A Conversation for Anachronisms and Time Travel - Moved
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
Ashley Posted Oct 8, 2002
For a month, on the Ranch in Texas...
And I can't wait...
Where's that cowboy smiley when you need it
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
Martin Harper Posted Oct 8, 2002
Yeah, I'm happy as is. I've just gone through and added links and corrected typos and such, and a new section 'Other Explanations' to provide a touch of balance. Depends what Apprentice reckons really: sie seems to want some more stuff, so it's in hir hands.
-Martin
Congratulations - Your Entry has been Picked for the Edited Guide!
h2g2 auto-messages Posted Oct 8, 2002
Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.
If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.
Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
a girl called Ben Posted Oct 8, 2002
Ashley offered to rent out his italicisation for a couple of cakes at the last meet...
Watch his U-space when he goes on holiday...
B
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
Martin Harper Posted Oct 8, 2002
Ahh - I remember hearing some gossip about that... though I've forgotten exactly what it was to be changed to. I thought Ashley had gone back on his word!
Sorry to have such little faith in you Ashley...
-Lucinda
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
The Apprentice Posted Oct 8, 2002
I guess I'm not going to be able to get back to you. Guess you have friends in high places...
The Apprentice
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
The Apprentice Posted Oct 8, 2002
Just to cover a few things, which largely deal with this entry bringing nothing new to the Guide (excuse my brevity, as I'm at work... but knowing the speed things can travel leaving this until I get home I may find the article has already been sub-edited and lined up for the weekend front page).
Both the Pyramids and Leonardo's helicopter are self-argued out of being anachronisms. You state that the Egyptians had the resource and the labour and that Leo's helicopter wouldn't have flown. So... all in all these don't seem like anachronisms because the Egyptians didn't need help and Leo wasn't going anywhere except staying on the ground.
The entry 'Time Travel - the Possibilities and Consequences' covers parallel realities being formed by events, the Tippler Effect and Fate (the force that would make changing the past difficult if not impossible) in detail already - so covering them here seems pure repetition.
The reference that someone, or a group of people, postulates a force of 'time police' comes across as groundless. I'm not saying it hasn't been suggested, but anyone walking away from this article is none the wiser for who is making these postulations and those who oppose them.
"By contrast, if Julius Ceasar is caught on film in ancient Rome wearing a pair of Levis, that could only be a result of time travel."
This is a bad example... because a film of Caesar (spelling in article needs correcting) is an example of time travel whatever he's wearing. Maybe if you had a photograph of Nicephore Niepce wearing jeans instead?
The Apprentice
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
Martin Harper Posted Oct 8, 2002
> "This is a bad example... because a film of Caesar [snip] is an example of time travel whatever he's wearing."
That's deliberate: It's a regressive anachronism on two counts. I'll try and make that clearer...
> "Both the Pyramids and Leonardo's helicopter are self-argued out of being anachronisms"
I'd prefer to think of it as balance. It could be argued that they are still anachronisms because (for eg) even with lots of labour you couldn't build a pyramid with the technology available, or that leonardo's sketch *looks* enough like a modern helicopter that it must have been prompted by a vision of the future. I'm not saying they are, I'm not saying they're not: I'm leaving the question open to researchers to make their own minds up.
> "anyone walking away from this article is none the wiser for who is making these postulations and those who oppose them"
I'll make a few minor fixes to explain that these kinds of groups are typically postulated by science fiction writers, but I'm not going to provide a comprehensive history of the idea, because that's a job for another entry.
--
The first two paras of the section on 'Time Travel' are kind of duplicating Time Travel - the Possibilities and Consequences (A398955). I don't think that's a bad thing - it's a very brief summary to allow people to read my and Ben's entry without reading the (several pages of) the other. If they want more detail, I link to the other entry, right there in the same para. I don't talk about the tippler effect except to mention its existence, and I don't talk about Fate at all.
