20 May 2006

 

Another Short History of Time Travel

Year 1: We anticipate a not so pleasant final stop at the big bang. Year 10: We collect timepieces at each stop. Year 100: We are resigned to our fate. Year 1,000: We find the device will not go in the other direction. We are filled with despair. Year 10,000: We observe wars and pestilence. Year 100,000: We are greeted as great explorers in a world we stumble upon completely by accident. We meet some of our ancestors. Year 1,000,000: We find plans for a tachyonic transportation device among the effects of our recently deceased grandfather. We build the device.

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Intriguing. In the reverse narrative, we re-cognize our forgotten mythology; in the forward narrative, we forget our inevitable destiny. Both accounts share a sense of despair (circa Year 100 and Year 1000) at the realization that no amount of tachyonic technological mediation can intervene on our behalf. We are always anticipating “a not so pleasant final stop at the big bang.”

Mystery of the universe solved!

Thanks for the reality shampoo (and conditioner!)
 
Thanks for the close readings. The thing about time travel stories is that causality is always suspect, so the narrative can usually be presented in an arbitrary order. See today's (May 21) post for an oscillating take on the same material.
 
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