Time Dilation in Planet of the Apes

Most people think of Planet of the Apes as a movie. It was actually first published as a book, and presents a much better story than any of the movie versions. Sorry, Hollywood, that's just the way it is.

Planet of the Apes is a remarkable French novel written by Pierre Boulle and published in 1963. It tells the story of a space expedition launched in 2500 from Earth to the distant star system of Belgeteuse. The expedition is conducted by a few humans, including a man called Ulysse and his genius professor friend, the inventor of a spaceship that can travel near the speed of light.

In his novel, Pierre Boulle writes that the effects of time dilation allow the passengers to complete their trip in 2 years as opposed to 350 years. We know how they do it!

Proper time here is Δt_o= 2 years and relativistic time is Δt = 350 years. Using our equation Δt = γΔt_o, we can solve for γ and figure out the spaceship's speed.

Since ,we find γ = 175. Then β = 0.9999837 using

That's much better than what The Albertian can do.

Back to the story. The spaceship reaches an Earth-like planet where a troubling role reversal has occurred over time. Apes are now the masters while humans are their slaves. The main character, Ulysse, is captured with other humans and stuck in a lab for scientific research purposes. Amongst a hoard of animalistic human beings screaming about in a cage, he blends right in.

So what does Ulysse do to convey the message he's far superior than his kind? He relies on math. He draws the Pythagorean theorem on a piece of paper and shows it to a flabbergasted female ape, surprised that a mere human animal has powers of higher thinking.