As many of you know, I’m a big fan of time travel stories. However, over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking about which direction I like my time travel stories to go. Should the hero travel to the past, and attempt to live knowing what is coming next, or should the time traveler venture to the far future and try to cope with a whole new world?
Stephen Schleicher
Stephen Schleicher began his career writing for the Digital Media Online community of sites, including Digital Producer and Creative Mac covering all aspects of the digital content creation industry. He then moved on to consumer technology, and began the Coolness Roundup podcast. A writing fool, Stephen has freelanced for Sci-Fi Channel's Technology Blog, and Gizmodo. Still longing for the good ol' days, Stephen launched Major Spoilers in July 2006, because he is a glutton for punishment. You can follow him on Twitter @MajorSpoilers and tell him your darkest secrets...
11 Comments
Assuming it is a “go and come back” I’d travel to the future. I’d rather be set for life with the sports almanac than risk setting up a Flashpoint.
Our hero should go to the past and try to fix something that has gone awry in the present.
If there is one thing the Doctor has told me it’s that messing with history is a terrible idea. Add to that the fact that most of history was pretty unpleasant then a jaunt to the future seems like the only reasonable choice
I personally am a fan of the bootstrap paradox theory (which states that: a future event is the cause of a past event, which in turn is the cause of the future event. Both events then exist in space time, but their origin cannot be determined) so Imma have to go with the past because the idea of being the guy to come up with Transparent Aluminum is just too good
we’ve seen the past, and if you do anything at all you risk horribly changing the present. However the future is new and unknown, and changing the future can only be done in the present or before, So I go for the future
The future!! Have to get that sports almanac.
If you go back in time, the germs you have on you will wipe out everyone go to the future and you don’t have the immune system for anything there, so you die. I’m a huge history person so I’ll go back.
Future, I might need spare parts, can’t fix my vehicle with “stone knives and bearskins”.
It would have to be going to the future because the sky is the limit when it comes to creativity. If you are going back in time you have to play within a certain amount of constraints otherwise some things may not make sense or not line up properly.
If it is, then why are so many futures a dystopia?
Because an inordinate number of people are pessimists by nature.