this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2025
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It'd actually be cool as fuck if we could make some kind of Paycheck-style time machine that lets you see into the past by simply looking at light reflected off other celestial objects.
It could theoretically work looking backwards, but not forwards as it was used in the film. Of course, it'd have to have insane resolution for it to be like a video of what happened on the planet and not just a dot of light.
You mean, this ?
collapsed inline media
lol
Real time, tho. That way we can see photographs from before cameras, too. Watch what dinosaurs were doing n stuff.
Unfortunately light wouldn't remain collimated over a 33 million light year distance which is what we would need to see dinosaurs
How about heat? Or some other radiation? 🤔
You can also watch light move with a camera.
Alternatively, and slightly cheaper, put a satellite into orbit and just record everything on the ground it looks at, hang onto recordings for 10 years.
But that's boring, doing it with light is way better.
Also the governments already do that and don't want to share.
I get that it seems cooler, but you would be looking at recordings with gathered light either way.
I can get nostalgia looking at my previous address on Maps because it shows my old Jetta (my first car) in the driveway :D
Google maps is one of the only applications that has literally made cry. The other is excel for entirely different reasons.
Google Earth/Maps in VR is pretty wild for visiting memory places.
As if we're not already doing that
Exactly, you can go on Google Earth right now and view the past.