Quotation? (time travel's strongest counterargument)

Mon Sep 16 21:56:32 UTC 2013

Joel and list members: The earliest and best evidence I have found for
the time travel remark by Stephen Hawking was published in a
collection of essays. The quotation below appeared in "The Future of
the Universe", a written version of a January 1991 lecture Hawking
delivered at Cambridge. The collection was published later, 1993.

[ref] 1993, Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays by Stephen
Hawking, Essay: 13: The Future of the Universe, (Asterisk footnote:
"Darwin lecture given at the University of Cambridge in January
1991."), Start page 141, Quote Page 154, Bantam Books, New York.
(Verified with scans)[/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
But the best evidence we have that time travel is not possible, and
never will be, is that we have not been invaded by hordes of tourists
from the future.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 7:32 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> Chi Trib has an isolated quotation credited to Hawking in 1992 with no
> information about where or when it was said or written.
>
> Date: Jan 28, 1992
> Newspaper: Chicago Tribune
> Article: EVENING. People. QUOTES OF THE DAY.
> Database: ProQuest
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> ENGLISH PHYSICIST STEPHEN HAWKING: "The best evidence we have that
> time travel is not possible, and never will be, is that we have not
> been invaded by hordes of tourists from the future."
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 6:51 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Quotation? (time travel's strongest counterargument)
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> A news report in Science suggests that a version of the quotation
>> about future tourists might have appeared in Hawking's paper on the
>> "Chronology protection conjecture" in 1992 which was published in
>> Physics Review D, I think. But I cannot download the paper to check.
>> (See cite further below.)
>>
>> Alternatively, the quotation appeared in a draft of the paper, or
>> Hawking may have simply spoken the words.
>>
>> If someone reading this message is interested and can access the paper
>> I think it is worth checking.
>>
>> Note that 1992 is after "Brief History of Time" was first published.
>>
>> Journal: Science
>> Date: Apr. 10, 1992
>> Title: Could a Pair of Cosmic Strings Open a Route Into the Past?
>> Author: John Travis
>> Published by: American Association for the Advancement of Science
>> Datebase: JSTOR
>> http://www.jstor.org/stable/2876979
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> In an effort to prohibit time machines of any design, Hawking  has
>> just  completed a manuscript, called "The Chronology Protection
>> Conjecture," arguing that the laws of physics forbid closed timelike
>> curves. Somewhat tongue-in-cheek, Hawking cites as "strong empirical
>> evidence" for his conjecture the fact that "we have not been invaded
>> by hordes of tourists from the future."
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Here is the cite for the Chronology protection conjecture
>>
>> Chronology protection conjecture
>> Phys. Rev. D 46, 603–611 (1992)
>> http://prd.aps.org/abstract/PRD/v46/i2/p603_1
>>
>> On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 6:17 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
>> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: Quotation? (time travel's strongest counterargument)
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Here are some raw GB matches that show a quotation Hawking may have
>>> written or said. But I haven't found solid evidence yet:
>>>
>>> Engineering & Science - Volume 55 - Page 21
>>> books.google.com/books?id=kylIAQAAIAAJ
>>> 1991 - Snippet view - More editions
>>> But the best evidence we have that time travel is not possible and
>>> never will be, is that we have not been invaded by hordes of tourists
>>> from the future. means that a tiny change in the initial situation can
>>> lead to change in the subsequent ...
>>>
>>> Nonlinear problems in relativity and cosmology - Page 184
>>> books.google.com/books?id=HJhFAAAAYAAJ
>>> J. Robert Buchler, Steven Detweiler, James R. Ipser - 1991 -
>>> Snippet view - More editions
>>> ... of physics will always prevent the creation of CTCs.5 He has also
>>> suggested (half facetiously) that "there is strong experimental
>>> evidence in favour of this conjecture in the fact we have not been
>>> invaded by hordes of tourists from the future."
>>>
>>> On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 5:34 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
>>> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>>>> Subject:      Re: Quotation? (time travel's strongest counterargument)
>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> Joel: Here is a preliminary comment. This is an old question/paradox
>>>> in science fiction. But finding the matching phrasing might be
>>>> difficult.
>>>>
>>>> The quotation is not mentioned on the main Wikiquote page for Hawking
>>>> (nor the Talk page). However, the excerpt below could be transformed
>>>> into the quotation.
>>>>
>>>> Title: A Brief History of Time
>>>> Author: Stephen Hawking
>>>> Date: 1998, First published in 1988
>>>>
>>>> http://books.google.com/books?id=oZhagX6UWOMC&q=overrun#v=snippet&
>>>>
>>>> [Begin excerpt]
>>>> This might explain why we have not yet been overrun by tourists from
>>>> the future, but it would not avoid the problems that would arise if
>>>> one were able to go back and change history.
>>>> [End excerpt]
>>>>
>>>> Here is an instance where the quotation was attributed to Hawking by 2004
>>>>
>>>> Peridocal: Popular Science
>>>> Date: Feb 2004
>>>>
>>>> http://books.google.com/books?id=rdCPa_yGqF0C&q=overrun#v=snippet&
>>>>
>>>> [Begin excerpt]
>>>> His most famous science-fiction-writer-befuddling question: If time
>>>> travel is possible, why haven't we been overrun by tourists from the
>>>> future?
>>>> [End excerpt]
>>>>
>>>> Garson
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 4:51 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>>>>> Subject:      Quotation? (time travel's strongest counterargument)
>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>> I apologize for asking the list -- I don't do quotations, and don't
>>>>> own the reference books.
>>>>>
>>>>> Who first said "if time travel were possible, we would have been
>>>>> overrun by tourists from the future by now."  Stephen Hawking, or someone else?
>>>>>
>>>>> Joel
>>>>>
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>>>>
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>>
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