Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

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The reason why we never meet time travelers is because our civilization ends before the technology can come to fruition. (lemmy.world)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Sort of similar to the Great Filter theory, but applied to time travel technology.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

This is a basic fact overlooked by almost every time travel sci-fi. We wouldn’t just jump into a machine and poof be in the exact same location 1,000 years ago.

It would be more like trying to land a spaceship on a planet light years away, there would have to be calculations for position and gravity. All sorts of crap before you even solve the impossible problem of turning back the clock.

If the only reason you find the premise of traveling through time preposterous is that they didn't do the basic research to make it work, why not just assume they did? It's a fictional world. Just go with it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

For many I assume the device provides some kind of space-time anchor relative to itself, so when you go through the magic door it's already attached to itself on the other end. The "itself" on the other end doesn't need to be the whole machine, just enough molecules or whatever to lock on to. I like this idea because 1, it still leaves room for error so it isn't perfect and 2, I can stop thinking about it and enjoy the stupid movie.