Have you met a time traveller?

So, it has to be asked; How can you tell if somebody is a time traveller from the future?

Well, I’m glad you asked.

You know, there are a few interesting tell-tale signs.

(Spot the time traveller)

Have a good think about them and how they behave.  It’s not about looks, but about their character.

Firstly, whilst they may be quite knowledgeable about general matters political, sporting or religious, they will very often seem quite hazy or confused about the details.  In this respect, they will have problems engaging with you in any detailed conversation.  Know anybody like that?

If you’re a bit confused about what I mean, just imagine you travelled back in time to, I don’t know, let’s say 1066 and the Battle of Hastings.  Well, having got there, no matter how carefully you’d researched the time and the event, the devil would be in the detail that you wouldn’t have.

Apart from the fact that history always changes the actual truth, so what you ‘know’ wouldn’t be the actual reality, the total experience won’t have travelled well through to the future as history.  So, engaging somebody in conversation, you’d not quite be in tune.  They’d notice you were a bit hazy about details or your grasp of the local slang, and you’d really struggle to be part of the banter.

So, the same problems would be true were you currently being confronted by a time traveller.  Seem familiar?

Other things to think about are that, to a time traveller grounded in the future, you are already dead.  You are someone from history.  If they’d had time to research you individually, they’d know whatever history tells about you, about your greatest achievements and your biggest foopahs.  They’d know about your relationships, your children, and everything you don’t know.  This knowledge may make them appear a little aloof and remote from you.  They won’t want to get too attached, so they will seem cold and emotionless.

Are they manipulative?  It is possible that they have travelled back in time in order to shape or change things. Maybe you are an integral part of their plan.  Maybe they have to get you to do something, or get you to not do something in order to change the future in some way.

This is a bit worrisome.  As they change things or influence the here and now, the future will be different.  Heck, it’s possible that they’ll never actually be born.  If they suddenly disappear without trace, then that could be an explanation.  

Actually, that whole thing of them coming back in time and changing things so they are never born will create a time paradox.  Yeah, the time paradox will probably heal instantly such that the event of them coming back in time and meeting you won’t have happened either, so you won’t remember it anyway.

Erm, it’s probably best not to worry too much about all of that then.

Most likely your time travelling friend is only here to observe you and this period, so don’t panic.  Most likely, they are learning from the past rather than attempting to manipulate it.  Are they taking notes, or looking at you as if there’s a hidden camera embedded within their eyes that they’re recording you on?

These are just a few hints.  So then.  Have you met a time traveller?