Quantum Leap

The method I use for this blog of looking back at the various time travel television programmes and films is quite random. It's not a start with the A's and work my way to Zed it's more like something crops up which fits in with a thought lets write about it.

That thought was triggered by a blog post I found God as a time traveller in which they asked if god would or could time travel? I guess first of all you have to get around the question. Is there a God? But hey how long do you want this blog post to be?

I would have thought if there is such a thing as a God, then that God would know everything. So if time travel were possible then they would be able to do it. No need to pontificate on the subject just a simple statement.

Now, in Quantum Leap (and I do have it on my bucket list to watch all 97 episodes in a Quantum Leap fest) you do have what I class as plausible time travel. Dr Sam Beckett jumps into the bodies of folks from the past, thus getting around all the molecules travelling through space and time theorems. His actions play along with the Grandfather Paradox idea. With the changes which happen are ones that need to be done and altar a future to what it needed to be, or as they know it to be.

In the Lee Harvey Oswald episode he only kills JFK not his wife as well, in the reality he jumps in to the wife dies as well but he doesn't kill her so this keeps the time line going as they know it to be as we all know it be in fact.

Now big spoiler alert. if you didn't already know, in the last episode he sees God to be told he can jump home when ever he wants but he can continue correcting the mistakes which have happened through out history.

Now that does beg the more a theological question of God, as they do no wrong, have they allowed these mistakes to happen? Normally this happens to teach a person a lesson, or are they fallible? They make mistakes and they are not as great as you think God to be.

Quantum Leap for me it is one of the top 5 time travel shows along with Sliders but can you really bring shows like these back or would you sully your memories of them, are they of an age?

As always your thoughts are welcome, feel free to comment.

Quantum_Leap wiki source to full information about the show

A TIME TRAVELLING TOURIST’S GUIDE TO ETIQUETTE

Source practicejack

It is imperative that as a time traveller you don’t do anything that could alter the past. Even our ancestors becoming aware of your very presence could be enough to cause irreparable damage to the space time continuum.

I have previously spoken about the possibility of a Time Travel Tourism Industry (here). It’s such a dangerous idea though (take note Richard Branston Pickle).

If you go on holiday it makes sense to be aware of the Laws, customs, etiquette and traditions of that country. It makes your visit more enjoyable and helps avoid any unfortunate brushes with the law.

Did you know, for example, that It is illegal to wear any camo in Barbados including clothing or any item containing camouflage material?

You would need to be a historian fully up to speed with the etiquette and custom of the period to avoid a social faux pas. And this wouldn’t just be embarrassing. There could be serious consequences to you for dropping a clanger here. For example, if you were in the Middle ages this could range from ending up in the stocks to a lengthy prison time (and prison time during this period would probably be a death sentence due to the unhygienic conditions). Hell, if you aren’t careful you could end up in a noose. And for god’s sake do whatever you can to avoid being accused of being a witch.

A Time Traveller hoping to blend in and avoid any trouble would need to consider what s/he wore, Would the clothing be appropriate to the time period? Are there any legal issues around the wearing of certain colours? The English sumptuary acts of 1463 go into explicit detail about clothing items which were reserved for those below the king’s status, putting restrictions on coat length and shoe height. In this legislation, the intention was to prevent men from acting as if they were from a higher class by way of how they dressed. The laws specifically stated that a man was to dress within the status in which he was born.

Time Travellers would also need to consider whether there are any restrictions on places s/he hoped to visit i.e. Curfews, Gender restrictions (can women attend)? They would need to be aware of any religious holidays and the impact these would have on their plans.

They would also need to think about who s/he spoke to and how s/he did so, Are there any restrictions on social interaction, (between social classes or genders for example)? Most Medieval people were peasants, over 90%, but the divide between peasants and nobility was very clear-cut.  Clergy were also an important part of the social order during the Middle Ages, though they were not necessarily considered a separate class.

Bloody hell, this Time Travel Tourism thing is sounding like it will be more trouble than its worth.

God as a Time Traveller

Source wheatandtares.org 

I love Time Travel stories, especially when they involve convoluted paradoxes, and changes made in the past that affect the present. Ray Bradbury’s “Sound of Thunder” is the quintessential time travel story, about a man that travels back in time to hunt dinosaurs, steps off the path and kills a butterfly, and then travels back to the present and finds changes, big and small all from a dead butterfly 66 million years ago.

My granddaughter and I watch the current TV show “Timeless” together, which is about a group that chases a rogue time traveler, trying to keep him from changing the past.  As they return at the end of each show, little things have changed in the present due to their interacting with the past.

