This node does not attempt to answer the question of
whether or not backwards time travel is possible.
It instead attempts to answer definitively and
without chance for appeal the question: "Will backwards
time travel ever be of practical use to me,
me personally, me who is reading this, me specifically?"
I have already answered this question for myself, and for me, the
answer is ...incredibly, awesomely "Oh, hell yes!!!"
I just checked my bank account... Holy crap!... $3.5 billion!!!
Woohoo!
Just kidding. No time travel for me, it seems. Damn.
So how can you play this game?
Simple.
Just promise yourself, if you ever get a chance to use a
functioning time machine, you will go back in time and mail
yourself some advice "from the future". Make sure to promise
yourself to go back in time to some time that has not occurred
prior to your having conceived the experiment to avoid forks in the space-time continuum, (or something
like that). I performed this experiment in 1983 when I was around
14 years old or so ... (I will tell myself to "buy MSFT, CSCO
and SUNW", if I ever get a ride in a time machine, which I already
know that I won't, on account of me not being a billionaire and all.)
You must also have a secret codeword in mind so
that you will recognize yourself. You cannot tell anyone
the secret codeword, lest you fall victim to a practical joke, in
which your so-called friends send you (e)mail "from the future."
:-D (Oh man, it was fun being 14, with other dumbass 14 year-olds
for friends. ;->
So, go on, check your (e)mail, check your bank account.
Did you get anything? Are you a billionaire? No?
Damn, that's a bummer, ain't it?
And if you are a billionaire, you owe me man!!! (and if not, well, hey, at
least you can take that "time machine" you've been
working on in the garage and chuck it, eh?)