Time and Power
Feb. 24th, 2011 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pasitheaLots of stories seem to focus on this idea of someone wanting to rule the world/universe.
I've never figured out this particular power fantasy. Beyond your basic needs, why bother? Ruling the world doesn't sound fun. It sounds like a hassle. What's it even mean? That you don't want for anything and can have anything you want? Well... Anything within the confines of things that exist in the world and really limited only to physical goods. So that implies that there will always be things you want beyond your ability to get them. Or, more to the point, that you'd never really be more satisfied than someone who is middle class and, all things considered, it seems less likely that you'd have that level of comfort. The middle class can just tune out and ignore reality. The person who controls reality cannot.
Bumping it up a level to time travel. I was thinking about what one does with a time machine. Generally one of people's first answers is something uninspiring about how they'd get rich. I admit it's a pelasant little fantasy that I've also engaged in. But thinking more seriously about it... I don't think I actually would. As a time traveler, what value is money really? I mean sure, you need to cover maintenance of your vehicle and fuel, disposal of waste, and your basic needs of food and shelter but after that, you can go anywhere and anywhen. So much you could study and learn and think about. Yeah. There are points in time where I'd be tempted to attempt to change the past but would I really? Probably not. Even ignoring paradoxes, I think that despite our best efforts, mankind is still stumbling slowly forward. To change that and play the hand of God would be wrong. Much as it pains me to watch, I think mankind must bumble forward at their own rate. Trying to hurry them along would only result in stupid monkeys with more advanced technology and that's probably not a great thing. Besides, the journey is more the point than the destination.
I've never figured out this particular power fantasy. Beyond your basic needs, why bother? Ruling the world doesn't sound fun. It sounds like a hassle. What's it even mean? That you don't want for anything and can have anything you want? Well... Anything within the confines of things that exist in the world and really limited only to physical goods. So that implies that there will always be things you want beyond your ability to get them. Or, more to the point, that you'd never really be more satisfied than someone who is middle class and, all things considered, it seems less likely that you'd have that level of comfort. The middle class can just tune out and ignore reality. The person who controls reality cannot.
Bumping it up a level to time travel. I was thinking about what one does with a time machine. Generally one of people's first answers is something uninspiring about how they'd get rich. I admit it's a pelasant little fantasy that I've also engaged in. But thinking more seriously about it... I don't think I actually would. As a time traveler, what value is money really? I mean sure, you need to cover maintenance of your vehicle and fuel, disposal of waste, and your basic needs of food and shelter but after that, you can go anywhere and anywhen. So much you could study and learn and think about. Yeah. There are points in time where I'd be tempted to attempt to change the past but would I really? Probably not. Even ignoring paradoxes, I think that despite our best efforts, mankind is still stumbling slowly forward. To change that and play the hand of God would be wrong. Much as it pains me to watch, I think mankind must bumble forward at their own rate. Trying to hurry them along would only result in stupid monkeys with more advanced technology and that's probably not a great thing. Besides, the journey is more the point than the destination.
