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From: grindal@utcsrgv.UUCP (David Grindal)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: alternate universes
Message-ID: <2091@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 24-Aug-83 16:39:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.2091
Posted: Wed Aug 24 16:39:10 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 24-Aug-83 19:12:14 EDT
References: <4489@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Organization: CSRG, University of Toronto
Lines: 25


	Re Silverberg's idea that the flow of history is difficult to
divert:
	this same theme occurs in Asimov's "The End of Eternity", in which
there are people who live "outside" of time.  They can travel between 
times, and keep their numbers up by recruiting youngsters from the
various centuries.  (This book has some interesting gramatical adaptions, 
including word like "upwhen", "downwhen", "When are you?", ...).

	These people, known as the Eternals, perform two roles.  They use
their time travelling to act as intermediates in commerce between centuries.
They see their main task, however, as adjusting history for the "benefit"
of mankind as a whole, such as eliminating wars etc.  They find after a while
that if they make a change in the 100th century, the reprcussions of the
change begin to fade after 40 or so centuries.  (The Eternals deal with
centuries from 19 (1900) to 100,000 and higher).  In other words they find
that the flow of history is difficult to permanently divert.

	As an aside, we also find by the end of the book that by continually
changing history for man's benefit, they have also bred the initiative and
drive out of man, as well as postponing numerous scientific advances (eg.
the first nuclear explosion is in the 43rd century instead of the 19th)

				David Grindal
				(...!utcsrgv!grindal)