Imagine you receive a mysterious note claiming to be from yourself in the future, but also asserting vital information for the salvation of mankind, yourself, or those you hold most dear. In order to combat your initial skepticism, the note attempts to prove its validity by providing multiple personal facts that only you and those close to you would know. But could you ever be truly certain of the message’s legitimacy before the occurrence of the very events that the note urges you to prevent?
I have had a solution in place for myself since high school. I gave myself a password that I would use if I ever had to send a message to myself from the future. The problem with this safeguard is that one can only send a message to one’s former self after the password has been selected. In other words, I could not send my ten-year-old self a message because I would not be certain that little Jimmy would take the note seriously and heed its instructions.
However, if I receive a message tomorrow with the right password, you better believe that I will give it the utmost credibility. My password is quite possibly my most closely guarded secret; I would not tell a soul unless he or she was responsible for delivering the message.
I recognize the infinitesimal likelihood that I will ever need to use this password, which is why I am fine sharing with all of cyberspace. But there will always be a small part of me that hopes I get the chance to use it.
Or maybe I should ease off of the science fiction...
I have had a solution in place for myself since high school. I gave myself a password that I would use if I ever had to send a message to myself from the future. The problem with this safeguard is that one can only send a message to one’s former self after the password has been selected. In other words, I could not send my ten-year-old self a message because I would not be certain that little Jimmy would take the note seriously and heed its instructions.
However, if I receive a message tomorrow with the right password, you better believe that I will give it the utmost credibility. My password is quite possibly my most closely guarded secret; I would not tell a soul unless he or she was responsible for delivering the message.
I recognize the infinitesimal likelihood that I will ever need to use this password, which is why I am fine sharing with all of cyberspace. But there will always be a small part of me that hopes I get the chance to use it.
Or maybe I should ease off of the science fiction...