Failed Time Traveler Convention
This one seems to have escaped the notice of the far future time traveler. Bummer...
Here's another thought--what if we live in a "historical preservation zone"? That is, by international/ intertemporal-zone treaty, all the time-travel-technology-possessing governments of the future have agreed that no time travel can occur to a date earlier than a certain specified date (for whatever reasons). It would be like our nature or wildlife preserves: no human intervention; just observe. Perhaps we are in such a preserve. Thus, no matter how many announcements left to the future for a time traveler's convention survive, none will be acted on in any major way. Oh sure, perhaps there will be one or two rogues that show up, but nobody with access to anything wonderful or great will show up; and there will be no mass influx of future-dwellers.
Indeed, why don't they just come back and give us the technology for time travel itself? I mean, if we're going to ask for cold fusion, why not go for the whole enchilada?
Alternatively, maybe we are competing with a convention that is already well-known among all the time travelers? Perhaps in the year 3850 A.D., there is a kickin' party on the shores of some lake on the then-atmospherized Mars. What time traveler would want to visit Boston in May, 2005, when he can go to the pleasure palaces of Olympus Mons in 3850? Huh, how 'bout it?
Here's another thought experiment: say you've just developed a time traveling machine. Hoo-ray. And you have heard about an obscure group of thinkers in some medieval society (let's make it China, because that sounds more exotic) that in the year 1500 A.D. proposed a time travelers convention to invite future-dwellers to show up. Do you go there/then? I mean you don't speak the language. Wouldn't you be a little concerned about your safety? (Remember Timeline?) What if you get separated from your time-travel device? Wouldn't you also feel a tad concerned about the ethical/morality of the situation? What if you changed history? Could you return to the world you knew if you changed any single bit of history? (Remember Back to the Future II?) Perhaps these considerations are what led to the creation of the "historical preservation zone"?
Here's another thought--what if we live in a "historical preservation zone"? That is, by international/ intertemporal-zone treaty, all the time-travel-technology-possessing governments of the future have agreed that no time travel can occur to a date earlier than a certain specified date (for whatever reasons). It would be like our nature or wildlife preserves: no human intervention; just observe. Perhaps we are in such a preserve. Thus, no matter how many announcements left to the future for a time traveler's convention survive, none will be acted on in any major way. Oh sure, perhaps there will be one or two rogues that show up, but nobody with access to anything wonderful or great will show up; and there will be no mass influx of future-dwellers.
Indeed, why don't they just come back and give us the technology for time travel itself? I mean, if we're going to ask for cold fusion, why not go for the whole enchilada?
Alternatively, maybe we are competing with a convention that is already well-known among all the time travelers? Perhaps in the year 3850 A.D., there is a kickin' party on the shores of some lake on the then-atmospherized Mars. What time traveler would want to visit Boston in May, 2005, when he can go to the pleasure palaces of Olympus Mons in 3850? Huh, how 'bout it?
Here's another thought experiment: say you've just developed a time traveling machine. Hoo-ray. And you have heard about an obscure group of thinkers in some medieval society (let's make it China, because that sounds more exotic) that in the year 1500 A.D. proposed a time travelers convention to invite future-dwellers to show up. Do you go there/then? I mean you don't speak the language. Wouldn't you be a little concerned about your safety? (Remember Timeline?) What if you get separated from your time-travel device? Wouldn't you also feel a tad concerned about the ethical/morality of the situation? What if you changed history? Could you return to the world you knew if you changed any single bit of history? (Remember Back to the Future II?) Perhaps these considerations are what led to the creation of the "historical preservation zone"?
posted by Tanker J.D. at 12:02 PM
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