Phasing and Time Travel: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 02:31, 28 June 2023

Understanding the different concepts and distinctions within time travel in a Star Trek-based universe can be challenging, as the explanations provided in canon are often minimal. As the Star Trek series progressed beyond The Next Generation, the scientific details behind these concepts became less prominent, further complicating matters.

Time Travel and Phasing share similarities when explained, but they are portrayed differently in canon. However, the difference between them is never explicitly clarified in the shows because it was not necessary for the storylines. Consequently, comprehending the distinction can be conceptually challenging, especially after delving into the mechanics of time travel in the storyline.

Phasing in Canon Trek

In the Star Trek universe, the concept of Phasing is described as being out of sync with normal time. In the two-part episode "Times Arrow" from Star Trek: The Next Generation, it is referred to as synchronic distortion, which places individuals out of sync with the regular flow of time. If two people are in a room and person A becomes phased while person B remains unaffected, person A essentially shifts forward or backward in the current stream of time, unable to catch up or be caught up with. Conceptually, this seems plausible, except that being out of phase is also shown to reveal an alternate world overlaying the normal reality, which remains unseen as our eyes never synchronize with it.

Similarities to Time Travel

To move into another time, person A would need to become out of sync with normal time. Since this universe is not solely based on Star Trek, ideas and concepts from other works of fiction are borrowed to help describe the finer details. For instance, in Back to the Future, Doc Brown explains his time machine as leaping forward in time by skipping over the minute to land precisely one minute in the future. In this scenario, the time machine catches up with the skipped minute, unlike being out of phase, where one never catches up with the normal timeline.

Of course, various other concepts of time travel exist in different descriptions. Another idea involves time travel occurring when an individual accelerates or decelerates the speed at which they move through time. This concept is exemplified in H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, where the protagonist's contraption allows him to witness time passing outside the machine by moving faster than anything else, rendering it invisible to others.

In Our Writing

In our game, Time Travel occurs in two ways. Firstly, there is the concept of Time Displacement Equipment, which can be likened to the "Doc Brown" method, where a vessel instantaneously jumps from one point in time to another, bypassing both time and space. Secondly, there is the Dimensional Fold Drive, which resembles the "Time Machine" method, where a vessel phases out of sync with normal time and then accelerates or decelerates the passage of time. This concept aligns with the slingshot method used in Star Trek IV, where time travel is depicted as a stream of sensations, thoughts, and images, suggesting that the crew progresses (albeit at an extraordinarily rapid pace) through the timeline rather than instantaneously jumping to their destination.

How does this differ from Phasing? Becoming asynchronous to normal time implies that we reside in a specific segment of space-time, and other regions within our own space-time are either invisible or barely perceptible to us. In several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, being out of phase allows characters to become invisible, pass through normal matter, perceive but not interact with the normal world, and so on. It is not inconceivable that, if we consider our universe as the starting point, becoming out of sync could grant us glimpses of other parallel streams of time that exist alongside our own. In fact, going slightly out of phase might align a person partially with another world, enabling them to perceive both realities.

Consequently, Phasing differs from Time Travel in that Time Travel involves traversing our own stream of time and existence, while someone becoming out of phase shifts out of our own universe/reality and into another.

