Time Traveler's Welcome

So Stephen Hawking died.

Yeah, I know he died about 2 months ago. I was never a huge fan of him. He sort of became pop culture icon ala Einstein, but not with as much accomplishment. Sure, he did the entire black holes thing, but there are many others who have delved farther into more groundbreaking work in the world of theoretical physics than the Hawk. Also, heard he was sort of an ass; guess that popularity got into his head. Little known fact: did you know he was crippled with a disease? Yeah, ALS, or ‘Lou Gehrig’s’ disease. Yes, he hid it well. The more you learn………….

Anyway, I don’t wish to speak too much ill of the dead, so I’ll move to the more interesting part of this.

Stephen Hawking, never one for bigotry, has invited time travelers to his memorial service.

The official edict:

‘Those wishing to honour the theoretical physicist, who died in March aged 76, can apply via a public ballot.

Applicants need to give their birth date - which can be any day up to 31 December 2038.’

What a peaceful gesture by the Hawk. I mean I know one of the main reasons why we have never seen time travelers bumping around in our time is because…well…they simply have not been invited yet. I know if I was from the 23rd century, I would never go anywhere where I was not wanted.

However, there is an issue with this invite: 31 December 2038. In other words, if you are younger than -20 years, you are not welcome. So this really does limit the time travelling candidates. I guess if he extended it out longer, the entire service may be populated by people from the future. That wouldn’t be very interesting, huh.

But this adds another interesting wrinkle (in time): what if no current traveler of time and space is that old? You see, there is the loophole; if none of these 4th dimensional wanderers attend, this does NOT prove time travel cannot happen. This simply means the time travel community is not of that age. Clever little man.

Anyway, who knows what who will show on June 15, the time of his memorial service. To quoteth Hawking ‘Anything is possible unless proven otherwise’.

That maybe true, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on this one.