Jackson Radcliffe's Blog - Posts Tagged "internet"
My creepy time travel experience
I just got this creepy message from Goodreads in my Facebook feed:
“Goodreads added something in the past to your timeline.”
How sinister is that? How can something have been added just now but in the past?
I love Goodreads (apart from its sometimes unfathomable navigation) but have the Goodreads guys been reading too much bad time-travel fiction? Don’t they understand the dangers of recklessly meddling with the past?
I feel like I’ve been violated in some unfathomable way. My history has been rewritten. I am no longer the person I was, because Goodreads went back into my past and made a change. Admittedly, the change was simply to add a book to the list of books I’ve read. But, hey, a book can transform your life!
It got me thinking about the importance of our virtual lives online. What if someone could change your real life by making a change to your online profile in the past? Could an evil hacker (or a mega corporation) rewrite your online past and thereby change your present self? Google is now allowing people to remove mentions of themselves from the past. But what if people could insert stories, or change their online profile retrospectively? Would that have an impact on their real lives in the present?
In short, is the internet a loophole in the laws of the universe that allows time travel?
It’s all rather weird. I think I might turn off those Goodreads notifications just in case.
[Originally posted on Blog Blogger Bloggest.]
“Goodreads added something in the past to your timeline.”
How sinister is that? How can something have been added just now but in the past?
I love Goodreads (apart from its sometimes unfathomable navigation) but have the Goodreads guys been reading too much bad time-travel fiction? Don’t they understand the dangers of recklessly meddling with the past?
I feel like I’ve been violated in some unfathomable way. My history has been rewritten. I am no longer the person I was, because Goodreads went back into my past and made a change. Admittedly, the change was simply to add a book to the list of books I’ve read. But, hey, a book can transform your life!
It got me thinking about the importance of our virtual lives online. What if someone could change your real life by making a change to your online profile in the past? Could an evil hacker (or a mega corporation) rewrite your online past and thereby change your present self? Google is now allowing people to remove mentions of themselves from the past. But what if people could insert stories, or change their online profile retrospectively? Would that have an impact on their real lives in the present?
In short, is the internet a loophole in the laws of the universe that allows time travel?
It’s all rather weird. I think I might turn off those Goodreads notifications just in case.
[Originally posted on Blog Blogger Bloggest.]
