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October 29, 2008
How to Meet Your Older Self
What do you think of this time travel scenario?
I would like to see what my life might possibly be like 20 years in the future. I invent a time machine, set it to the year 2028, and go there. When I arrive, I find that no one has seen me for 20 years. I realize that I have skipped all of those intervening years with the help of my time machine, so no wonder they haven't seen me.
In order to be able to meet my 61 year old self, I go back to 30 minutes before I left and watch my younger self prepare the time machine for the trip to the future. When he isn't looking, I sabotage his time machine so that it no longer works.
He is visibly upset, but eventually he leaves the room, presumably to continue on with his life.
I set my time machine for 2028 again and look up my 61 year old self. We have a conversation about how the past 20 years have gone for him. Things have gone well, but he's upset that he never got a chance to time travel. I tell him that I'll set that right -- I just wanted to meet my 61 year old self once and learn about a few of the pitfalls I need to watch out for.
I thank him and head back to 35 minutes before I had originally left. I wait for 5 minutes until I see a previous version of myself show up -- the saboteur.
I sneak up on him and tap him on the shoulder. He's surprised to see me, but I tell him that I've already gone into the future, and met the 61 year old version of ourselves. I tell him about the things I learned.
"So now you don't need to sabotage his time machine," I say. He agrees and we both watch as that version of ourselves gets in his time machine, and disappears, on his way to 2028.
Posted at October 29, 2008 05:04 PM