Message from a Time Traveler

Dan Simmons - Official Web Site ^ | April 1, 2006 | Dan Simmons

[shield]

'Remember the Alamo' 'Remember Pearl Harbor'

[naguszed]

I've read this several times now. Very powerful.

[hosepipe]

[ Just seed the debate with, oh, I dunno, "Origin of Species", stir gently and stand back... ]

LoL...

[schu]

It seems a somewhat likely scenario is that Iran has/will have nukes and will therefore try to use them. As they know the repercussions will be severe, they have one shot, so an attack will probably be with multiple missiles targeting US military installations in the mideast and Israel.

I am skeptical that given the present political climate that we will respond preemptively, hope I am wrong.

Once they attack, whether successful or not, the rules change. Till now we have tried to be the nice guys, build a country for the Iraqis, show them the way, treat them humanely.

If the attacks are successful, the world changes overnight, we and Israel need to respond, and do so forcefully. So we potentially have 10-20 million dead and injured in the Middle East, bad news.

If the attacks fail (the missiles are duds, dramatically miss their targets, etc), which is not incomprehensible given the nature of the enemy, what should our response be?

schu

[Mr. Jeeves]

The Chinese - I don't think that the Moslems would be stupid enough to take on such a regime with such resources - because unlike the softees in this country and Europe, the Chinese would nuke away and damned near laugh if they had under 300 million dead themselves.

China will be the nation that eventually destroys Islam and assumes the leading position among the surviving nations of the Earth - once they have finished using Islam to weaken the US and Russia. The only question is, what kind of China will that be?

I fear that SF writer William Gibson's dystopian visions are going to prove shockingly prescient over the next twenty years.

[G Larry]

No!
I direct words, I don't know.
I don't care if the author made a game of it.
I don't care if it's fiction.

Lightening up a bit, is not on my list of things to do.

It's nice that you get your entertainment through taunting, rather than enlightening.

[CurlyBill]

Okay, a couple of observations here. First, he didn't indicate that he recorded the "sessions," yet he seems to be able to recall them in great detail. Second, he makes no effort to follow the guy or see how he leaves ... this contradicts human nature. Third, he acts irrationally... even pulling a gun at a time when I don't think the discussion elevated to that level or even came close to warranting it. Lastly, this guy was never challenged beyond the "words" ... which I suppose we all have now copied and will hold for a year to see what happens.

• Ahmadenijad - which we all know
• Natanz - this is an Iranian Special Weapons Site
• Arak - another Special Weapons Site in Iran
• Bushehr - Iranian Nuclear Reactor Site
• Ishafan - Iranian University of Technology
• Bonab - Iranian Special Weapons Facility
• Ramsar - Area of wetlands in Iran

This all centers on Iran. It doesn't take a "time traveller" to forecast that we will have trouble with Iran. We've known this for a long time. This could well be a fake throwing out these "words" knowing that chances are that some of them make news. Time will tell, but I'm a skeptic on this. I think this is all BS.

[null and void]

If the attacks fail (the missiles are duds, dramatically miss their targets, etc), which is not incomprehensible given the nature of the enemy, what should our response be?

EXACTLY what our response would be if it were 100% successful.

BTW, I'm holding out for them to only succeed in polishing the al aqsa møsque off the Temple Mount...

[SauronOfMordor]

If the attacks fail (the missiles are duds, dramatically miss their targets, etc), which is not incomprehensible given the nature of the enemy, what should our response be?

You're walking along the streets at night. A mugger comes out from his hiding place. He points his gun at you and pulls the trigger while you desperately reach for your own gun. His gun misfires.

Do you give him time to pull the trigger again? Or do you blow him away first?

With an Iranian dud first strike, do you assume they don't have more, or do you eliminate the threat right now, with everything you have available?

[antiantiamericans]

Dig bomb shelters.

[Skywarner]

Three words that would instill emotion in a time traveler and the author:

"Save the Children..."

[Skywarner]

"I believe that the writer was kept up at night for months and years because of extreme guilt about what he wrote - i.e. this story, which condemned 2 of his 3 grandsons to death. The story itself is the key. Now, the words also have to have meaning to future time travelers - meaning that causes them to react "first and most emotionally." The Time Traveler came back for a reason - the story is a message, a warning. As such, I think that the 3 words are something to the effect of "Write 'The Message' or "Wake the Dreamers" or "Warn the world." Only something of this sort would both keep the writer awake at night (knowing that he had just put himself and his whole family at risk) while causing future time travelers to react first and most emotionally, knowing that these words may have saved our civilization.

Hmmm, you may be on to something with your line of reasoning. How about the traveler telling the author to "Wake them up." as his remark?

[MistrX]

Darn fine post!

[higgmeister]

Second, he makes no effort to follow the guy or see how he leaves ... this contradicts human nature.

• "The Time Traveler appeared suddenly in my study on New Year’s Eve, 2004....."

• "The Time Traveler said three last words and was gone."

The Traveler stood on the same geographic point in a time after 2068 and traveled in time to New Year’s Eve, 2004. He left the same way by simply disappearing.

[null and void]

Ummmmmm, it's just a story...

[Nowhere Man]

Maybe he will run into Doug and Tony, time travellers from 1968 from the super secret Time Tunnel of "Project Tic-Toc" B-)





Seriously, although we do need to hve some verifiction here, from whatI have skimmed, it is very chilling. This belongs up there with John Titor.

[schu]

OK, we are in agreement on what our reaction should be, I should have restated the question as what our reaction will be.

schu

[stands2reason]

Everything Dan Simmons is powerful.

Read Song of Kali.

Then read Hyperion.

[null and void]

We'll bomb the Sudan.

[schu]

We will convene a UN Security Council meeting in two weeks .... um, make that an Emergency UN Security Council meeting in two weeks .....

schu