases that recorded the movement in time. Stories of this kind, telling about races both in the past and in the future, have always interested the public. For some, they are even collectibles. This is such an interesting hobby. However, we will not focus on this and move on to modern scientific developments.
Sensation
According to Israeli scientist Amos Ori, time travel is possible and scientifically proven. Mathematical calculations of the scientist were published in special printed editions. He claims that the creation of a time machine requires the presence of giant. The basis for his research was the conclusions of Kurt Gödel, made in 1947. The essence of the latter is based on A. Einstein's theory of relativity. According to Ori's calculations, the probability of traveling into the past arises in the case of giving curved space-time structures the shape of a funnel or ring. Thus, each turn of the resulting structure will take a person to the past. According to Amos Ori, humanity has come close to creating a time machine. It is possible that in the near future it will become objective reality, and not just the plot of science fiction novels and films. But are we ready to face the unknown? What awaits us there - beyond? ..
Bermuda Triangle
This anomalous zone is famous for its bad reputation, ships and planes often disappear in it. Sometimes they are found, but they are more like ghost ships. Cases were recorded when ships without a crew were found there, and there were no signs of evacuation, all things remained in place, food was cooked in the galley, and there was even a smell of cigarette smoke in the cabin. It seemed that the crew and passengers had left the ship just that very minute. Another oddity that the rescuers noted was that on all the watches found on the “ghost”, the time was significantly behind the real one. So this phenomenon quite falls under the category of "moving vessels in real time". However, to date, there is not enough information about this phenomenon, so it is not possible to draw correct conclusions.
Aircraft movement in real time
By the way, you and I can easily travel in space without any cars there. An alternative way to get ahead of time is air travel. The essence of this method is to move between time zones. For example, a flight from Far East to the European part of the Eurasian continent. As a result of such a journey, you can overtake time, there are even extreme lovers who meet several times New Year, dangling from one time zone to another.
I will give in this post some of the most mysterious and inexplicable cases associated with space-time anomalies, officially documented at different times.
Scientists have managed to prove that it is possible to travel in time ... So, according to the research of the Israeli scientist Amos Ori, time travel is scientifically substantiated. And at present, world science already has the necessary theoretical knowledge to be able to claim that it is theoretically possible to create a time machine. The mathematical calculations of the Israeli scientist were published in one of the specialized publications. Ori concludes that the creation of a time machine requires the presence of gigantic gravitational forces. The scientist based his research on the conclusions made back in 1947 by his colleague Kurt Gödel, the essence of which is that the theory of relativity does not deny the existence of certain models of space and time. According to Ori's calculations, the ability to travel into the past arises if the curved space-time structure is shaped into a funnel or ring. At the same time, each new coil of this structure will carry the person further into the past. In addition, according to the scientist, the gravitational forces necessary for such temporary travel are probably located near the so-called black holes, the first mention of which refers to XVIII century. One of the scientists (Pierre Simon Laplace) put forward a theory about the existence of cosmic bodies that are invisible to the human eye, but have such high gravity that not a single light beam is reflected from them. The beam needs to overcome the speed of light in order to be reflected from such a cosmic body, but it is known that it is impossible to overcome it. The boundaries of black holes are called event horizons. Each object that reaches it gets inside, and it is not visible from the outside what is happening inside the hole. Probably, the laws of physics cease to operate in it, temporal and spatial coordinates change places. Thus, the spatial journey becomes a journey through time. Despite this highly detailed and significant study, there is no evidence that time travel is real. However, no one has been able to prove that this is just a fiction. At the same time, throughout the history of mankind, a huge number of facts have been accumulated that indicate that time travel is still real. So, in the ancient chronicles of the era of the pharaohs, the Middle Ages, and then the French Revolution and world wars, the appearance of strange machines, people and mechanisms was recorded.
In 1897, a very unusual incident occurred on the streets of the Siberian town of Tobolsk. At the end of August, a man of strange appearance and no less strange behavior was detained there. The man's surname is Krapivin. When he was taken to the police station and began to be interrogated, everyone was surprised by the information that the man shared: according to him, he was born in 1965 in Angarsk, and worked as a PC operator. The man could not explain his appearance in the city in any way, however, according to him, shortly before that, he felt a severe headache, after which he lost consciousness. Waking up, Krapivin saw an unfamiliar town. To examine a strange man, a doctor was called to the police station, who diagnosed him with “quiet insanity”. After that, Krapivin was placed in a local lunatic asylum.
