Summary: One of the scariest fictional stories to be trapped in without knowing it? Time travel . Think about it. Almost any other genre of film or story (or game) you would probably easily find out what genre of film/story/game it was. If you see a bunch of dwarves and elves...you know you're in a fantasy story. If there's monsters with knives attacking you, you're probably in a horror story. Yes, that would be frightening, but you could engage protective measures. If there's crimes and detectives and sleuthing, obviously you're in a mystery crime story. However, time travel stories...are an entirely different matter. You likely wouldn't know you're in a time travel story. Sure, odd things from the past and/or future would bubble up but if you didn't know that that was the genre of story you were in, it would be horrifying and confusing. This is obviously a very weird and odd brain experiment, but time travel and causal loops really interest me; it's one of the most alluring and interesting aspects of science fiction. Take Back to the Future. Marty knew he was traveling back or forward in time. So he knew what to look for. But could you imagine geing stuck in a time travel story without knowing it? The amount of confusion experienced by unknowingly being in a time travel story would be much more horrifying and daunting than, say, the horror of a monster stalking you (which is relatively palpable) in a scary story. I guess seeing people you knew that were aged, suddenly infants or young people old and whithered might be a clue, but what if it were more subtle? This is an odd thought experiment, but an interesting one. Time has one direction. It flows forward. The only way to access the past is observing history (primary documents, journals, old articles, timestamps, archives, and the like) but one is never "IN" the past or future (unless of course you're trapped in a time travel fictional story!). You can be using out-dated antiquted technology that's so historical that some people use the phrase "technology from the past" or technology that seems so cutting edge that it's "like from the future", but you're still in the present. You can never be anywhere (by the laws of physics) other than in the present. This, by the way, is not a silly "live in the present moment" rubbish hoaky thing; it's an analysis of the relationship of future and past time. Theoretical Physicist and author, Michio Kaku, wrote a (fairly superb) book called Physics of the Impossible . It's accessible to non-physicists and is quite fascinating. In that great book he investigates various wonders of physics like Force Fields, Perpetual Motion Machines, Teleportation, and...Time Travel. He does a pretty good analysis of all of those topics and classifies wonders like that into different types (Type 1,2, or 3). Type 1 is only a limitation of technology, and thus, plausible. Type 3 Impossibilities are against the laws of physics, and thus, practically truly (or 100%) impossible. Kaku references how a lot of fiction even oldfiction like Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", where the protagonist travels to the future and past (via the Ghosts of Chirstmas Past and Future), addresses time travel but what about within the realm (and intractable and awesome laws) of physics? The first time machine involves a wormhole. There are many solutions of Einstein’s equations that connect two distant points in space. But since space and time are intimately intertwined in Einstein’s theory, this same wormhole can also connect two points in time. By falling down the wormhole, you could journey (at least mathematically) into the past. Conceivably, you could then journey to the original starting point and meet yourself before you left. Kaku, Michio (2008-03-11). Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel (p. 222). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition. sdfgfsdgsfd
