Presume temporarily, for the sake of hypothesis, that there was an afterlife, and that this afterlife existed separately from time. Now, say the life of a friend or loved one meets its end, and in an effort to see them once more, you travel back in time via a Tipler Cylinder. Would the soul of the person in question reside in their past body, or would it remain in the afterlife which exists separately from time?

55 minutes ago, Anchovyforestbane said:

Would the soul of the person in question reside in their past body, or would it remain in the afterlife which exists separately from time?

It's up to you to decide, this is your fantasy.

Any Tipler cylinder les than infinitely long will require exotic matter/negative energy to allow CTCs, exactly as wormholes do.
Neither infinitely long cylinders, nor exotic matter with negative energy, appear to be practical.
Or souls, and the afterlife, for that matter.

5 hours ago, Anchovyforestbane said:

you travel back in time via a Tipler Cylinder

You can't use a Tipler cylinder to travel back in time, as that would violate the weak energy condition.

6 hours ago, Markus Hanke said:

You can't use a Tipler cylinder to travel back in time, as that would violate the weak energy condition.

Doesn't that essentially mean the absence of exotic matter with negative energy ?

 

2 hours ago, MigL said:

Doesn't that essentially mean the absence of exotic matter with negative energy ?

Hopefully. I'm starting to need more varied excuses for lying on the couch. I'll try that one next.

14 hours ago, Anchovyforestbane said:

Presume temporarily, for the sake of hypothesis, that there was an afterlife, and that this afterlife existed separately from time.

You want to discuss using a relativistic effect, but you want to separate time and space? That's more than presumption.

47 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

You want to discuss using a relativistic effect, but you want to separate time and space? That's more than presumption.

!

Moderator Note

It's breaking relativity, then breaking it again with time travel, using a device that only works with unphysical conditions...and then asking physics to weigh in on the answer.

Bufofrog was on the right track with their answer. This is science fiction. Write the story any way you please.

If anyone wants to discuss actual physics further (e.g. what the limitations of a Tipler cylinder are), we can split those posts off (use "report post"). Otherwise there's not enough rigor in the OP to warrant discussion