this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2024
253 points (91.2% liked)

Showerthoughts

29723 readers
1320 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics
    1. NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
    2. Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
    3. Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct-----

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
vatlark@lemmy.world
forkball@lemmy.world
quinten@lemmy.world
Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world
253
The reason why we never meet time travelers is because our civilization ends before the technology can come to fruition. (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by TheGiantKorean@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
99 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Sort of similar to the Great Filter theory, but applied to time travel technology.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] cygon@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

There's a hard sci-fi novel (1970s or 1980s) called "Tau Zero" that features this idea.

Book summary (spoils all of it)A colony ship with a Bussard Ramjet on each end (debunked theoretical spaceship drive that uses interstellar hydrogen for propulsion, i.e. the faster you go, the more medium you hit and the harder you accelerate) suffers an accident that destroys the deceleration engine. They keep accelerating because they need the engine's magnetic field to protect them from interstellar dust. First they try reach the void between galaxies to safely repair the ship, when the interstellar medium is still too "dense," they go for the void between galaxy clusters, then superclusters, then they just stay on the throttle until the big crunch, at which point, in the nothingness after the universe collapsed in on itself, they can finally fix their ship and begin decelerating into the bounce-back big bang of the forming next universe and colonize a planet.