Apr 23, 2010
How to know if you’ll ever invent time travel.
You may occasionally wonder if you’ll be the one to figure out how to go back in time. But if you haven’t already come back and told yourself about it, you probably didn’t…or won’t.
* * * * *
…unless, of course, your future self is wise enough to realize that a visit to your past self could result in a space-time paradox that would unravel the very fabric of the universe itself.
Honestly, Abraham–haven’t you EVER seen the “Back to the Future” trilogy? jeez.
But how would you invent it if your future self didn’t come back and tell you how you did it?
MY future self is probably leaving me incremental clues to piece together over the course of a very long period of time. He obviously doesn’t want me to discover time travel until I’m mature enough to use it responsibly.
He’s a good guy, that Curtis 2.0.
Hmmm. Perhaps I should abandon my theory. Which is nice actually, since that means I probably will invent time travel, right?…
…even though I use Google to help me with simple arithmetic.
I agree with this–AND, if I got sidetracked with time travel, I’d probably give up working on the warp drive.
Perhaps your future self, knowing your present mathematic deficiencies, is the REAL inventor of Google (he lets those other guys take all the credit for it, natch), and that’s one of the clues he’s left you to help you on the road to discovering the secrets of time travel.
This is a heady time to be alive, my friend.
this was your most jack handy post to date. nice.
I’m in training.
I just sit back in amazement – these are the people that are taking us into the FUTURE. It leaves me breathless.
For what it’s worth, the best (and most realistic) time travel movie I’ve ever seen is Primer. It was written and directed by a Christian guy who produced it on a shoestring budget with his family and friends as the actors. Definitely worth checking out.
You can’t have time travel without a flux capacitor. Until that’s invented, this is all just crazy talk.
Then you need to get your hands on some Plutonium.
..and this.
The last Newbury Award winner — When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead — is all about this idea. I highly recommend you read it.
Invent time travel? I did that next week.
Yes! I must have figured it out!
Back to the Future arrived in my mailbox yesterday, which means that after reading your post today, I will go back in time to order the movie from Netflix, come back, and watch it tonight.
I have made a vow with my future self that if I ever invent time travel, I won’t return to my past self to gloat, that way it can be a surprise until I invent it.
As an aside, when I was a kid I used to get mad at my hypothetical adult self, thinking, “I bet when I grow up I’ll look back on me and think I was a lame kid! Well, future me, forget you!” Now that I’m grown up, the adult me throws insults at the kid me just to keep things balanced.
…thus proving that kid you was right. :)
I suspect time travel played a role in that. Perhaps I broke my vow. Proving that the future me really is a scoundrel. Curse you, future me!
You’re leaving out a possibility. My future self remembers reading this very post, and decides to visit me at a time that is still in the future, but to the future self that has created time travel, is in the past. :-)
I’m pretty sure my future self arranged I found that General Relativity textbook at Borders so I can invent time travel.
I just wish he’d leave me some notes so I can get further than chapter two.