[Guest]

I've got a brilliant business plan. It's failsafe and bound to make me huge amounts of money.

Step 1) Build a time machine. This is definitely the hard part, but I've already done it. I've outlined how to go about this in another topic but here's how I did it.:

You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to get a time machine to work properly. Very complicated engineering involved. At one point, I gave up on the whole project. When I finally did get the time machine working, I travelled back in time to when I'd given up on the whole project and handed the final blueprints to my earlier self. Not only did that get me over a tough patch, it even saved me the bother of preparing the blueprints (though naturally they did get a bit dog-eared due to being used infinitely many times)

Step 2) Use the time machine to make lots of money! But how? I thought about going back to the 80s and buying shares in Microsoft, but you never know if you might change the course of history and return to the present to find everyone using Apple Macs. So maybe I should go into manufacturing. What does everyone want? A time machine! Only trouble is, I can't remember how I built it. I was only following the blueprints and I don't seem to have them any more.

Still, I'm going into mass production nonetheless. Last week, on Monday I locked the time machine in a warehouse. I took Tuesday off. On Wednesday I used my time machine to go back in time to Tuesday, where I found the past version of the time machine sitting in the warehouse where I had left it. I sent this time machine forward in time to Thursday, then travelled in my own time machine to join it on Thursday. I then had two time machines. I took Friday off. On Saturday I used one of my time machines to travel back to Friday, to find the two I had left in the warehouse that day. I sent those forward to Sunday, then travelled in my own machine to Sunday to join them. There were three machines waiting there (the two sent from Friday plus the one I left sitting there on Saturday), plus the one I travelled in makes four. I took Monday off. Today is Tuesday. Later today I'll use one of my time machines to travel back to yesterday (leaving three sitting in the warehouse) and send all four of the machines that were in my warehouse yesterday forward to Wednesday, to join the other three. When I travel forward to Wednesday I should then have eight time machines. By next Saturday I should have 16, and 32 the following Tuesday. In three weeks I should have 512 machines, and in six weeks 65,536.

So you see, I've got the mass production set up. I just need a little investment to get the distribution underway. Anyone want to send me a cheque?

[Guest]

On consideration I'm wondering if my plan might be a little too ambitious. Having filched the time machine out of the warehouse last Tuesday, there would be no time machine there for me to use on Wednesday. I wasn't worrying about that too much 'cos if there was no time machine for me to use on Wednesday I wouldn't be able to go back and pilfer it on Tuesday, so it wouldn't have been purloined and therefore would have to be there. Clearly the time machine was there on Wednesday, but I'm wondering if maybe I've been playing it too fast and loose with the logic and I might be risking a rift in the space-time continuum, which would mean no chance to spend all that money. Better not bite the hand that feeds me. OK, how's this for a plan:

By tomorrow I should have eight time machines lined up. So I'll send one back in time to last Wednesday morning so it'll be there for me to use later that day. That still leaves seven, and by next Saturday I'll have 14. So I'll send 2 back to the previous Saturday morning so I have the requisite two machines that were there that day. Carrying on like that we won't be missing any time machines and should thus avoid any paradoxes. It slows down the rate of production a bit, but I'll still be increasing stock at a healthy rate. Next Wednesday: 7. Saturday: 12. Tuesday: 20. Friday: 33. Monday: 54. Thursday: 88. Sunday: 143. Wednesday: 232. And so on.

Problem solved !

[unreality]

Go back to a bank that you know is still around today and existed in the 1800's, bringing a few hundred dollars with you (a lot for the 1800's). Invest it for the next 150-200 or so years when you travel back to your own time (though make sure to go right before the Great Depression and withdraw, go forward 10 or so years, and reinvest it) Even if the interest rate is small, you will have a HUGE amount waiting for you when you return. And if, for some reason, it's not, due to your meddlings, then no biggie. Try again