The movie, “Back To The Future” featured a time machine
(car) that allowed Marty (Michael J. Fox) to go back in time changing what had already occurred, and going ahead in time, learning about something that has not yet occurred. H.G. Wells in his classic “The Time Machine” also depicted time travel, as do many of the science fiction classics.
Putting magic and the Einstein’s theory of general relativity aside
, we all know that time travel is not possible … at least in today’s world. You can’t travel into the future, and then return to the present knowing about something that hasn’t yet happened … OR CAN YOU?
A few months ago, I was listening to an XM radio station
, and the D.J. was babbling along, when I heard him say what I thought was utterly profound. He said, “Your car is a time machine, because you can get to a destination before someone who is walking”. He then played another song. I turned the radio off and started to think about that statement and the definition of a Time Machine. Here’s one definition:
• A mechanism that allows you to know something about the future and use that knowledge in the present.
• A mechanism that allows you to change something about the past, that results in a change in the present.
While Marty physically went into the past and the future to accomplish these things, was that the only way? What about what that radio announcer said?
Let’s say it’s the year 1928
. Unbeknownst to your neighbors, you just got a car. Normally it’s a full day walk to town, but your car can make it there and back in 2 hours. You and your tech friends are all excited about going to the electronics show the next day to see the lasted radio’s and the new fangled device called an electric razor from some guy named Schick. You decide to leave in your car early that next morning and check out the razor and are back before your friends start their journey on foot. You say to your friends, “OMG, wait till you see this razor … it’s a little noisy, but no more dull blades!” Your friends are perplexed. How could you possibly know this, before the group even gets started?
Fast forward to 2014.
We discover information at the speed of light. If you have access to the Internet and someone else does not, then you can discover information about something before them, and as a result, you know the future before them. If you know the future before them, you can take some action related to that future before them, and this gives you an advantage. Time Machine?
Now what about the workplace?
What is it that allows you to know the future before it happens. What about a forecast? Isn’t that a tool to know the future? If you can forecast something that no one else can, or you can do it more accurately, and then take actions related to that forecast, isn’t that the same as if you had a time machine and new the future before others did, and used that knowledge to change the present?
What other work related tasks might be considered a time machine?
A project plan? A financial model? A conversation with a customer about their intentions? Imagine if you can identify all the time machines you have and refined them to be a really good time machines. You could have a significant advantage over others whose time machines don’t exist or are less accurate. You would have more confidence in the future; you would make better decisions about what to do now in order to take advantage of the future. Your time machine becomes a weapon to compete!
Some time machines are illegal.
Insider trading for example. Someone knows about something that’s going to occur in the future and takes action that financially benefits them over others with that knowledge. The SEC, and other shareholders, don’t like that Time Machine.
What about changing the past,
and by doing that, you change the present. Well .. the past is the past .. Or is it? What if you bought something online? It’s an hour later and you change your mind. You can get on the internet and cancel the order. Didn’t you just modify an action you took in past that changes the future? Where in your work can you do this? Ever download a patch to your operating system on your PC, or Mac, or smartphone? Isn’t that changing the operating system that was installed in the past, so that it modifies how the present works? Is a software update a time machine? What about an historian who, by knowing about the past, doesn’t do something, and avoids a bad outcome in the present or future? If they have this knowledge and you do not, they can avoid a mistake, while you might not. Isn’t that a mechanism of a Time Machine?
The Takeaway:
We are surrounded with Time Machines that can help us understand the future and adjust our present to take advantage of, or avoid, something that will occur in the future. While we can’t physically transport ourselves into the past, we can obtain knowledge from the past, that can change how we look at the present, and therefore change the result. Time Travel … Hmmm … maybe we just need think about it a little differently?
