If you have somebody who's brilliant and highly creative with a different point of view than you have, and a very different intellectual background, great things can happen.
Kip ThorneRead
Whether you can go back in time is held in the grip of the law of quantum gravity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that the possibility of traveling back in time is determined by the principles of quantum gravity.
Kip Thorne's quote reflects on the complex relationship between time travel and the laws of physics, specifically quantum gravity. It implies that our ability to move backward in time is not just a matter of imagination or science fiction, but rather is constrained by fundamental physical laws that govern the universe. This underscores the importance of understanding the universe's rules as we explore profound concepts such as time travel.
Themes
TimeQuantum GravityPhysicsTime TravelUniverse
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on time travel theories, you could use this quote to highlight the scientific constraints involved.
More from Kip Thorne
All quotes βI think that the future of the human race is to spread through the universe, and now is the time that we should be laying the foundations for that.
Kip ThorneRead
'Closed timelike curve' is the jargon for time travel. It means you go out, come back and meet yourself in the past.
Kip ThorneRead
If you think that the distance from the Earth to the nearest planet where we could live comfortably... is being, like, from New York to Australia... what we've achieved so far, in going to the moon, that's about two-and-a-half inches. So that's the challenge.
Kip ThorneRead
A big misconception is that a black hole is made of matter that has just been compacted to a very small size. That's not true. A black hole is made from warped space and time.
Kip ThorneRead
If you go down through the horizon of a black hole, at the center you don't find a tunnel that leads you to some other place in the universe.
Kip ThorneRead
Similar quotes
Yet if anyone believes that the earth rotates, surely he will hold that its motion is natural, not violent.
Nicolaus CopernicusRead
Everyone in the astronaut program has a degree in a science field. The crew are the ones who do the experiments, help to design some of the experiments that come from other primary researchers. So it becomes very important that you have a science background.
Mae JemisonRead
If we use our fuel to get our power, we are living on our capital and exhausting it rapidly. This method is barbarous and wantonly wasteful, and will have to be stopped in the interest of coming generations. The heat of the sun's rays represents an immense amount of energy vastly in excess of waterpower...The sun's energy controlled to create lakes and rivers for motive purposes and transformation of arid deserts into fertile land.
Nikola TeslaRead
If you get asteroids about a kilometer in size, those are large enough and carry enough energy into our system to disrupt transportation, communication, the food chains, and that can be a really bad day on Earth.
Neil Degrasse TysonRead
There are living systems; there is no living "matter." No substance, no single molecule, extracted and isolated from a living being possess, of its own, the aforementioned paradoxical properties. They are present in living systems only; that is to say, nowhere below the level of the cell.
Jacques MonodRead
Normal television limits what you can do. With science fiction, you can exercise your imagination more. I fell in love with it.
Gene RoddenberryRead