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| Time travel fascinates scientists but what if big business cashes in on the idea? |
Travel and adventure go hand in hand. Every year when I was growing up my parents planned a big vacation trip for our family. I always looked forward to those trips with some excitement and some trepidation. The excitement was because I knew we would go someplace new. The trepidation was because sometimes the trips turned out to be less exciting than I hoped. That's part of growing up. We kids sometimes had bad days and when you are on the road with the family there is no place to run to when you want to sulk or deal with your anger. But all in all the trips were fun.
As a grown up and father I learned quickly that times are a changing. Kids today have a lot more entertainment options. The road trips are mostly for Mom and Dad. I didn't really know that. Now the kids are happy with their games and movies and we just want a break from real life. I have to wonder if it was always like that.
The modern vacation experience is most likely a recent development. Maybe it began about a hundred years ago. Maybe it began in the 1800s. I don't know. For a society to support "the vacation experience" you need a strong middle class and a fast transportation system. Otherwise you won't see many people traveling far from home every year. The wealthiest families could do it but not the average family.
Modern travel must have begun with trains but commercial air travel changed the world forever. When the first airline opened in Europe it was for passenger airships. What an amazing time that must have been. But it would have been reserved for the rich and the privileged. I cannot see the average family taking a vacation trip on a Zeppelin.
Likewise, commercial space travel will soon become a reality for the wealthiest families. Anyone who flies on Virgin Galactic will probably be a billionaire for the first 10 years. I imagine that waking up in space with your kids around you will be an awesome experience, but not many of us can afford that kind of vacation.
Where we may all go into space, and maybe even ride on a Zeppelin, is through virtual travel. And what is amazing to me is that we may be able to use virtual travel to look at the past.
What is virtual travel? It's a combination of things. Virtual reality companies are experimenting with ideas for virtual travel today. I want a vacation experience that consists of more than putting on a headset with a smart phone. I want to feel the sensations of traveling into space while seeing the things that space travelers will feel. Maybe a company like Disney can bring that kind of virtual travel to life for all of us.
Virtual time travel might consist of people walking into a specially designed facility where you put on a special sensory suit and headgear. One way I imagine this happening is if people visit a historic location and then enter a special VR room. There they can see and participate as observers in historical re-enactments of past events. Imagine being able to watch Robert E. Lee surrender to Ulysses Grant at Appomattox. Or how about watching the Continental Congress sign the declaration of independence?
We could also transport ourselves to faraway lands. A virtual reality museum could offer experiences in ancient Roman military camps or early Sumerian cities. A whole new industry for virtual reality actors and directors would be born.
Gaming worlds would also be able to take advantage of virtual reality. You might think it would be cool to visit the World of Warcraft in VR, but what if we create a gaming world built around the past? We could use virtual reality as means of time travel into Fantasy Island-like experiences. Being able to walk around in a computer-generated recreation of the world that was would provide a Westworld-like experience without all the problems.'
I think once people realize how we can take our fascination with historical recreations into virtual reality we'll start to invest in time travel simulations. The more realistic they become the more people will be drawn to them. One day we may even be able to dispense with the goggles. Maybe we'll just wear special eyeglasses that allow us to "see" the projections of people and events from the past overlaid on the world around us. That would be a mix of augmented reality and virtual reality.
Then road trips would make more sense. Imagine being able to walk around downtown Savannah, GA or New York City with a virtual guide from the past who shows you what those cities looked like 200 years ago. You'll be able to visit historic battlefields and forts and watch the battles unfold around you.
I think the future promises great things for people who want to visit the past. We won't have to worry about the Grandfather Paradox because we won't be able to change the past. But we won't have to be billionaires, either. Maybe this is one form of travel that the masses can enjoy as soon as it's invented. I hope so!
