What a great and refreshing thread GG! Curiosity is a sign of intelligence.
I, uh, in a word, am kind of a self-styled time traveler. Wrote it up back in April '90 issue of Extraordinary Science, not that I am particularly
proud of it, but it was a fun piece. Of interest to note, they are still holding onto the parallel universe idea.
Met a few others too. Some are more whacked than time traveling, IMO. But there are others, whose memories seem more artificial than real, and it
raises my flags.
My daughter just turned 8. The reading material she chose for her school project includes H.G. Wells "The Time Machine". I swear, I had nothing to
do with it. And she is adamant about being a scientist. That'll make the second daughter that went into science. I am impressed by HGWs profound and
through grasp of science for his day. His work also makes use of very powerful story elements, the differences between the Eloi and Morlocks as an
evolutionary inversion of the conscious and subconscious parts that coexist within each of us.
Looking over what the others have said, I think it fair such a power is not handed over so easily to us. It will be there when we need it, but not
before then. Perhaps my visions of the future and past were not merely dreams, but memories. They tell us that when we sleep our mind does not follow
the arrow of time, but can exist in anytime. Isn't reality subjective after all?
OK, I'll play, game girl.
1) Travel back to Old West frontier. There was a town where my lady love lived. She had long silver hair, and her parents were well to do, but not too
rich. Ah, the smell of fresh lumber and horse manure in the morning!
2) Travel far into the future to see how my city changes. They could never get the colors just right in those holorooms, because they had never seen
grass, trees, and blue sky.
3) Stay a while in the future. Take the grand tour on an aerodisk, survey the superbridges connecting the continents together over the watery Earth.
Each pier is actually a city, doncha know.
4) Come back, court my second wife early. Will have to learn the ways of her land, and befriend the family, in order to be the choice pick when she
comes of age.
5) And of course, for charity's sake, go forwards and warn others about Katrina and 9/11.
That should make for an interesting days work.