In May 1828, a teenager was caught in Nuremberg. Despite a thorough investigation and 49 volumes of the case, as well as portraits sent all over Europe, it turned out to be impossible to find out his identity, just like the places where the boy came from. He was given the name Kaspar Hauser, and he had incredible abilities and habits: the boy saw perfectly in the dark, but did not know what fire, milk was. He died from an assassin’s bullet, and his personality remained a mystery. However, there were suggestions that before coming to Germany, the boy lived in a completely different world.
In 1901, two English women went to Paris for the Easter holidays. The women were in awe of the architecture. During a tour of the Palace of Versailles, they decided to independently explore the most secluded corners, and in particular, the house of Marie Antoinette, which is located on the territory of the palace. But since the women did not have a detailed plan, they simply got lost. Soon they met two men who were dressed in 18th century costumes. The tourists asked for directions, but instead of helping, the men looked at them strangely and pointed in an indefinite direction. After a while, the women met again strange people. This time it was a young woman with a girl, also dressed in old-fashioned clothes. The women this time did not suspect anything unusual until they came across another group of people dressed in ancient clothes. These people spoke in an unfamiliar dialect of French. Soon the women realized that their own appearance caused amazement and bewilderment of those present. However, one of the men pointed them in the right direction. When the tourists reached their destination, they were amazed not by the house itself, but by the sight of the lady who sat next to it and made sketches in the album. She was very beautiful, in a powdered wig, a long dress, which was worn by aristocrats of the 18th century. And only then did the Englishwomen finally realize that they were in the past. Soon the landscape changed, the vision disappeared, and the women swore to each other not to tell anyone about their journey. However, later, in 1911, they jointly wrote a book about the experience.
In 1930, a country doctor named Edward Moon was returning home after visiting his patient, Lord Edward Carson, who lived in Kent. The Lord was very ill, so the doctor visited him every day and knew the area well. One day, Moon, walking outside the estate of his patient, noticed that the area looked a little different than before. Instead of a road, there was a muddy path that led through deserted meadows. While the doctor was trying to understand what had happened, he met a strange man who was walking a little ahead. He was dressed somewhat old-fashioned and carried an ancient musket. The man also noticed the doctor and stopped, obviously in amazement. When Moon turned around to look at the estate, the mysterious wanderer disappeared and the entire landscape returned to normal.
During the battles for the liberation of Estonia, which were fought throughout 1944, not far from the Gulf of Finland, a tank reconnaissance battalion commanded by Troshin came across a strange group of cavalrymen dressed in historical form. When the cavalry saw the tanks, they fled. As a result of the persecution, one of the strange people was detained. He spoke exclusively in French, so he was mistaken for a soldier of the allied army. The cavalryman was taken to the headquarters, but everything he told shocked both the translator and the officers. The cavalryman claimed that he was a cuirassier of the Napoleonic army, and that the remnants of it were trying to get out of the encirclement after the retreat from Moscow. The soldier also said that he was born in 1772. The next day, the mysterious cavalryman was taken away by employees of the special department ...
One pilot of the NATO troops told reporters about a strange story that happened to him. It all happened in May 1999. The plane took off from the NATO base in Holland, carrying out the task of monitoring the actions of the parties in conflict with the Yugoslav war. When the plane was flying over Germany, the pilot suddenly saw a group of fighters that were moving straight at him. But they were all strange. Flying closer, the pilot saw that it was the German Messerschmites. The pilot did not know what to do, because his plane was not equipped with weapons. However, he soon saw that the German fighter had come under the sight of the Soviet fighter. The vision lasted for a few seconds, then everything disappeared. There is other evidence of past penetrations that have taken place in the air.
So, in 1976 Soviet pilot V. Orlov told that he personally saw how land military operations were conducted under the wing of the MiG-25 aircraft he piloted. According to the descriptions of the pilot, he was an eyewitness to the battle that took place in 1863 near Gettysburg.
In 1985, one of the NATO pilots, taking off from a NATO base located in Africa, saw a very strange picture: below, instead of a desert, he saw savannahs with a lot of trees and dinosaurs grazing on the lawns. Soon the vision disappeared.
In 1986, the Soviet pilot A.Ustimov, in the course of a mission, discovered that he was over Ancient Egypt. According to him, he saw one pyramid, which was completely built, as well as the foundations of others, around which many people were swarming.
