Escape Artists
Escape Pod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Russell Nash on May 07, 2009, 06:28:57 AM
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EP Flash: Get Me to the Job on Time (http://escapepod.org/2009/05/06/escape-pod-flash-get-me-to-the-job-on-time/)
By Ian Randal Strock (http://www.sfscope.com/).
Read by Elie Hirschman (http://www.eliehirschman.com/).
“Maybe it’s what you’d do with the knowledge that determines whether or not you’ll discover the secret of time travel.”
“What?” I asked the old man.
“I know for a fact that time travel is possible. I knew the man who discovered it. And you’ll never guess what he used his discovery for.”
Well, I didn’t believe that old man any more than you believe me, but we’d been waiting in that airport for four hours, so I humored him.
“All right, I’ll bite,” I said. “What did he use time travel for?”
“Wally didn’t need to see the pyramids getting built, or sail with Columbus, or even watch JFK’s assassination. What Wally wanted to do, more than anything, was get to work on time.”
An introduction like that demands a story, so I sat down and let him tell me.
(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif)
Listen to this EP Flash! (http://media.rawvoice.com/escapepod/media.libsyn.com/media/escapepod/EPFlash_GetMeTo_TheJobOnTime.mp3)
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This was a fun story, but I had to crank the volume to max to hear it. I couldn't listen while driving, the levels were so low. Well, except for the music...
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I really liked this flash. It put time travel in a whole different light. The protagonist using it on something as trivial as getting to work on time made me think.
Does seemingly insignificant use of time travel make using it for personal gain, even getting to work on time, less selfish.
If the universe appears set against you for getting to work on time, would I see it as the only alternative rather than getting up three hours earlier.
Overall, a good story, entertaining, and thought provoking.
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I really liked this one! Every day use of a spectacular idea.. fantastic.
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As someone who always had trouble getting to work on time this seems a good use of a time machine. The only drawback is that you would be living, say, 32 hours in every 24 so would end up aging faster. You'd age and die probably a decade or more sooner than if you didn't use it. Subjectively you would have lived all those years, but time would be slower for you since you'd live some of the same hours twice in one day. There'd be a lot of anticlimactic moments for you.
Still, time travel would be useful if you worked in the WTC on 911.
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As someone who always had trouble getting to work on time this seems a good use of a time machine. The only drawback is that you would be living, say, 32 hours in every 24 so would end up aging faster. You'd age and die probably a decade or more sooner than if you didn't use it. Subjectively you would have lived all those years, but time would be slower for you since you'd live some of the same hours twice in one day.
Same thought occurred to me ... by going back to the past so much, you would see less of the future. Doesn't really seem worth it to me.
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I loved the story and the nice, laidback way of telling- just like an anecdote which wraps you in itself, in the story of it. The briefness worked well. The concept... I found this kind of sad. I suppose this is a fault of mine, but I always imagined the inventor of time travel to be a maverick or an outcast, someone with their head in the clouds and with huge ideas for the world... and yet here this great power was being used for no very good reason.
So I set off on an argument with myself:
If you use time travel to change the BIG things, or to do something personal/selfish (going back in time to various gigs would be the first thing I'd do), do you have that right?
Then again, if you invent it and then just use it like this guy did, are you morally obliged to change something, or assasinate Hitler? Should you even try?
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As someone who always had trouble getting to work on time this seems a good use of a time machine. The only drawback is that you would be living, say, 32 hours in every 24 so would end up aging faster. You'd age and die probably a decade or more sooner than if you didn't use it. Subjectively you would have lived all those years, but time would be slower for you since you'd live some of the same hours twice in one day.
So the old guy telling the story about Wally was, possibly, Wally himself, at (chronological) age 50?
That idea flashed through my mind at one point, too, but I left it behind, enjoying the tale too much to think about it.
(*Edit: fixed incorrect markup)
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This was very "Primer"-ish. I liked it.
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As someone who always had trouble getting to work on time this seems a good use of a time machine. The only drawback is that you would be living, say, 32 hours in every 24 so would end up aging faster. You'd age and die probably a decade or more sooner than if you didn't use it. Subjectively you would have lived all those years, but time would be slower for you since you'd live some of the same hours twice in one day.
While I tend to agree, the quantity of one's life (barring car accidents and the like) is often based partially on the quality of one's life. With less stress and more sleep, he may end up living longer than he would have without time travel. The ability to go back and relive the really fun moments is a possible plus, too.
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While I tend to agree, the quantity of one's life (barring car accidents and the like) is often based partially on the quality of one's life. With less stress and more sleep, he may end up living longer than he would have without time travel. The ability to go back and relive the really fun moments is a possible plus, too.
How could you go back and relive the really fun moments without someone noticing there are two of you there?
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How could you go back and relive the really fun moments without someone noticing there are two of you there?
You'd be older and wouldn't look the same. :)
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While I tend to agree, the quantity of one's life (barring car accidents and the like) is often based partially on the quality of one's life. With less stress and more sleep, he may end up living longer than he would have without time travel. The ability to go back and relive the really fun moments is a possible plus, too.
How could you go back and relive the really fun moments without someone noticing there are two of you there?
This is why I'm not an author. I never thought of that. My thought was to BE the original person all over again, and that just doesn't work with time travel. <sigh>
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The only drawback is that you would be living, say, 32 hours in every 24 so would end up aging faster. You'd age and die probably a decade or more sooner than if you didn't use it. Subjectively you would have lived all those years, but time would be slower for you since you'd live some of the same hours twice in one day. There'd be a lot of anticlimactic moments for you.
And since you'd be consuming more (food, transportation, clothes, maybe additional rent), you'll have more expenses, and would have to get another job. d'Oh!
Or you could cheat on the stock market.
Still, time travel would be useful if you worked in the WTC on 911.
How so? Wait, do you mean to say ...
Oops. I forgot to read my orientation notes. They warned me about that.
Sorry.
Never mind. Talk about something else.
How about them New Jersey Dodgers? Are they having a good season or what?
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I'll think of this story next time I hit the snooze button.
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listened to this flash during my drive, very entertaining, made me smile. :)
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This was a fun story grenade (is that term catching on yet?) The idea that time travel could only be invented by someone who didn't desire to change big things is a really interesting idea, but it does seem like a huge waste (which is exactly why I haven't invented time travel, ha!).
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Oddly enough I was listening to this while on the road and late...