According to the theory of relativity, you can theoretically travel to the future by the principle of time delay. How can this be explained from a biological point of view?

Answer

The biological point of view in terms of aging at the cell level is actually separate from the effect of time delay. The time delay is therefore not directly related to biology, but explained from physics. In physics, one speaks of time delay in two contexts that are essentially different from each other:

– In special relativity, the perception of time delay is an effect of the relative motion of one observer with respect to another. The effect of the time delay is therefore no more than that: an observation or perception. The observer moving with respect to me at high speed seems to me to have a slower time. But since I’m moving at high speed relative to the other, the other claims that my time is slowing down relative to his! This is a result of the fact that the speed at which we perceive each other (the speed of light) has a constant value. In this case, the time delay is therefore a purely apparent effect, independent of the own cell aging.

– The general theory of relativity teaches us that time slows down the closer you are to a heavy mass (or in other words the gravitational field increases). This is not an apparent, but an actual effect (explained by Einstein in terms of space-time curvature)! At a greater distance from the earth, for example, time will effectively go faster than at a small distance, and you will therefore age faster. This, however, is a general consequence of the physical course of time, apart from observations; all interactions of any kind (eg electromagnetism at the level of fundamental particles, or the ticking of your clock, or cell aging, or …) will slow down with a stronger gravitational field.