# unravel the mystery **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056 "2010-08-30T22:58:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![T.Zone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d78d45/32.png) [@T.Zone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Zone)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/1 "2010-08-30T22:58:57Z")
When does the future, become the past? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/2 "2010-08-30T23:03:26Z")
When tomorrow is yesterday and today is tomorrow? Are you looking for some kind of factual answer, or is this just a riddle? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![qpw3141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6bbea6/32.png) [@qpw3141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qpw3141)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/3 "2010-08-30T23:07:44Z")
Now. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/4 "2010-08-30T23:13:29Z")
A famous science-fiction short story, **The Dead Past** , was based on this very question. Three people collaborate to build a device that can view the past. It turns out to be useless for periods longer than about a century ago, due to limitations of physics, but can be used to view the immediate past (one-hundredth of one second ago), making it effectively a omniscient spying machine. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/5 "2010-08-30T23:15:05Z")
> **[Retrofuturism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retro-futurism)** > > Retrofuturism (adjective retrofuturistic or retrofuture) is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipating what will come, retrofuturism is the remembering of that anticipation. Characterized by a blend of old-fashioned "retro styles" with futuristic technology, retrofuturism explores the themes of tension between past and future, and between the alienating and empowe Th... ---
**Author:** ![Genericuser234](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5daacb/32.png) [@Genericuser234](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genericuser234)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/6 "2010-08-30T23:15:23Z")
> [@qpw3141](#): > > Now. No, that happened 8 minutes ago! ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/7 "2010-08-31T00:06:04Z")
Spaceballs has covered this… **Colonel Sandurz:** Now. You’re looking at now, sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now. **Dark Helmet:** What happened to then? **Colonel Sandurz:** We passed then. **Dark Helmet** : When? **Colonel Sandurz:** Just now. We’re at now now. **Dark Helmet:** Go back to then. **Colonel Sandurz** : When? **Dark Helmet:** Now. **Colonel Sandurz:** Now? **Dark Helmet:** Now. **Colonel Sandurz** : I can’t. **Dark Helmet:** Why? **Colonel Sandurz** : We missed it. **Dark Helmet:** When? **Colonel Sandurz:** Just now. **Dark Helmet:** When will then be now? **Colonel Sandurz:** Soon. **Dark Helmet:** How soon? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/8 "2010-08-31T00:14:11Z")
> [@JCorre](#): > > **Dark Helmet:** When will then be now? > **Colonel Sandurz:** Soon. > **Dark Helmet:** How soon? “Dark Helmet” would be a good Band Name for a group covering The Smiths, come to think of it. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/9 "2010-08-31T03:11:45Z")
Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now… ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/10 "2010-08-31T03:22:16Z")
Or, a second ago. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/11 "2010-08-31T03:26:13Z")
You’re older than you’ve ever been. And now you’re even older. And now, you’re older still. – TMBG. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/12 "2010-08-31T03:42:15Z")
> [@T.Zone](#): > > When does the future, become the past? Never. The future is always the future, the past is always the past. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/13 "2010-08-31T04:35:24Z")
When we can make accurate predictions about the future. So far, the future hasn’t become the past. At best the future is a reasonable facsimile of what will eventually be the past. Usually it is just a story contained in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/14 "2010-08-31T14:06:37Z")
3:42 pm, every alternate Thursday, except for Thanksgiving. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/15 "2010-08-31T15:47:05Z")
Never. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/16 "2010-08-31T15:50:29Z")
The future does not exist, except as a concept. The past is observable only through media, which is subjective, and therefore also does not exist. There is only the now. ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/17 "2010-08-31T15:56:48Z")
You are always viewing the past, always. By the time the perception arrives at mid brain, it is all over but the shouting. Many, many nano-seconds will have passed. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/18 "2010-08-31T16:06:50Z")
Right as you realized that the exit you are passing is the one you were supposed to take. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/19 "2010-08-31T16:08:29Z")
> [@bardos](#): > > You are always viewing the past, always. By the time the perception arrives at mid brain, it is all over but the shouting. Many, many nano-seconds will have passed. Which means of course that, not only can’t we predict the future-we can’t even predict the _present_. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056/20 "2010-08-31T17:09:55Z")
You can, but you have to shake the box. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unravel-the-mystery/552056.md?page=2)