(Contributed by Laurie Smith)
Several postings on time travel have graced the pages of The Infinite Revolution, including frequent references to Doctor Who’s TARDIS. Sid travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to find a similar looking telephone box, which alas did not have the capacity for temporal transportation. For those visiting Vancouver – look no further than Stanley Park.
Several postings on time travel have graced the pages of The Infinite Revolution, including frequent references to Doctor Who’s TARDIS. Sid travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to find a similar looking telephone box, which alas did not have the capacity for temporal transportation. For those visiting Vancouver – look no further than Stanley Park.
Positioned incongruously beside a children’s waterpark and some public washrooms, this rather ordinary looking structure invites those who dare to step inside, with a warning of the consequences.
If I was designing this device I would add one more detail to lend authenticity and some humour: a clock without hands above the posted warning. To the question “What time is it?” the obvious answer would be “Whatever time you want it to be”.
Next time you have a chance to stroll (or run) around the Stanley Park Seawall, duck into the yellow box and see what happens.
- Laurie
P.S. The Infinite Revolution thanks you for another excellent guest posting, Dr. Smith. Wow - time travel causing cancer, what an interesting idea for a science fiction story, either as a plot twist or a known peril. That being said, I think it's very decent of the owner of the Stanley Park Time Machine (or perhaps the Surgeon General) to post a warning on the outside of the box.
- Sid
Presumably someone suffering from cancer could travel back in time a few years to a point in their life where they did not have cancer (pre tumour development) and embark on preventative measures; for example, quitting smoking if they were found to later have developed lung cancer. I realize that some cancers don't have an obvious cause but at least the person in question could rewind just far enough to get an earlier diagnosis. Catching a tumour in stage 1 has a waaaay better prognosis than not finding it until stage 3 or 4.
ReplyDeleteYes, but that puts you squarely into Grandfather Paradox territory - going back into time because you have cancer and stopping yourself from developing it means that you don't have to go back in time to stop yourself from getting cancer which means that you get cancer so you have to go back in time, etc.
ReplyDelete(Regardless, this is a large part of the plot of the movie Frequency - stopping cancer via time travel.)
But in this case, it doesn't help - as per the warning, the Stanley Park Time Machine CAUSES cancer, that's the problem.
- Sid