Time-travel sci-fi came into existence in the late 1800s. Time-travel sci-fi is a type of
fictional creation whereby there is time travelling through mechanical mean. They often involve
either travelling to the past or the future. However, in most cases, it usually involved traveling to
the past. The core of these stories is always changing certain parts of history, which can take
place either accidentally or theoretically. Most of the time, they are always about how changes in
some of the things that took place in the past can be of influence to the presents. Sometimes they
can be about how having knowledge of the future can change the actions that an individual can
take in the present.
Despite the fact that these stories are fictional, they often come with some sort of social
commentary that enabled them to address social issues on a manner that can be said to be
metaphorical (Flagel 217). This is a way through which they can be able to be of more reflection
of some of the social issues that are common in the society. Time-travel sci-fi is a clear depiction
of the society’s shortcoming in decision making and their consequences.
Time-travel sci-fi stories are always about decisions, the resultant action, and their
consequences. In order to have a proper understanding of the relationship between time-travel
sci-fi and the failure of human decision making abilities it will be helpful to review the concept
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of the butterfly effect. The butterfly effect is a term that is commonly used with reference to the
notion that a small change in a situation can be of an unexpectedly high impact on a complex
issue. This can be translated to mean that anything people involve in, however how insignificant
it might seem can turn out to be on an irreversible impact to their entire lives.
Sometimes people live with the consequences of actions that were taken even before their
conception. However, given the fact that there is nothing they can do about things that happened
before their existence, there is nothing that they can do but live life as it has. However, Time-
travel sci-fi often give a fictional experience on a question that a majority of people have asked
myself: “what if the mistakes that I am facing the consequences for were never made?” One
thing about time-travel sci-fi is that the always involve traveling either to the future or the past
(Schneider 12). Whenever they involve going to the past it always involve changing the
occurrence of a given incident that had obvious impact to the issues faced in the current life. In
such cases, the people who are involved might have the idea of the impact of their actions or
might just be doing whatever they do out of ignorance.
In cases where there is traveling in the future, the stories are always about being aware
about the conditions in the future so as to make wise decisions currently. This is a reflection of
the awareness of the fact that anything that people involve in has consequences. Some of these
consequences, they might live to regret. Sometimes it is their offspring who live with the regrets
and with questions on why their forefathers had to do such a thing. However, some of the people
involved are always ignorant of the impacts that their actions might have in the future.
Sometimes it usually involves two parties: those who are aware of the consequences and those
whose contribution is as a result of ignorance.
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Generally, there are many decisions that people make on a daily basis that the never take
time to ask themselves if they can be able to be proud of such decisions in the future. As the
saying goes, “ignorance is no defense” a decision made has outcomes. Some of these outcomes
can be positive while others might be negative. Given the fact that people consuming Time-
travel sci-fi stories can be aware that whatever they are consuming is fiction, but the social
commentary impact is there for all to learn from. Some can learn to take great consideration of
the impact of their decisions in the future because they will not have a chance to amend their
decisions through time travelling because it is not something that is possible in reality.
It can be seen that just like any other genre, Time-travel sci-fi stories have some social
commentary that reflects some of the issues that people face on their daily. It might be fiction,
but there has been more than enough evidence to show the extent to which some of the themes in
these stories are a direct reflection of what people face in their daily lives. As seen herein, the
notion of consequences of decisions that are made by people are always seen in almost every
time-travel sci-fi story, the only difference being in the fact that these stories have the capability
of showing the manner in which these decisions might be of effect to the future through using
tine travelling.
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