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Margaret Anna Alice's avatar

Haha, love the title :-)

Your thought experiment reminds me of the one I posed in “Letter to a Covidian: A Time-Travel Experiment” (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/letter-to-a-covidian-a-time-travel):

“I wish I could talk to your self from two years ago. If that self had been told the entire world could be brought to a halt and our freedoms suspended at the whim of its leaders for a phenomenon humans had been living with and adapting to in countless variations for millennia, you would think I was describing a dystopian fiction. I might still be able to reason with that self. Instead, this is likely a futile exercise in trying to awaken a hostage suffering from Stockholm Syndrome to the fiendish machinations of her captor.

“Think back to a couple of years ago—summer 2019, let’s say. What were you doing then? What was your life like? How did you feel about your past, present, and future? What did you care about? How did you spend your time? What were your core values? What would you think about how you think, feel, and behave today?

“That’s the person I want to talk to—not your present self. I’m sure your 2019 self would be fascinated to hear what your current self has to say—although I’d be willing to bet a few thousand inflationary dollars she wouldn’t recognize what you’ve become.”

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marty s's avatar

Like the direct message: stop playing the game! " 👏👏

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