The imagined advantages of travelling back in time are vast indeed – much vaster even than the hours I’ve wasted considering them. The frequency with which I’ve raised the topic is infinitesimal when compared to the accumulated time the idea has occupied my mind.
“You always talk about the same thing,” noted a friend; I’d just posed a question about ways one might prosper if they were to travelling back to the 19th Century.
“I’ve never asked you this,” I argued.
“Maybe, but it’s always time travel with you. We talk about women – you imagine reliving lost opportunities. We talk about sport – you think of betting with known odds. We talk about television – you consider the ‘Time Trumpet’ series, which is fantastic by the way.
“It’s true,” I admitted; “‘Time Trumpet’ is a great concept, but you’re right about my thought process too; I just can’t stop thinking about it. How do you waste your time with anything less amazing?”
“It’s not that incredible,” he said, bluntly. “When you accept that time travel just isn’t possible you get over it.”
‘That’s such a pessimistic view,’ I thought.
“If you travelled back a hundred years,” he continued, “you would arrive to a time of such poor sanitary conditions that you’d be dead within a week – our bodies just wouldn’t be able to cope. And the evolved viruses and bacteria that would’ve accompanied you on the journey would be too advanced for our ancestors to handle. Humanity wouldn’t last a month.
I mused on the idea for about thirty seconds. I haven’t thought about time travel since.
“You always talk about the same thing,” noted a friend; I’d just posed a question about ways one might prosper if they were to travelling back to the 19th Century.
“I’ve never asked you this,” I argued.
“Maybe, but it’s always time travel with you. We talk about women – you imagine reliving lost opportunities. We talk about sport – you think of betting with known odds. We talk about television – you consider the ‘Time Trumpet’ series, which is fantastic by the way.
“It’s true,” I admitted; “‘Time Trumpet’ is a great concept, but you’re right about my thought process too; I just can’t stop thinking about it. How do you waste your time with anything less amazing?”
“It’s not that incredible,” he said, bluntly. “When you accept that time travel just isn’t possible you get over it.”
‘That’s such a pessimistic view,’ I thought.
“If you travelled back a hundred years,” he continued, “you would arrive to a time of such poor sanitary conditions that you’d be dead within a week – our bodies just wouldn’t be able to cope. And the evolved viruses and bacteria that would’ve accompanied you on the journey would be too advanced for our ancestors to handle. Humanity wouldn’t last a month.
I mused on the idea for about thirty seconds. I haven’t thought about time travel since.