Picture the scene. You’ve just woken up and you’re scrolling through wherever it
is you get your news. Or you’re on your way to work or school,
listening to the latest bulletin on the radio. Everything seems normal until,
suddenly, you learn of a breaking story that will very literally change the world forever.
We know that the mystery of time travel has long fuelled intricate science fiction and
innovative scientific research. We also know that there are theories in which it could
(even should) be possible. And we know that there are mounting conspiracy claims that,
actually, it’s already here, it’s just that time travel in the real world is
kept under strict lock and key by an ultra-exclusive, seriously secretive,
miniscule minority of humankind somewhere. Believe what you will, however, we can all
imagine exactly what we would do if time travel were ever invented. And that moment when it’s
first made common knowledge would be the turning point for the rest of our lives.
This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question;
what if time travel were released to the public?
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Imagine a time when the veil of time itself is lifted, and the secrets of the past, present,
and future are laid bare for everyone to explore. Welcome to a perhaps not-so-distant future where
time travel technology has been revealed to the watching world. A new era of limitless
possibilities; a knowledge revolution the likes of which we’ve never seen before;
a period of unprecedented cultural change. First we’ll consider the immediate reactions,
then the short-term effects, and finally the long term impact.
The bizarre thing is that it likely would take some time before the significance of
time travel would really show. In the immediate few hours and days, there’d be excitement, yes,
but also disbelief and suspicion. If you heard tomorrow that time travel was real,
would you accept that unquestionably right away? Part of the heightened intelligence of humankind
is that we know to question and think over new information, and this would be no different.
Nevertheless, there are some things we can predict with confidence. Social media would
instantly erupt in a cacophony of opinion, fast diluting down into an endless stream
of time travel memes. As the news played out over the internet, it wouldn’t really matter
if there were any doubts over the legitimacy… it would just be a hype machine like nothing
else before. On the global stage, we’d surely see some form of united board for time travel;
an amalgamation of world governments set up to introduce such transformative tech. That is,
so long as our governments know ahead of time. In another version of events, it’s actually a
team of scientists or even a lone inventor that reveals time travel to the world. In which case,
there’d be a mad scramble by those in power to try to control the situation.
Of course, alongside everything else, there’d also be massive cause for genuine concern for basically
everybody. For those who follow a religion, time travel might be viewed as a challenge to the
divine order. For those who ponder physics, it could pose a serious threat to the very
existence of themselves, their families, to the physical reality of everyone alive.
Interestingly, the general concept of time travel does appear in ancient texts and
religious scripture. Some interpretations of many Hindu legends - including the story of
the goddess Revati - describe the notion of time dilation, a phenomena we now know to be
real and at the heart of countless modern-day time travel theories. Meanwhile, in the Bible,
passages like those dealing with the visions of Ezekiel have before been interpreted as
potential time travel experiences. Even with that in mind, though, publicly available time
travel would enable all who use it to play God (in the eyes of some) which could lead
to huge problems and maybe even the end times. And, while such cultural tales may not always
register with those geared more towards science, the dangers of logical paradoxes surely do. Such
as with the famous Grandfather Paradox, which could result in anyone essentially
being deleted from their own timeline. Or the Bootstrap Problem, which could instantly plunge
any person into an inescapable time loop. Such concerns are perhaps more individual than the
mass mantras of organized religion, but the outcomes are potentially just as terrible.
What’s clear is that in amongst all the excitement, chaos and time-tickled hysteria,
we would need to get a grip on things quickly. There could be dire consequences if we didn’t.
So what would the next steps be? How would this new knowledge be implemented? Would time travel
become a commercial product, accessible only to the rich and privileged… or would it be a
universal right for everyone? Controlled commercialization might lead to exclusive
time resorts, history-themed adventures, and perhaps even temporal reality shows. Meanwhile,
a free-to-use model would democratize time travel, enabling people from all
walks of life to explore time. But is it really as simple as that?
If time travel were a commercial product then it’s a sure bet that it wouldn’t be
cheap. Perhaps the closest comparison we can make is with the early days of space
tourism - with a tiny minority paying massive amounts to just a couple of powerful people,
all to get them into space before anyone else. But, of course, there would be a major difference
with time travel because of the immediate impact any traveler could have on the surrounding world.
Head to space, and you’re still only ever dealing with your own life and timeline. Your
time in space would count as an especially rare moment compared to the lives of everyone else,
but it wouldn’t bleed over and affect anyone else in any sizable way. That isn’t the case with time,
where whatever the traveler does certainly would have consequences beyond their own experience.
If the fabled butterfly effect proves true, then even the tiniest action committed by
any super-rich chrononaut could spell disaster. But, then again, if time travel were free to all,
then we’d still have all of those exact same issues, except now everyone would be at risk
of triggering a seemingly infinite number of potential disasters at any one time. For some
who believe that time travel tech does already exist, this is the primary reason why it hasn’t
been made public knowledge - because free travel could literally spell the end of us as a species.
The question even before releasing to the public, then, is; how do you police time?
Just as the everyday world has its own emergency services and deliverers of law and order, time
travel would need its own protectors. Some kind of universal agency would have to be immediately
established - let’s call them the Guardians of the Continuum - tasked with monitoring all
time activities to prevent abuse. And also to maintain the integrity of the timeline; past,
present and future. Thanks to logical conundrums like the butterfly effect,
time travel is an infinitely layered minefield… laced with deadly outcomes that could explode
into action at any moment. So, again, how do you police that? One answer could be that,
ultimately, you can’t. Which means that life for everyone post the revelation of
time travel could easily (and quickly) descend into a never ending quest just to survive.
Say we did find a way to maintain control, though,
perhaps via some kind of interdimensional tracing tech. If nothing else goes wrong,
and if time travel does become the norm, then how do we change as a result?
With forward travel, in particular, we’d suddenly all be able to see the consequences of what we do,
before we actually do it. Assuming that all would aim for the best consequences or else fall foul
of time law, this should mean that nothing bad ever happens again. It would be cause
and effect turned on its head, with the effects guiding the actions that constitute the cause,
all of the time. Meanwhile, the same would be true of backward travel. Whatever outcomes unfold as a
result of your meddling in the past should be able to be refined and refined and refined… to
a point at which what actually happens is always exactly what you want to happen.
On the face of it there is one major problem, because everyone wants different things… and so
time travel en masse could never work. However, perhaps it is the removal of individual needs
and desires that would emerge most of all as the enduring legacy of time travel. The introduction
of time travel would undoubtedly mark a paradigm shift in human civilization. Our relationship with
the past, present, and future would be forever altered. But also our relationships with each
other would change. We’d no longer have set generations; we’d all age at different times
and places; we’d never exist alongside each other in quite the same way again.
This is life in four dimensions proper, and it could quickly lead to many of the most
seemingly far-off future technologies being introduced almost automatically - including
shared consciousness, the hive mind, and digital immortality. Because,
in a world where we all know how to travel in time, would any of us ever
need to die? If living forever is ever something that we do manage to achieve,
then time travel could take us all to that level way ahead of time in the traditional sense.
For now, we can only imagine. Time travel isn’t public knowledge,
and many believe that it might never be possible. But still,
what would you do if one day you did switch on the news to the headline we’ve all been
waiting for? Because that’s what would happen if time travel was released to the public.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these other
clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.