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Yes

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The simple answer is an unequivocal YES. Even as you are reading this now, you are moving through time. At least a few seconds have passed since you clicked on this article, to open it. Time travel is a reality.

The ultimate question behind this, however, is whether we can manipulate the flow of time to either jump ahead faster, or take a step or two backward.

Again, the simple answer is 'yes', but the how of it may prove unpleasant. Moving forward is easier than backward - that's a "simple" manipulation of the relative speed of the local flow of time. General Relativity shows us how gravity can alter the 'speed' of time, so moving between high and low gravity fields can change how quickly time passes for an observer. As a general rule, the higher the gravity, the slower time passes locally. If you want to jump forward into the future, spend a year or two on the surface of a neutron star; decades - maybe even centuries - will have passed on Earth.

Moving backward is also theoretically possible, but it is rather tricky. It requires an inversion of time and space dimensions, allowing for movement in a non-linear fashion along the time dimension. Our best (and only) guess, so far, as to how this might be possible is to visit the inside of a Black Hole. Unfortunately, even if a person could conceive of how to enter such an object intact, getting back out to make use of the time travel could be problematic.

There may well be other methods we envision in the future - it seems that as we understand more of the physical laws, we understand new ways to break those laws. Future options may involve the manipulation of gravity, or may end up being something very different. For now, though, there is little of practical use for us.

However, the question at hand is one of theoretical feasibility. Though the details are troublesome, to say the least, it is clear that there are ways. We may not be able to overcome the associated problems of the methods available now, but those methods are no less present for that. Time travel is real.

Learn more about this author, Bryan Belrad.
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