Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Protect the Timeline?


At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements ;)

Another time travel question...

What if a friend of yours was doing the time travelling, and he/she has just come back from the future (or, future him/herself is visiting you in the past)? What if he/she knew something about your untimely demise? (By "untimely", I mean you'll be killed, not die of old age or some unpreventable disease.) Would you want to know about it?

31 comments:

  1. No - nothing can be done and I'd rather not have that horrid expectation hanging over me!! Cheers Hilary

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  2. No; I agree with what Hilary said. I wouldn't want that hanging over me. I think it would affect adversely how I would live. But then I wonder if I knew it, could I prevent it from happening? But then maybe that would involve living in a bubble type world, shielded from everything. So no, I don't want to know :)

    betty

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  3. I wouldn't want to know, but if my friend could give me a warning (without saying I'll die) like...don't drive your car tomorrow...that would be nice.

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  4. No. I wouldn't want to know. I probably wouldn't believe my friend, anyway.

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    1. That's a point. Would you believe your friend was time travelling? That would be a hard one to know for sure.

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  5. Hey if I could dodge death and live to a nice old age, yup but if there was no way to change it, then I would not want to know

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    1. I did not specify that there is no way to change it ;) Is the future set, or do we have the ability to change our futures?

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  6. No! I want to live each day as if it is my last! Well, that sounds good anyway!

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    1. Live each day to the fullest, I think you meant ;)

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  7. Totally. I'd hate not knowing way more than anything. I wouldn't care if I couldn't do anything about it. I'd just like being able to prepare.

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  8. No, not under any circumstances.

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  9. I'd only want to know about it if I could change the outcome with my actions. If I couldn't - no way! Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

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  10. I'd say no I wouldn't want to know. But part of me would want to haha then I'd wonder if I changed that if another thing would pop up.

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    1. Well, yeah, what if you changed something else that made things worse? Although, it couldn't get much worse, could it?

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  11. If there's no escaping my fate, then, no, I'd prefer to be kept in the dark.

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    1. I never said you couldn't change the future...

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  12. Could knowing of the untimely demise make you change your actions to avoid it?

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  13. No...I don't think so. I would find myself worrying about that time to come, thinking it is getting closer, can I stop it, can I change it.....Nope...I am good not knowing. Great question though.

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  14. I don't think so...I believe in fate and fate isn't something to mess with. Not saying I'm affraid of dying. But if I knew a certain day I'll die. I would just go to bed and hope I would pass in my sleep.
    Coffee is on

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    1. In this case, it isn't a passing in one's sleep.

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  15. I'd want to know so that I could forget about watching what I eat and drink!

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  16. Yes for three reasons: first, I could put my affairs in order, second, I might be able to prevent it (or my life could turn into final destination), and what Pinky said :)

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  17. I really enjoyed the comments here! As for me, I'd rather not know. My ultimate preference is to die before I'm physically or mentally wrecked. So that would be useful information.

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  18. If I could change the outcome then yeah I'd want to know but if it was like that movie where they dodge death only for it to come another way then another way then another way then nope I wouldn't want to know. And goodness I cannot for the life of me remember that movie title. lol

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I appreciate your comments.

I respond to comments* via email, unless your profile email is not enabled. Then, I'll reply in the comment thread. Eventually. Probably.

*Exception: I do not respond to "what if?" comments, but I do read them all. Those questions are open to your interpretation, and I don't wish to limit your imagination by what I thought the question was supposed to be.