Bumped. I think Earl's list in the comments, and my responses, were more about future settings. This clarifies for me that what I really wanted to ask about stressed the idea of actual time travel to the future.
I’ve imagined traveling to the past many times. Traveling to the future just doesn’t hold the same romance for me. But traveling to the future – even to a possible future* – would certainly be a lot more useful. Things that aren’t easily changed, like earthquakes, asteroid strikes, or four-foot ocean rises would be especially nice to know.
I’ve imagined traveling to the past many times. Traveling to the future just doesn’t hold the same romance for me. But traveling to the future – even to a possible future* – would certainly be a lot more useful. Things that aren’t easily changed, like earthquakes, asteroid strikes, or four-foot ocean rises would be especially nice to know.
I have no experience wandering in imagination in that world. Science fiction writers imagining futures near or far have shown pretty limited accuracy. (So far, that is. There’s lots still TBD.) But there is a problem-solving, puzzle aspect to this as well. If you got to move forward say, twenty years, what spot would you like to land on? I have a couple of thoughts, but others who have imagined this more may know that some scripts go boring very quickly. For traveling in the past, we know that Medieval and Renaissance, WWII, and one’s personal past are some of the good ones. Victorian England has been making a run recently. I’d like to know where the well-worn paths of the future are. Anyone up on these imaginings? And if not, have a hand at the fresh puzzle yourself: where does your time machine land? (Or if you prefer, what do you bring with you?)
*In Jorge Luis Borges fashion, this should suggest to us that time travel to the past might not be to the past, but a possiblepast. We don’t think that way, and always assume that there was only one real past, which we remember or can rediscover with varying degrees of accuracy. But any given state of affairs might have many possible causes. Reversing the flow of events, there might be just as many possible pasts as there are possible futures. I dunno. Never been there. Seems unlikely, but fun to imagine.
