Why the past isn't mutable
Several science fiction writers, including David Gerrold, Larry Niven,
and John Brunner, have written stories pointing out that any world which
allows Time Travel to change the past will keep on changing (there is just
TOO MUCH future) until it reaches a state where the past can't be changed!
That's why I believe that the Time Travelers in Glorantha (as in my Outer Atomic
Explorers story) can only work in areas of their ignorance. They can be
part of history, but they can't change it. I think even in Godtime, that
the "changes" that heroquesting bring are in the nature of reinterpretations,
rather than actual changes. Reintepretation can be pretty massive, after
all - I can think I saw you kill someone, but it may turn out that it was
an illusion, or that you didn't really kill them, or that you killed their
twin, etc., etc!
Poul Anderson's novel, There Will Be Time, shows how time travelers who
can't change what is known can turn an apparent victory for the "bad guys"
into a real victory for the "good guys." I think that is the point of a lot
of Heroquesting.
In fact, then, an "immutable" world turns out to be pretty mutable after all!
Jim Chapin
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