Of relativity, time and time travel

You would think that by now we would have a little bit more insight into time travel, or at least have ruled for or against its possibility of existence. Apparently, while we cannot prove it is possible, we cannot prove it is impossible either, as a Princeton University astrophysicist says:

"No law of physics that we know of prohibits time travel".

Nobody really states that time travel is indeed possible, but if it is not, then we should at least be able to understand and show what makes it impossible.

Then why are there still people who push for the discovery of time travel, when they are aware the chances for it are almost inexistent?

They hope such extreme theorizing could reveal new features, gaps or perhaps paradoxes or contradictions in the foundations of physics as we know it and point the way to new ideas.

More on time travel in this News.com article

Less than 15 years ago, in the early 1990's, we portrayed 2005 and beyond, trough SCI-FI movies, as being this far away "era", so advanced and futuristic, totally different from anything we were used to. Well, here we are, and besides fairly miniaturized phones, ultra-thin lcd displays and in-car computers with gps navigation, the rest is just about the same. Granted, computers are much faster, but they all rely on century-old theories and laws. When will we, in our lifetime, see breakthroughs in technology comparable to the ones Einstein made at the begginning of the 20th century, when he was only 26 years old?

While on the Einstein subject, let us look at some of his discoveries. One of the papers he submitted at the age of 26, was on quantum physics - "the peculiar realm of the ultra-tiny in which certainties are replaced by fuzzy clouds of probability". In it, he used the quantum description of light, existing at the time, to explain that increases in light intensity were not due to higher energy electrons, but to a more abundance of electrons.

The word "quantum" refers to discrete packets of light--particles now called photons. Einstein's work helped show that light behaved both as particle and a wave.

In one of his next papers in the same year, Einstein tackled relativity concepts of that time. More precisely he introduced the idea that light did not travel in ether and its speed did not vary according to the moving speed of an observer. He stated that light travels at a fixed speed of about 186, 000 miles per hour or approximately 300,000 km per hour, regardless of anything else.

Other Einstein concepts laid the foundation for today's nanotechnology used to build the microprocessors of today's computers.

For more on Einstein, his theories and their effects today, read here