In the late 80s of the last century, captain of the second rank, military sailor Ivan Zalygin got into a very interesting and mysterious story. It all started with the fact that his diesel submarine got into a severe lightning storm. The captain decided to surface, but as soon as the ship took the surface position, the watchman reported that an unidentified floating craft was right on the course. It turned out to be a rescue boat in which Soviet sailors found a military man in the form of a Japanese sailor during the Second World War. During a search of this man, documents were found that were issued back in 1940. As soon as the incident was reported, the captain received an order to proceed to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, where counterintelligence representatives were already waiting for the Japanese sailor. Members of the team took a non-disclosure agreement for the fact of the find for a period of ten years.
mysterious story happened in 1952 in New York. In November, an unidentified man was hit on Broadway. His body was taken to the morgue. The police were surprised that the young man was dressed in ancient clothes, and in the pocket of his trousers were found the same old watch and a knife made at the beginning of the century. However, the surprise of the police knew no bounds when they saw a certificate issued about 8 decades ago, as well as business cards indicating the profession (traveling salesman). After checking the address, it was possible to establish that the street indicated in the documents has not existed for about half a century. As a result of the investigation, it was possible to find out that the deceased was the father of one of the long-lived women of New York, who disappeared about 70 years ago during an ordinary walk. To prove her words, the woman showed a photo: it had the date - 1884, and the photo itself showed a man who died under the wheels of a car in the same strange suit.
In 1954, after popular unrest in Japan, a man was detained during passport control. All his documents were in order, except that they were issued by the non-existent state of Tuared. The man himself claimed that his country was on African continent between French Sudan and Mauritania. Moreover, he was amazed when he saw that Algiers was in the place of his Tuared. True, the Tuareg tribe really lived there, but it never had sovereignty.
In 1980, a young man disappeared in Paris after his car was covered in a bright, glowing foggy ball. A week later, he appeared at the same place where he disappeared, but at the same time he thought that he was absent for only a few minutes.
In 1985, on the first day of the new school year Vlad Geineman, a second-grader, started playing "war" with his friends during the break. To knock the "enemy" off the trail, he dived into the nearest doorway. However, when a few seconds later the boy jumped out of there, he did not recognize the school yard - it was completely empty. The boy rushed to the school, but he was stopped by his stepfather, who had been looking for him for a long time to take him home. As it turned out, more than an hour and a half had passed since he decided to hide. But Vlad himself did not remember what happened to him during this time.
An equally strange story happened to the Englishman Peter Williams. According to him, he got into some strange place during a thunderstorm. After a lightning strike, he lost consciousness, and when he came to, he found that he was lost. After walking along a narrow road, he managed to stop the car and ask for help. The man was taken to the hospital. After some time health young man recovered, and he could already go for a walk. But since his clothes were completely ruined, the roommate lent him his. When Peter went out into the garden, he realized that he was in the place where he was overtaken by a thunderstorm. Williams wanted to thank the medical staff and a kind neighbor. He managed to find a hospital, but no one recognized him there, and all the clinic staff looked much older. There were no records of Peter's admission in the registration book, as well as a roommate. When the man remembered the trousers, he was told that they were an outdated model that had been out of production for over 20 years!
In 1991, a railway worker saw that a train was coming from the side of the old branch, where not even the rails were left: a steam locomotive and three wagons. It was of a very strange appearance, and clearly not of Russian manufacture. The train passed the worker and left in the direction in which Sevastopol was located. Information about this incident was even published in one of the publications in 1992. It contained data that back in 1911 a pleasure train left Rome, in which a large number of passengers. He got into thick fog and then drove into a tunnel. He was not seen again. The tunnel itself was filled with stones. Perhaps they would have forgotten about this if the train had not appeared in the Poltava region. Many scientists then put forward the version that this train somehow managed to pass through time. Some of them attribute this ability to the fact that almost at the same time, when the train set off, in Italy there was powerful earthquake, as a result of which large cracks appeared not only on the surface of the earth, but also in the chronal field.
In 1994, a ten-month-old girl was discovered by a Norwegian fishing boat in the Atlantic's northern waters. She was very cold, but she was alive. The girl was tied to a life buoy, on which there was an inscription - "Titanic". It is worth noting that the baby was found exactly where the famous ship sank in 1912. Of course, it was simply impossible to believe in the reality of what was happening, but when they raised the documents, they really found a 10-month-old child on the Titanic passenger list. There are other pieces of evidence related to this ship. So, some sailors claimed that they saw the ghost of the sinking Titanic. According to some scientists, the ship fell into the so-called time trap, in which people can disappear without a trace, and then appear in a completely unexpected place. The list of disappearances can be continued for a very, very long time.
