TCNJ

48 The College of New Jersey Magazine 10 10 things you need to know about … TIME TRAVEL Zipping to the past or future in a time machine is an idea that appeals to scientists and storytellers alike, and time travel serves as a plot device to explore philosophical questions about fate. Adjunct professor Jonathan Chalmers teaches the First Seminar Program course, Let's Kill Hitler: The Ethics of Time Travel. Here's what he has to say about it. —Kara Pothier 7. There's one problem for those who travel to the future: getting back. You would have to travel faster than the speed of light, and that's impossible. 6. In a sense, we all time travel — but only in one direction (forward) and at the speed of one second per second. TCNJ X10 1. H.G. Wells popularized time travel in his 1895 novel The Time Machine. 3. Physicist Stephen Hawking threw a party for time travelers in 2009, but didn't send out invitations until after the party. No one showed up, proving to him that time travel isn't possible. 2. My course title comes from a 2011 episode of Doctor Who, but it's a common narrative in time-travel fiction and a common thought experiment in ethics. 8. Astronauts on the International Space Station time travel in a way because they age more slowly than on Earth. But they would have to be on board 100 years to warp ahead just one second. 5. Instead of traveling to change the past, "I ask students to think of small acts today that could dramatically affect the future." 4. Going back in time is inviting to those who want to change history, but it leads to a time-travel paradox: What happens to the present if the past is changed? 10. "I like to end each class by saying, 'See you next time.'" 9. An ad placed in jest in the Backwoods Home Magazine inspired a time-travel film we watch in class, Safety Not Guaranteed.

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