Time travel
Can anyone think of an economic proof of time travel is impossible?
I have got an idea after MT Cheung's class, let see whether it will convince you.
Proof:
Interest rate determines the relative price over time for the same commodity.[1]
If time travel is possible, there will be an arbitrage oppounity if the price of the same good over time is different, which means, if there is interest, people can gain by "buy low sell high".
The above implies, under ideal situation, interest rate = 0 if time travel is possible. We observe that, generally speaking, interest rate is not equal to zero in our world.
So not B ---> not A, time travel is impossible. Q.E.D.[2]
Notes:
[1] You may refer to I.Fisher's "Theory of Interest".
[2] Q.E.D. stands for "Quite Easily Done".
I have got an idea after MT Cheung's class, let see whether it will convince you.
Proof:
Interest rate determines the relative price over time for the same commodity.[1]
If time travel is possible, there will be an arbitrage oppounity if the price of the same good over time is different, which means, if there is interest, people can gain by "buy low sell high".
The above implies, under ideal situation, interest rate = 0 if time travel is possible. We observe that, generally speaking, interest rate is not equal to zero in our world.
So not B ---> not A, time travel is impossible. Q.E.D.[2]
Notes:
[1] You may refer to I.Fisher's "Theory of Interest".
[2] Q.E.D. stands for "Quite Easily Done".
posted by Outlaw at 11:23 am
5 Comments:
haha~
Your explanation is pretty innovative and interesting, but what if time travel costs something, a time machine for example? So I think you need to make as assumption that time travel is totally costless.
Sure.
I have put down "under ideal situation", by which I mean, transaction cost = 0.
It sounds interesting.
But your evidence, our world, is not ideal.
So it is just for fun.
Or you may take this as an indicator of time travel possibility.
"Q.E.D"? lol...
in order for your proof to work, how many assumptions have you made? for example, how many people have access to time travel? you have assumed that if time travel is possible then the whole world could time travel. needless to say, this is an extremely strong assumption. and there is no justification for it.
what if only 1 person is able to? there is no reason why interest rate would automatically tend towards zero. furthermore, time travel is highly unlikely to be costless. as long as the cost is large, interest rate may still be postive, just like the case of exchanging foreign currency. in theory exchange rates should be synchronised, but clearly they aren't because of costs of travelling, info cost etc.
finally, i don't think interest rate being non-zero could ever be a "proof" for possibility of time travelling. for one thing, the relationship between interest rate and time travel may not necessarily be a 1 to 1 relationship. and hence the proof cannot be confidently established.
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