E-Answer.Net

I would say it is highly improbable.



The first reason is philosophical. To believe that such a device can be built, you would have to subscribe to the notion that we exist in a deterministic universe.



Secondly, even if we did know the position of every single atom, not everything in our universe is made of atoms, i.e. dark matter. Along with dark matter as well as all the elementary particles (which are unpredictable by nature) there appears to be too many variables to compute. -- Basically an infinite amount of variables which would take an infinite amount of time to accurately compute.

The level of recursion required is too great. It would need to be able to see itself looking at the past and future, and in that past and future that it sees, it would need to be able to again see itself in -that- past & future, and in the past & future _that_ sees, it would again need to be able to see itself...



The recursive loop required would literally be infinite. Thus, it won't be possible. We'd need not just quantum computers, but true singularity computers with a literally infinite energy source and infinitesimal size. If -that- ever happens, we'll be able to see the past & future. But by then, we probably won't want or need to.

This is a very complex question: My short answer is that yes you can go back but not forward. I feel that it will not be real if it is forward. Because then man would alter and change events to suit his wishe's and desires. There are Spiritual laws that will prevent this...So if you peer into the future you can see but not touch it....

First paragraph response) We know that, do we? I sure don't. I believe that if we were able to completely analyze every element of reality in real time, the future would be completely evident.



The final response) It's possible, likely in fact, as it's a deterministic system with the only wildcard of chaos being the uncertainty of quantum activity. Completely random though they may be, however, in the macro-universe they produce a certain result every time. Usually in the form of a chemical reaction. I don't think we're anywhere near technologically advanced enough for such a macroscopic view of past present and future, and physics doesn't delve into the realm of how we might react to knowing the future, and if the future was already determined by our knowledge thereof, which would introduce a higher scale of existence than we planned for initially. Huge conflict. No idea how we might resolve it.