The most minuscule of actions can change everything

Our most casual interactions with others, and indeed our very existence, can lead to something akin to the butterfly effect. For often very small causes can lead to cascading larger and larger effects, sometimes without end. This leads to the whole world being changed and maybe everyone's life is different due to that one very small initial act.

So, for example, smiling at a stranger can make that stranger feel ever so slightly better. She or he in turn might thereby feel more disposed to smile at others.  And they in turn might smile at others. Just a small brief smile can cascade into large and larger effects and change countless lives.

Indeed, due to the butterfly effect, if one had never existed the world would be very different.  Maybe better, maybe worse, more probably just different.

A trip to the supermarket (fictional).

I was just thinking. Suppose I went into a supermarket, a large one to shop for my groceries. It's fairly quiet as it's early evening and there's only about a 100 people in. Suddenly, as I'm walking around holding my basket, I hear a loud boom and I feel the floor move beneath my feet and I almost fall over. I look around, wondering what the hell happened there. There's a couple of people near me who likewise appear bewildered.

A few seconds later, from the front of the supermarket near the entrance, I hear a bewildered shout followed by a babble of confused voices. The shouting and confusion soon gets worse -- much worse bordering on hysteria. I make my way to the front of the supermarket. Out of the windows I see that the world has completely changed! Instead of a car-park filled with cars and nearby buildings, they've all been replaced by a lush vibrant green forest.

We all pour out of the entrance. The cacophony of confusion, bewilderment and hysteria continue. Suddenly, we all hear a almighty huge roar and above the canopy of trees emerges a giant head and neck. It's a tyrannosaurus Rex, attracted by the noise and feasting its malevolent gaze upon us! We all panic and there's a stampede to get back into the supermarket, jamming the door in the process. Thankfully, we all manage to get back inside before it reaches us.

Oh well, plenty of tins of food to consume for the near future, and also shelter provided by the supermarket. Pity supermarkets don't sell guns though.

Think will continue getting my groceries delivered.

Technological Change

I would say the world was much more transformed by technology in the 60 years from 1900 to 1960 than they were in the 60 years from 1960 to 2020.

Imagine a time traveller from 1900 arriving in 1960.  He would be overwhelmed by all the changes.  Now imagine a time traveller from 1960 arriving in 2020.  I think he would be disappointed!

Back to 1965

Imagine you went back to 1965, met someone, and then brought them back to 2020. Would they be surprised at the progress of technology? Not as technologically advanced as they might have imagined, or vice versa? Would they be surprised at anything else?

I think I preferred 1965. The world was closer, more community spirit. Not so overcrowded. We are now more estranged from each other. But the modern world does have the net.

Is travelling back in time possible?

It seems to me there are 3 possible reasons why we might never be able to travel backwards in time:

1. We will never create the technology to do so, either because civilisation ends before the technology is invented or because the technology required is simply beyond the ability of human beings to invent.
   
2. Because the laws of physics prohibit the possibility of traveling backwards in time.
   
3. Because the past doesn't exist. So we can't travel to the past for the same reason we can't travel to Narnia.

I suspect we will never travel backwards in time, and that is because the the past doesn't exist i.e "3".

Exploring the Future

Wouldn't it be great if for the rest of one's life, one could travel forward in time 100 years every week. So I go forward in time to 2119, spend a week enjoying the sights, then get whisked forward another 100 years to 2219 and spend another week there, and so on. It would be very interesting.

I'd end up dying around the year 4,000 . .well . .probably before then if the Earth become uninhabitable, or I annoy the natives by disregarding social rules and norms.

Class of 92

Just started reading this:

Class of 92 by Jason Ayres

A guy from the 2050's goes back in time to 1992.  He goes into a pub and it is £1.30 for a pint of "old peculiar".  (As an aside, Old Peculiar is vile!  I remember drinking a pint of it around 30 years ago -- never again.  Not as bad as wine though. There's only one drink worse than wine, and that's non-alcoholic wine.).  Anyway, at "Our Price" (does this shop still exist?  I guess not) chart CD's were being advertised at "just" £9.99 each.  CDs seven times the price of a pint? Guess the author has got these facts right.  People trying to make a profit knowing that people are replacing their vinyls! 

He says (or the time traveller says) there's no Internet in 1992? Pretty sure I referenced the Internet in this essay on the philosophy of science around that time. I paid someone to type it for me, and she put "Internat" by mistake, so I guess she hadn't heard of it though.

Far Cry with Dinosaurs

I think it would be a splendid idea if someone made a computer game -- perhaps a "far cry" game -- where the hero travels back in time to the age of the dinosaurs. Of course he (or she) would have plenty of weapons. As well as dinosaurs like the T rex etc, perhaps there might be a super intelligent dinosaurs of around our size with ray guns.

Anyway, that would be an absolute blast. Don't know why no one thinks of making a game like that. It would be incredibly popular and make huge amounts of money.

20,000 years ago

I'm just thinking what would happen if I accidentally walked through a time portal and went back in time 20,000 years? Would I eventually meet other human beings? Would they be hostile? Would they think I'm strange? What would my life be like?

Not that I believe that backwards time travel is possible; indeed I believe it's metaphysically impossible. But I might be wrong, and besides, it's interesting thinking about such things.

Technology and time travelling

Imagine if we could go back in time, say to 1810, and explaining to someone in that year what 2014 will be like with the Internet, mobile phones (cell phones) etc. Even if they comprehended what you meant they'd think you were completely barmy.