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-One of the difficult concepts to understand when dealing with time travel in a [[Star Trek]] based universe are the lines that separate different ideas - ideas that were never really explained as more than a basic idea of logic behind what something might be.  Beyond Star Trek the Next Generation the science behind concepts also declines greatly making things more difficult.
+Understanding the different concepts and distinctions within time travel in a [[Star Trek]]-based universe can be challenging, as the explanations provided in canon are often minimal. As the Star Trek series progressed beyond The Next Generation, the scientific details behind these concepts became less prominent, further complicating matters.
-Time Travel, as a concept, is very similar to the idea of Phasing when explained, but they are portrayed entirely differently in canon.  The difference is never explained, of course, because there was no need to for the story lines in the shows.  After discussing the ideas about [[Regarding Time Travel|how time travel works]] in the story line it can become an issue to conceptually difficult understand the difference.
+Time Travel and Phasing share similarities when explained, but they are portrayed differently in canon. However, the difference between them is never explicitly clarified in the shows because it was not necessary for the storylines. Consequently, comprehending the distinction can be conceptually challenging, especially after delving into the mechanics of time travel in the storyline.
 == Phasing in Canon Trek ==
-The concept of Phasing is described as being out-of-phase with normal time and in one particular 2 part episode pair (Times Arrow Part 1 and 2 of Star Trek the Next Generation) it is described using the term synchronic-distortion which is further pinned down as being placed out of sync with normal time.  So if two people are sitting in a room and person A becomes out of phase and person B does not, then the idea is that person A has phase-shifted either backwards or forward in the current stream of time such that they aren't ever able to catch up or be caught up with.  Conceptually this sounds alright except for the fact that in canon being out of phase is shown to have the ability to show an alternate world of sorts that exists on top of this world but cannot be seen (because our eyes never catch up with them).
+In the Star Trek universe, the concept of Phasing is described as being out of sync with normal time. In the two-part episode "Times Arrow" from Star Trek: The Next Generation, it is referred to as synchronic distortion, which places individuals out of sync with the regular flow of time. If two people are in a room and person A becomes phased while person B remains unaffected, person A essentially shifts forward or backward in the current stream of time, unable to catch up or be caught up with. Conceptually, this seems plausible, except that being out of phase is also shown to reveal an alternate world overlaying the normal reality, which remains unseen as our eyes never synchronize with it.
 == Similarities to Time Travel ==
-To move into another time person A would have to move out of sync with normal time.  Since this isn't just a Star Trek based universe we barrow ideas and concepts from other fiction to help describe the nitty-gritty details.  In Back to the Future, Doc Brown described his time machine as going forward in time by one minute by jumping over that minute to land 1 minute in the future.  Given this idea the time machine is caught up with.  It jumps over the minute and is then caught up with.  Conceptually this is much different than being out of phase where you are never caught up with.
+To move into another time, person A would need to become out of sync with normal time. Since this universe is not solely based on Star Trek, ideas and concepts from other works of fiction are borrowed to help describe the finer details. For instance, in Back to the Future, Doc Brown explains his time machine as leaping forward in time by skipping over the minute to land precisely one minute in the future. In this scenario, the time machine catches up with the skipped minute, unlike being out of phase, where one never catches up with the normal timeline.
-Of course in the many descriptions of time travel there are other concepts.  There is also the concept of time travel occurring because someone just accelerates or decelerates the speed by which they go through time.  This idea is exemplified in The Time Machine by H. G. Wells where his contraption going through time actually does allow him to see time moving outside of his machine.  It is simply speeding faster than anything else so no one else can see it.
+Of course, various other concepts of time travel exist in different descriptions. Another idea involves time travel occurring when an individual accelerates or decelerates the speed at which they move through time. This concept is exemplified in H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, where the protagonist's contraption allows him to witness time passing outside the machine by moving faster than anything else, rendering it invisible to others.
 == In Our Writing ==
-n the game Time Travel happens in two ways...  There is the concept of the [[Time Displacement Equipment]] which I would personally define as being the "Doc Brown" method where a vessel jumps from one point in time to another instantly, skipping over time and space.  Differing from that there is the [[Dimensional Fold Drive]] which is more of a "Time Machine" method where a vessel goes out of phase with normal time and then accelerates or decelerates the normal passage of time.  This is also shared as a concept with the slingshot method used in Star Trek IV, time travel is portrayed as not being instant but a stream of sayings, thoughts, and images which seems to indicate that the crew doesn't just jump instantly but progresses (although extraordinarily quickly) through the timeline to arrive at their destination.
+In our game, Time Travel occurs in two ways. Firstly, there is the concept of [[Time Displacement Equipment]], which can be likened to the "Doc Brown" method, where a vessel instantaneously jumps from one point in time to another, bypassing both time and space. Secondly, there is the [[Dimensional Fold Drive]], which resembles the "Time Machine" method, where a vessel phases out of sync with normal time and then accelerates or decelerates the passage of time. This concept aligns with the slingshot method used in Star Trek IV, where time travel is depicted as a stream of sensations, thoughts, and images, suggesting that the crew progresses (albeit at an extraordinarily rapid pace) through the timeline rather than instantaneously jumping to their destination.
-How is this different from Phasing?  Becoming asynchronous to normal time sets up the idea that we all live in only a small segment of space-time, our area of space-time being unique and various other areas of out own space-time are invisible to us or barely visible to us.  In several different episodes of Star Trek the Next Generation it shows that being out of phase allows one to become invisible, pass through normal matter, perceive but not participate in the normal world, etc..  It isn't inconceivable that if we all find out universe as a starting point that becoming out of sync could allow us to see other streams of time that exist all parallel to us.  In fact going out of phase with normal time reveals other worlds with other properties.  Then only going slightly out of phase may put a person slightly in-phase with another world allowing a person to perhaps perceive both.
+How does this differ from Phasing? Becoming asynchronous to normal time implies that we reside in a specific segment of space-time, and other regions within our own space-time are either invisible or barely perceptible to us. In several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, being out of phase allows characters to become invisible, pass through normal matter, perceive but not interact with the normal world, and so on. It is not inconceivable that, if we consider our universe as the starting point, becoming out of sync could grant us glimpses of other parallel streams of time that exist alongside our own. In fact, going slightly out of phase might align a person partially with another world, enabling them to perceive both realities.
-Phasing then becomes different time Time Travel in that Time Travel a person goes somewhere in our own steam of time and existence where as someone going out of Phase shifts out of our own universe/reality into another.
+Consequently, Phasing differs from Time Travel in that Time Travel involves traversing our own stream of time and existence, while someone becoming out of phase shifts out of our own universe/reality and into another.
 [[Category:OOC]]