I DIDN'T mention the dilation of Fermat’s journey and the societal changes that occurred in his absence, remembering that for him fifty years had passed but here on Earth we had rotated three generations. Were he to have survived, he might have felt rather out of place. Blow that for a game of robots!
Of course, people being what they are, there are some who use the nature of time dilation to ‘future travel.’ By leapfrogging ahead of the rest of us they may be going forward in time, pioneering the ultimate tourism, but if I may split a hair, it is not ‘time travel’ and nor are they really travelling into the ‘future.’
Here a lingual update is necessary: as these chrononauts must be realizing, since they cannot go backwards in time to their starting point (nor any of their earlier stop-overs), they are merely sampling points that would have been in the future if they had stayed at ‘home.’ Certainly for me they are going into the future, but for them alas not. Their future is just as unreachable and untouchable as yesterday or any other abstract concept.
Indeed it seems that what has changed is that the common future we once shared (should we call it ‘Earth-future’?), and their own journey have separated into ‘personal-futures’.
Luckily only a few play with their lives in such a fashion, but if the population en masse started seeking out this new excitement, it could have a chaotic effect on the political sector.
When you ‘land’ a century from now and there happens to be an election*, are you entitled to vote or have you sacrificed your say in human affairs by abandoning your time-zone? The latter is how it stands at present, but if a significant number take up this lifestyle will this remain acceptable? What if on landing, one’s country has disappeared? Similarly, how could a time-bunny from over a century ago understand the issues and climate for which they might vote? Should such redundant citizens be eligible, and if they are, what potentiality is there for vote rigging by sending a large number of your own supporters into the future?
Alas, I have only more questions and the time-bunnies themselves have no desire to be troubled so, as it is precisely this experience of a fresh culture that appeals to them. It would be ridiculous to expect them to take part.
* Already we see countries experimenting with being in a state of constant election, in which citizens vote on a daily basis or as needs be; not to mention the theoretical auto-democracy which would bypass the need for a government, instead having a computer program that reacted to instant voter registries.
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