Time Travel and Physics

I'm still reading that very short collection of science fiction stories. This is because I spent most of the week-end sleeping and watching sport.

It might surprise you to learn that I am a keen follower of both the Australian cricket team and Sydney FC but there you are. I could rabbit on about the narrative strength of great teams clashing and epic battles and the rise and fall of their fortunes over time but that would be dishonest. I just like watching sport sometimes. So does my Beloved. Both of these teams are at the finals end of their current competitions. Both of them did well enough yesterday. We enjoyed watching them play.

Back to the point, which is that book. The final story, by Clifford D. Simak and called "Gleaners", is about my all time favourite science fiction topic of time travel. People go back in time to check stuff out such as family trees and the location of treasure. One controversial proposal is to send a camera crew back to film Rome burning. (cool!) They're even considering arranging vacation groups. (where do I sign up?)

I've always wanted to have a time machine, so I could just go back and watch great moments in history and re-learn the lost languages and find the extinct species and answer all the questions they ask in history exams properly. I spent years studying ancient history and most of the time would end essays with "well we don't really know what happened next because there's no more information." I've thought long and hard about how to disguise myself so the locals wouldn't be suspicious (as a trader usually). I've considered how long I could cope without modern conveniences like soap, moisturiser and television. I've put a lot of time into planning my trip.

But one sad day, my Beloved, who has qualifications in actual science (as opposed to science fiction) told me that time travel backwards will never work. Something about Einstein or something. So it remains just a dream.