In medieval Europe, those places where space-time anomalies occurred were called "devil's traps". So, on the road leading to Dresden, there is a large boulder, in the middle of which there was a large hole. Outwardly, this stone resembled a gate. And if you believe the Dresden chronicles, which claim that any traveler who passed through this hole in the stone disappeared without a trace, then it is quite possible to assume that this is the “gate of Time”. In 1546, the city magistrate decided to dig a large hole next to this boulder, after which the stone was dumped into this hole and covered with earth. But that didn't help either. And although the stone was no more, disappearances of people periodically occurred in its place. The Sicilian chronicles for 1753 tell that in the small settlement of Tacona, in the courtyard of an abandoned castle, an artisan named Alberto Gordoni literally vanished into thin air. Moreover, it happened in front of astonished witnesses. Almost three decades later, the man reappeared at the same place where he disappeared. He was extremely surprised by the questions of people, but said that he had fallen into some strange tunnel white color, at the end of which was visible bright light and the man went into this world. And, as it seemed to the artisan himself, in just a few minutes he managed to get back into the castle courtyard. The man was examined by doctors, and they came to the conclusion that the man had not lost his mind, but he was not lying either. Then the locals decided to check the veracity of Gordoni's words. When they all came together to the place of disappearance, the craftsman again took a step and disappeared. But no one else saw him. Then the priest ordered to protect the cursed place with a high stone wall, and then sprinkled it with holy water.
There is a belief that the gates of time open exclusively under the influence of natural elements - thunderstorms, earthquakes, storms and tsunamis. One of the first written references to this anomaly dates back to the 12th century. It is contained in the "Pantheon" of the Italian bishop Gottfried of Viterb. In his work, the priest described one story that happened to the monks of the Abbey of Saint-Mathieu. The monks on the ship were heading for the Pillars of Hercules, but they got into a terrible storm. When the storm subsided, the passengers and crew of the ship saw that the ship was off the coast of some island. The island had a fortress made of pure gold, and all the paths were paved with gold tiles. Already when the day was drawing to a close, the monks met two elders. But they met the strangers very unfriendly and, after listening to the stories of the monks about their misfortunes, they told them to get back, because one day on the island is equal to three hundred years on Earth. The monks heeded the advice of the elders, quickly boarded the ship and sailed home. Three weeks later, the monks arrived in their native harbor, but it was very different from the place that they left a few months ago. In addition, the people who surrounded them were dressed in a very strange and unusual way. When the traveling monks arrived at their native monastery, they did not recognize either the abbot or the inhabitants. When the abbot listened to the story of the monks, he looked through the archives, in which he found the names of all the travelers. But it turned out that the note about their departure was made three hundred years ago. By the end of the same day, all the monks who had endured such a strange journey had died.
Leningrad region. In September 1990, a simple Soviet engineer named Nikolai went to the forest for mushrooms. A thick bluish fog shrouded him in the forest. Afraid of getting lost, he went back to the road, where he left his old "Cossack", but when he went out onto the road he did not recognize the familiar place. Instead of a broken dirt road, there was an asphalt highway along which unusual cars drove. There was a parked car nearby, and near it a man and a woman. Nikolai approached them to say that he was lost and to ask for directions. The woman took out an atlas from the car on the title page of which it was written in large letters "2022 map Leningrad region". The man took out a small black flat device from his pocket, on which the map was also visible. After a long conversation, it turned out that he was in the right place but got into the future in 2024, which Soviet Union fell apart, that hard times will come, but then everything will work out. The man insistently invited him to stay. Nikolai replied that he had a family and two children and he wanted to go back to the 1990s. The strange couple then suggested that he quickly return to the fog before it dissipated. Nicholas with all his might ran back into the forest. Having found an unusual fog, he passed through it and after a while, having wandered a little, went out to his "Cossack".
The list of disappearances can be continued for a very, very long time. It makes no sense to mention all of them, because most of them are similar to each other. Almost always, time travel is irreversible, but sometimes it turns out that people who have disappeared for a while then return safely. Unfortunately, many of them end up in madhouses, because no one wants to believe in their stories, and they themselves do not really understand whether what happened to them is true.
Scientists have been trying to solve the problem of temporary movements for several centuries. It may well happen that soon this problem will become an objective reality, and not a plot. fantasy books and films.
