Time travel; would you?
March 14, 2012 6 Comments
I recently finished reading a time travel/alternate reality book written by a good friend of mine Marlene Dotterer.
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/84342
It got me to thinking, if time travel was possible, would I do it? Would I go back in time to witness historic events? Probably, I mean who wouldn’t right? There is so much about mankind’s history that is unknown, and most of what we know is tainted by either religion or other factors. After all, ‘History is written by the victor.’
Marlene’s book brought up another question; if I did go back would I change the outcome of a disaster? Her book takes place a few years before the Titanic set sail, but controversially, she has one of her characters fall in love with someone who originally died on during that disaster. Note I said ‘originally’. She speculates that because this person did not die, he went on to not only change maritime law, but Ireland as well. I remember the bloody fighting in Ireland. Imagine all the lives that would live on, if Ireland didn’t have those brutal conflicts.
About Darke Conteur
Darke Conteur 
I would certainly travel in time, I am not sure if I would change things though. What if the technology for time travel existed and everybody could do it? Would it result in an infinite number of time lines in different dimensions or would the one and only timeline be so messed up that nobody could return to when they came from and/or would everybody be in danger of “disappearing” because somebody’s change meant that they were never born??
Omg…I think I have a headache after reading this! 😛 It boggles the mind, doesn’t it?
We learn from our mistakes. I wouldn’t change a thing. Because who I am is a growth of who I was.
BTW tag: http://deanswritingtime.blogspot.com/2012/03/lucky-7-meme.html
I wouldn’t go back and change my own timeline either, but what if you could go and warn people about the San Francisco earthquake? Or the eruption of Mount Pele?
It really would be a mess if “everybody” did it, wouldn’t it? I think it would be impossible to find your way back to where you started. I read a story by Einstein (in Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman) where a girl has traveled back in time, and she huddles in a dirty alley afraid to move a muscle because she knows that anything she does will change the future. It was very depressing.
Time travelers would change things just by existing. For instance, my characters rent a house in Belfast. Who lived in that house the first time through history? What happened to them now that Sam and Casey have the house? Just by being there, living and breathing, they change things they never thought of.
So in my opinion, there’s no debate: if you go back in time, you WILL change something. Perhaps many somethings.
Exactly, even if you didn’t talk or touch anything, I think you would be changing things just by being there.