By contrast, the other entry says this specifically about time travel and anachronism: "It has been suggested that time travel could not possibly exist as we are not surrounded by people from the future. This has been countered by saying that perhaps the time travel machines may only be able to go back to when they were first made, but this is a little vague, and doesn't seem nearly as much fun anyway". I do kind of duplicate this material, but I expand on it greatly.
That said, I do see where you're coming from, and I will try and make changes to more accurately dove-tail this entry with the other one.
** Ashley - if you would remove this from the editorial process, I'll make the changes at my leisure and resubmit to Peer Review in a weeks time. **
-Martin
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
Martin Harper Posted Oct 8, 2002
I could try and expand the other explanations a little bit too. There's not a huge amount to say about these ones, but a little more is not impossible.
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
The Apprentice Posted Oct 8, 2002
Thanks for taking my thoughts onboard. I think sometimes Scout enthusiasm carries entries much too fast through the Peer Review process. I wouldn't suggest a time limit... but it might be an idea to allow some short time of 'silence' to pass before Scouts assume there is nothing more to be said... otherwise entries simply end up in the 'Needs to be Updated' bin the first second they get posted to the front pages and, as we all know, the Update process is not a fast one (yet).
The Apprentice
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
Martin Harper Posted Oct 8, 2002
Personally, I think the solution is for there to be a one week delay before an entry being recc'd and it being passed to a sub-ed, to count as final 'polishing time'. That'd also make the subs' job easier, and reduce the load on italics when they have to take over the subbing, so it's all good.
-Martin
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
GTBacchus Posted Oct 9, 2002
On the topic of procedures, why not, after something is rec'd, it's only sent to a sub after the author (or whoever submitted it to PR in the case of an absent author) posts back that it's ready to go? No sense delaying entries for another week if it's not necessary.
GTB
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
Martin Harper Posted Oct 9, 2002
That would work too. Better even.
Another neat trick that occurred to me: what if it was assigned to a sub-ed straight away, so the sub-ed gets a chance to read it through, read around the subject, etc. However, the sub-ed's copy of the entry wouldn't be created till (a week) later.
Go post on feature suggs, GTB, and I'll wander over. You're a sub-ed, after all, so you might be more influential...
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
GTBacchus Posted Oct 9, 2002
I'll just do that.
"what if it was assigned to a sub-ed straight away, so the sub-ed gets a chance to read it through, read around the subject, etc."
Yeah, I think most subs would definitely take advantage of an extra week to "read around the subject"!
Sorry, being cynical. I've been off the laughing gas for weeks now, and the cracks are starting to show.
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
The Apprentice Posted Oct 9, 2002
I posted something in Editorial Feedback a couple of days back, too.
F47997?thread=215388
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
Martin Harper Posted Oct 11, 2002
Well, I'll let the sub-ed know this is ready then, unless anyone has any objections?
Key: Complain about this post
A792137 - Anachronisms and Time Travel
- 41: Ashley (Oct 8, 2002)
- 42: Martin Harper (Oct 8, 2002)
- 43: h2g2 auto-messages (Oct 8, 2002)
- 44: Martin Harper (Oct 8, 2002)
- 45: a girl called Ben (Oct 8, 2002)
- 46: Martin Harper (Oct 8, 2002)
- 47: The Apprentice (Oct 8, 2002)
- 48: The Apprentice (Oct 8, 2002)
- 49: Martin Harper (Oct 8, 2002)
- 50: Martin Harper (Oct 8, 2002)
- 51: The Apprentice (Oct 8, 2002)
- 52: Martin Harper (Oct 8, 2002)
- 53: Martin Harper (Oct 9, 2002)
- 54: GTBacchus (Oct 9, 2002)
- 55: Martin Harper (Oct 9, 2002)
- 56: GTBacchus (Oct 9, 2002)
- 57: GTBacchus (Oct 9, 2002)
- 58: The Apprentice (Oct 9, 2002)
- 59: Martin Harper (Oct 11, 2002)
- 60: a girl called Ben (Oct 11, 2002)
More Conversations for Anachronisms and Time Travel - Moved
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."