Coffee Table Declarations
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Over the weekend an MIT student hosted a time traveler party. You can read about it here but the gist of it is that he put invitations in places that people from the future might find, including the coordinates for locating MIT, just in case. If the people in the future got the invites and were able to travel back in time, they were welcome as long as they could bring proof that they were from the future - in other words, a cure for AIDS, a nuclear cold fission reactor, or something similar.
I wanted to go to the party so bad because it was close by, and they were having lectures about physics (I know, that sounds like a heck of a party, doesn't it?) Unfortunately due to the huge amount of present time attendees, they weren't allowing anyone else from the present to go.
As it turned out, there was no one who admitted to being from the future at the party. But there's still time isn't there? Maybe more invitations can be planted in other places and people from the future will still have a chance to go. After all it is relative. Some people believe that no futuristic folks showed up because time-travel is not possible. I have to wonder, what if they simply didn't get the invitations? What if by the time time-travel is invented any form of invitation that was "sent" has long since ceased to exist? How would you go about sending a message to the future anyway?
My roommate's theory was that no one showed up because they couldn't prove they were from the future. She said, "if I was a regular citizen from the future, what are the chances I could get my hands on the cure for AIDS and bring it along to the party in a little glass vial?" Indeed. Another good point is, what if the people from the future knew about the party, and were able to travel back in time, and were able to prove it, but didn't want to change the future by changing the past? Hello?
This is all very complicated but one thing is for certain: MIT is so cool! Maybe someday I will travel back in time and go to school there.
I wanted to go to the party so bad because it was close by, and they were having lectures about physics (I know, that sounds like a heck of a party, doesn't it?) Unfortunately due to the huge amount of present time attendees, they weren't allowing anyone else from the present to go.
As it turned out, there was no one who admitted to being from the future at the party. But there's still time isn't there? Maybe more invitations can be planted in other places and people from the future will still have a chance to go. After all it is relative. Some people believe that no futuristic folks showed up because time-travel is not possible. I have to wonder, what if they simply didn't get the invitations? What if by the time time-travel is invented any form of invitation that was "sent" has long since ceased to exist? How would you go about sending a message to the future anyway?
My roommate's theory was that no one showed up because they couldn't prove they were from the future. She said, "if I was a regular citizen from the future, what are the chances I could get my hands on the cure for AIDS and bring it along to the party in a little glass vial?" Indeed. Another good point is, what if the people from the future knew about the party, and were able to travel back in time, and were able to prove it, but didn't want to change the future by changing the past? Hello?
This is all very complicated but one thing is for certain: MIT is so cool! Maybe someday I will travel back in time and go to school there.
