Less than two minutes...?

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Mr Spaceman

New Member
Sep 1, 2017
1
10
Perth, Western Australia
First of all, thanks for having me.

I've had this question on my mind since I read this book last year and I'm surprised no one has brought it up before (or at least if it has, I haven't found any threads regarding it...)

My question: What would happen if you were to go through the rabbit hole for less than two minutes and then return? Would you still return two minutes after leaving? Could you 'skip time' by doing this repeatedly...?

Obviously any answer would by hypothetical, but I thought it would be a fun topic :)

Go!
Discuss!
 
Mar 12, 2010
6,538
29,004
Texas
I think you would return two minutes later because (according to Dr Who lol) you can't cross your own time paths. I also think the you who returns might be a copy of yourself who returns to a pocket world. If you go through the rabbit hole ten times, ten different copies of you would arrive in ten different pocket worlds :)

I havn't read 11/22/63 so my answer probably doesn't relate lol
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
...if you wanted to validate or dismiss your theory, I'd say you had to MUCH time on your hands!.....:biggrin2:

spaceman-afn-prints.jpg
....welcome!.....
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
First of all, thanks for having me.

I've had this question on my mind since I read this book last year and I'm surprised no one has brought it up before (or at least if it has, I haven't found any threads regarding it...)

My question: What would happen if you were to go through the rabbit hole for less than two minutes and then return? Would you still return two minutes after leaving? Could you 'skip time' by doing this repeatedly...?

Obviously any answer would by hypothetical, but I thought it would be a fun topic :)

Go!
Discuss!
It's been a while since I read the book but my impression was that no matter how much time you spent there, when you returned it was only two minutes later.

So whether you're there one minute or one year or even five years, it's still two minutes.

Anyway, it's just a fantasy book, dealing with time travel but it is one of my all time favourites.

Welcome to SKMB Mr Spaceman

11-22-63 Welcome.JPG
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Robert Gray

Well-Known Member
I have to agree with the other posters, i.e. that regardless of how long you spend on the other side, you return two minutes later. I think it is only natural to assume that when Al first found the rabbit hole he experimented with it. The question you asked is pretty natural. At the very least, we would have to assume that in his many, regular trips to get stock for his restaurant that he would forget something and turn around and go back out to get it (perhaps some period money). Naturally, if something other than the two minute rule applied, he would have learned it and passed it along. The fact that he does not and stresses that it is always two minutes makes me pretty confident once you are fully through the rabbit hole, two minutes will pass before you get back.

In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb and state why. The amount of time you spend on the other side is irrelevant, no matter how short or long. The two minutes has nothing to do with the time on the other side, it is the time it takes to cross the barrier, i.e. one minute to leave the time stream in the present and one minute to get back. Remember, the time on the other side (past or not) is still part of the time line. It can't count against or for the tabulation. It is the same time stream. The time spent in the past is neutral. That means the distortion, i.e. the lost time in the present is purely the product of the travel, i.e. how long it takes, regardless of how long it seems to take. Do you follow? While it may only seem a few seconds walking down the steps, once you are in between the past and present there is always the same, mathematical delay which adds up to the same amount of time every time. :) Anyway, that is my supposition.
 

wdb1124

The Ayatollah of Rock And Rollah
Sep 12, 2017
801
5,801
49
The last house on the left
I have to agree with the other posters, i.e. that regardless of how long you spend on the other side, you return two minutes later. I think it is only natural to assume that when Al first found the rabbit hole he experimented with it. The question you asked is pretty natural. At the very least, we would have to assume that in his many, regular trips to get stock for his restaurant that he would forget something and turn around and go back out to get it (perhaps some period money). Naturally, if something other than the two minute rule applied, he would have learned it and passed it along. The fact that he does not and stresses that it is always two minutes makes me pretty confident once you are fully through the rabbit hole, two minutes will pass before you get back.

In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb and state why. The amount of time you spend on the other side is irrelevant, no matter how short or long. The two minutes has nothing to do with the time on the other side, it is the time it takes to cross the barrier, i.e. one minute to leave the time stream in the present and one minute to get back. Remember, the time on the other side (past or not) is still part of the time line. It can't count against or for the tabulation. It is the same time stream. The time spent in the past is neutral. That means the distortion, i.e. the lost time in the present is purely the product of the travel, i.e. how long it takes, regardless of how long it seems to take. Do you follow? While it may only seem a few seconds walking down the steps, once you are in between the past and present there is always the same, mathematical delay which adds up to the same amount of time every time. :) Anyway, that is my supposition.

People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a nonlinear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey...stuff. ;-D
 

The Nameless

M-O-O-N - That spells Nameless
Jul 10, 2011
2,080
8,261
42
The Darkside of the Moon (England really)
I believe that yes, you would still come back 2 minutes later and if you wanted to pass 1 hour in your world, you simply go back and forth 30 times, but I think this would be just as destabilising to the world as changing the past.

I like the question, it causes me think about my second favourite book.