I often wonder if God can travel in time. It would explain how he can know the future! There is not a lot written in LDS theology about God and time.  Going back over a hundred years, both Orson Pratt and B. H. Roberts affirmed that God is in time, and has a past, present and future. Pratt wrote:  “The true God exists both in time and space. He has extension, and form, and dimensions, as well as man. He occupies space; has a body, parts, and passions; can go from place to place—can eat, drink, and talk, as well as man.” [1] Roberts said that God the son “became man,” that there was for him a “before and after,” and that “here there is a succession of time with God—a before and after; here is being and becoming.”[2]

More recently Apostle Neal A. Maxwell spoke of a different position: “Once the believer acknowledges that the past, present, and future are before God simultaneously—even though we do not understand how, then the doctrine of fore-ordination may be seen somewhat more clearly” (emphasis in original).[3] Elder Maxwell also suggested that God could not know what is in our future unless he is outside of time and knows all things simultaneously, so that God actually sees rather than foresees the future and is never surprised by what happens, although we often are. [4]

So what do you think?  Is God outside of time, and able to travel to and fro through the eons? Can he drop in on any time in history, or is he governed by time like us mortals, with a before, present and future?

(Full disclosure: The idea for this post and references cited were taken from Line Upon Line, Essays on Mormon Doctrine, chapter six “Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Omniscience in Mormon Theology”  by Kent E. Robson)

[1]  Orson Pratt, The Kingdom of God (Liverpool), 31 Oct. 1848, 48.

[2]  B. H. Roberts, The Mormon Doctrine of Deity (Salt Lake City, 1903), 95-96.

[3] See Neal A. Maxwell, “A More Determined Discipleship,” Ensign 9 (Feb. 1979), 2:69-73; and All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1979).

[4] See Maxwell, “Discipleship,” 70-71; see also Maxwell, Experience, 37.

Donald Trump the Time Traveller?

source Daily Star

GETTY/PA

TIME TRAVELLER: Donald Trump could be from 2036 and came to warn us of an ISIS nuclear war

Many are convinced that a man called John Titor time travelled from the year 2036 to 2000 to warn the world of an impending nuclear war at the hands of ISIS.

Appearing only in online forums 16 years ago, nobody knew the identity of the man who vanished without a trace – but some are now certain that this man was none-other than president-elect Donald Trump.

Conspiracy theorists now believe that billionaire tycoon Donald Trump is poised to use the highest position on the planet to stop the impending nuclear war with ISIS terror-nuts.

Donald Trump, who has supposedly already seen a future ravaged by the destruction of a nuclear conflict, is detirmined to avert the oncoming apocalypse at whatever cost.

The conspiracy theory, which recently appeared on 4chan online forums, claims to be one of the most compelling explanations for Trump's shock victory at the election last year.

GETTY

THEO

Nikola Tesla & John Trump

The legend-tellers suggest that Donald’s uncle John George Trump, who was a very well-known scientist and inventor, oversaw the examination of famous engineer Nikola Tesla’s notes after his death.

Serbian-born Tesla moved to the US in 1891 was famed for his reputation as a “mad scientist”.

Tesla was also well-known in his later years for exploring theoretical subjects, and even made very early pronouncements into the possibility of wireless connectivity.

He apparently looked into fantastic theories such as free energy, antigravity, invisibility, and most importantly time travel.

GETTY

SCIENTIST: Donald Trump's uncle John George Trump was a well-known scientist

GETTY/PA

NUCLEAR ISIS: It is believed that Trump witnessed a future world destroyed by nukes and ISIS

After Tesla died in 1943, the National Defence Research Committee called on M.I.T. Professor John Trump to look into his work in case there was any military application.

Trump spent three days by himself looking into the notes before concluding there was nothing of any significance.

His report read: “(Tesla’s) thoughts and efforts during at least the past 15 years were primarily of a speculative, philosophical, and somewhat promotional character”.

Conspiracy theorists claim Trump found theoretical designs for a time travelling machine.

GETTY

THEORIES: Nikola Tesla was known for "mad scientist" theories, which John Trump may have seen

JOHN TITOR

MACHINE: One of the photos John Titor supplied of his 'time machine'

Donald Titor

John G. Trump spent a lot of time with his nephew Donald before he died in 1985.

In interviews Donald Trump regularly brought up his “uncle John” and references his warning over nuclear weapons and the damage they may cause.

During one such interview he cryptically said: “My uncle used to tell me about nuclear before nuclear was nuclear”.

“My uncle used to tell me about nuclear before nuclear was nuclear”

Donald Trump

He told the Boston Globe: “He would tell me, ‘There are things that are happening that could be potentially so bad for the world in terms of weaponry.”

Trump told the Times that his uncle “would tell me many years ago about the power of weapons someday, that the destructive force of these weapons would be so massive, that it’s going to be a scary world.”

What is strange about the warnings is that by the time Donald Trump was born in 1946, the US already owned and used nuclear weapons.

Trump also spoke about his dislike of nuclear weapons saying, “I hate nuclear more than any. My uncle was a professor was at M.I.T., used to tell me about nuclear.

“Can I be honest with you? It’s going to happen, anyway. It’s going to happen anyway. It’s only a question of time…”RY: A wild new conspiracy theory claims Donald Trump is a time traveller