New Short Story Added - Hindsight
It’s been a while since I’ve considered adding a new short story to the website. In truth, it’s been a long time since I’ve added anything to the website. You know, pandemics and such.
I wrote this back in the spring of 2021 and just let it sit on my desktop. I figured now was as good a time as any to post it.
As always, I highly recommend reading the story first, then coming back here for a brief discussion.
Without further ado…
!!!SPOILER ALERT!!
OK, let’s get a few things straight. I love science. I love technology and how advanced we are becoming as a society; however, sometimes I do worry about the roads we’re going down and whether they end with our own self-imposed doom. If you want to scare yourself shitless, go look up information on ultra-intelligent A.I.
I write science fiction, so yeah, maybe I didn’t need to say any of that.
But this story isn’t about A.I., it’s about time. For the purposes of this story, let’s ignore the notions of parallel universes and quantum mechanics.
Let’s pretend there’s only one timeline in the universe. One that already exists from start to finish, and we are just riding along happily within our own little bubble.
So, what if we found a way to look beyond the present and see our past and future?
Sure, looking into the past would be fun, but I have enough fun thinking of past times I’ve made social blunders while I lie awake in bed (thanks brain!) to think it’s terribly interesting.
Looking into the future is where it’s at, right? Having the ability to foresee our future, no matter how brief the glimpse, could potentially save us from a lot of headaches. What if you're driving, and you know that if you change lanes right now, you’ll run over a nail and get a flat? Instead, you stay in your lane and avoid the hassle.
But as we see with Dr. Ford, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Messing with the sacred timeline causes potential issues to arise. What if you don’t change lanes, avoiding that nail and the flat tire altogether, but then you slam into the back of the car in front of you causing a worse accident?
And this is only if you look a few seconds into the future. What if you could see more? I’d imagine we’d all be too preoccupied sifting through our own futures, determining how best to live our lives, that we'd never enjoy actually living them.
It’s like taking a video of a concert while you’re at the concert. Seriously, put the phone down and enjoy. Feel the music you feel now. Trust me, you’ll never watch that video ever again. live in the moment.
Also filming fireworks…stop it!
The moral of the story: live your life now…
Oh, and don’t mess with the sacred timeline.