When I ask people what magical powers they would like to possess, many of them, who are young, say, “I want to fly in the sky like Superman!” Most respond, too, that they would like to have the powers of superheroes for saving the world. On the contrary, when posed with the same question, adults mostly hope to be time travelers. Why time travel, I ask. Well, it is probably to change the past, or at least to explore the ancient world. This hope to travel in time has been consistent both in our lives and in literature.
Although most people want to travel back in time, there is much literature that has tried to predict what might happen if there really was time travel. For instance, in the novella A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury, the author creates an apocalypse after a failed attempt at time travel. From this story, it becomes evident that one change in the past might cause a great difference in the present because of the Butterfly Effect. Even so, people never stop seeking to explore the past or the future because of it.
There is also a Japanese animation that I really enjoy about time travel called “Stein’s Gate”. In this animation, one statement inspires me, “We can always go back in time, but we can never change destiny. She dies because it’s her destiny.” While watching this, I had many thoughts. It is a very depressing story. Only the main character himself holds onto the memory of what happened when a “time travel team” changes the past. So, he holds onto many overlapping memories and each lead to a bad end. Ultimately, he cannot change a thing and he is not understood. Time change might be desirable to alter a bad past, but there will always be things that we cannot change or will happen again in the present.
Even though people fear the fourth dimension, we never stop exploring the possibility to try to take a glimpse into the past and into the future. If a time machine is invented, there could be chaos both in public and, frighteningly, between nations. Everyone wants to have the power to take control of time and with it to do whatever they want, but unsure of the consequences. Even with all the developments in the various technical fields, it is unclear if it is possible to invent a time machine. The question is, how would it be used? Is a time machine really necessary? Will the unknown become known and will the present become the past? We never know, but do we really want to know?