What if time travel is possible, but only between functional time machines? Like, a single telephone is useless without another telephone to receive the call. Once the first is built, that’s the earliest point in time to which travel is possible. Of course, as soon as the first machine is switched on, someone will immediately arrive from the future with the plans and materials for the BEST time machine that will ever be invented, every technological advance that will ever be made is instantly available to everyone, and the idea of “progress” collapses into meaninglessness. Nobody will particularly WANT to time travel recreationally, since every era is the same.
What if time travel is possible, but only between functional time machines? Like, a single telephone is useless without another telephone to receive the call. Once the first is built, that’s the earliest point in time to which travel is possible. Of course, as soon as the first machine is switched on, someone will immediately arrive from the future with the plans and materials for the BEST time machine that will ever be invented, every technological advance that will ever be made is instantly available to everyone, and the idea of “progress” collapses into meaninglessness. Nobody will particularly WANT to time travel recreationally, since every era is the same.