Science & Technology

Scientists have scoured the Internet for evidence of time travel

By T.K. Randall
July 23, 2024 ·  6 comments

Have time travelers left clues online ? Image Credit: Pixabay / anncapictures The question of whether or not time travel has or ever will be possible has long remained a topic of heated debate, with some arguing that if it is possible to travel through time, we would have already seen some kind of evidence that time travelers from the future had been here.

But what if we're simply not looking in the right places ?

Recently, a team of physicists conducted an extensive search of the Internet for evidence that someone from the future might have returned to the past and dropped hints about it online.

In particular, they decided to search for specific, easily identifiable keywords concerning something that nobody before a certain date could have possibly referenced or known about.

After much deliberation, they settled on Comet ISON, which was discovered in 2012, and Pope Francis - the name chosen by Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he became head of the Catholic Church.

"Histories of bright comets like Comet ISON are generally well kept by societies and journals around the world, indicating that Comet ISON might remain memorable well into the future," the team wrote."Conversely, there is little reason for anyone without prescient information to be referring to something as 'Comet ISON' before 2012 September."

"Therefore, discussions or even mentions of 'Comet ISON' before 2012 September were searched for as potentially prescient evidence of time travelers from the future."

Sadly, despite their best efforts, the researchers were ultimately unable to find any references to either Comet ISON or Pope Francis before the relevant dates.

Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that time travel is impossible (time travelers from the future may simply be very careful about making such blunders.)

There could also be other reasons why looking for such evidence online is a waste of time.

"It may be physically impossible for us to find such information as that would violate some yet-unknown law of physics," the scientists concluded.

Source: IFL Science | Comments (6)

Tags: Time Travel