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From: marty@ism780c.UUCP (Marty Smith)
Newsgroups: net.physics,net.puzzle,net.sci
Subject: Re: A Sane Man Proposes A Time Travel Experiment
Message-ID: <3119@ism780c.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 7-Aug-86 13:47:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: ism780c.3119
Posted: Thu Aug  7 13:47:55 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 9-Aug-86 10:55:24 EDT
References: <289@axiom.UUCP> <1992@sequent.UUCP> <2913@pucc-h> <1035@mmm.UUCP>
Reply-To: marty@ism780c.UUCP (Marty Smith)
Organization: Interactive Systems Corp., Santa Monica, CA
Lines: 66
Keywords: "I gotta take this idea into the 80's."
Xref: watmath net.physics:4787 net.puzzle:1960 net.sci:1482

In article <1035@mmm.UUCP> cipher@mmm.UUCP (Andre Guirard) writes:
>In article <2913@pucc-h> ags@pucc-h.UUCP (Dave Seaman) writes:
>>In article <1992@sequent.UUCP> brian@sequent.UUCP (Brian Godfrey) writes:
>>>>Get a bunch of detectors.....

>>The experiment would be no less valid if you pick a time and place on the
>>spur of the moment and do the listening first, then widely publicize the
>>time and place and store the information after the fact.  Of course you
>>must carry through, even if you don't detect anything.  Somehow this seems
>>doomed to failure.
>
>In fact, the experiment is not valid _unless_ you do the listening
>before you publicize the time and place.  If you do it the other way
>'round there's no way to rule out the possibility that somebody is
>actually sending you a message from the present.

This proves the experiment won't work.  CASE A:  We are all, in effect,
doing the experiment all the time.  But we don't hear anything so we don't
publicize the time and place.  There would be no point to publicizing the
time and place if we didn't hear anything, because we can't go back to that
time after we publicize the information.  We can only go back to the place.

CASE B:  Suppose I do hear something.  I publicize the time and place of the
reception, but I do not modify my actions based on the contents of the
message.  I cannot verify that the message is from the future.  But, time
passes.  I am on my way home from the mental hospital, where they planted
me because I kept saying I received a message from the future.  I have just
been released from this hospital because I'm doing much better now.  I walk
down a dusty, lonely road, and I come upon an old man, bent over, carrying
a heavy load.  I assist him, and after walking together for a few miles, we
stop to rest.  He asks my name.  I say, "My name is Martin Smith." His eyes
grow wide.
     "You are the one!" he says.  "I sent a message to you!  With my device.
Here."  The old man pulls from his bundle a black box, which he claims he
uses to send messages to precise time/space coordinates in the past.
     I am shaken.  I feel insanity crawling up my back.  I try to pull it
off but cannot.  I am falling headlong into mental illness, when the old man
pulls out a newspaper from many years ago, the headline of which reads,
"Martin Smith Publicizes Time And Place Of Message From The Future."  I feel
relief fold over me like a warm blanket.  It is the old man who is insane.

CASE C:  I hear the same message as in case B, but this time I act on the
contents of the message.  The message says:  On October 28th, 2029, the
stock of IBM will drop from a high of $1024/share to $3.  I wait patiently
for the next 43 years, and then, during the afternoon of Oct 27th, I call
my broker and tell her to sell short every share of IBM she can get her hands
on.  She says, "What, are you crazy?"
     I say, "Don't give me a lot of heartburn, just do it."  Next day I
become the wealthiest man in the universe.

But the above won't work.  If I publicize the message, then IBM stock won't
get up to $1024 on Oct 27th, 2029.  It will get up to $1024 the day after I
publicize the contents of the message.  Then there will be a mass sell off.
Certainly, by the time Oct 27th, 2029 rolls around, IBM will be nowhere near
$1024.

CASE D: Suppose I don't publicize the contents of the message in case C,
but keep it a secret for myself.  I only publicize the date, time, and
place where I received it.  Hmmm.  Then I would be the only one who knew,
or thought I knew, that IBM was going to fall.  Hmmm.  I scratch my chin.
Maybe the experiment will work after all.

Okay.  I got this message yesterday.  It was from the year 2029.  I was
standing on the corner of Wilshire and Westwood at exactly high noon...

                                Marty Smith