“The Portal”
Why does a time machine have to look like a human-sized pressure cooker? Perhaps in the future, a “time machine” will be more accurately thought of as a machine that projects interactions with spacetime… a portal projector.
Consider a home-cinema video projector. The “movie” that your eyes interface with originates from the projector… but the red, green, and blue light that stimulates your cone cells is no longer coupled with it. Your eyes don’t directly interact with the projector, rather they interact with the light that is emitted from this device.
Perhaps a time machine can be thought of in the same way. Who is to say that a time machine couldn’t project a portal outward into three-dimensional space? Perhaps humans won’t interface with the time machine itself (by climbing into a steampunk-looking metal box with pressure gauges, piping, and valves) but perhaps humans will interface with portals that the time machine projects outward into nearby space. Maybe instead of gathering in a living room to sit down and watch movies, people will gather together in a living room to sit down and plan their time travel journey!
Are you feeling like a trip to middle earth? Do you want to see castles, shire villages, and knights in shining armor? Perhaps you’d like to experience the exotic geology, plant, and animal life of the Mesozoic era? Join me with my time machine! I have it set up to project portals in this very scenic, harbor-side environment. We can sit on the couches and toast to our upcoming adventures before we dive in together.
- JF