Whether it was H.G. Wells sending a machine into the future or Michael J. Fox using a DeLorean to accomplish the same mission in 1985, we've all read or seen tales of time travel. Scientists at this very moment are attempting to send a tiny photon back in a millisecond of time. They are getting closer than you might think. It involves a tremendous amount of energy to accomplish such a feat, but, if it happens, think of the consequences. Traveling backward, even to a short amount of our past, means that we can go either direction.

Why? Because if someone or thing can go back to a moment that already existed, they are creatures from the future moving into a prior time. The future is therefore, already known. That means it now exists. There is no guesswork required. Let's make a supposition. If we can go back in time and review events of the period, even as an observer without being able to manipulate or change anything, we can bear witness to what has occurred. That also determines a fact that, for those we are observing, their future is already been decided.

Consider that you go back 10 years and see yourself. You are unable to alter the series of event that will take place, but you also know exactly what and when things will manifest themselves. Unfortunately you can't yell at yourself to avoid hitting that tree or betting on the wrong horse at the race track either. But you do have a virtual roadmap of what you will experience over the upcoming decade. So, do you have free will? If the future is already a known fact, how can it be changed? The truth is, it can't. You are destined to do whatever has been chosen for you. Does it seem that you are free to make choices? Of course it is. But, is that what is actually the case?

The point of this exercise is, does it really matter? You go about living as you always have, knowing that life is a series of choices that will determine your future. I once wrote a novel called, "The Palmer Effect," where I tell the tale of someone who lives in multiple worlds or dimensions, all caused by the various decisions the hero, Harry, makes. Based on who he married, the job he took, and where he chose to live, his life altered. But Harry continued on in each life and therefore created dozens, if not hundreds of other lives in other worlds.

Whether that is true or not, the world we live in is guided by events of our choosing and if that is considered free will, all the better. Would you want to know the future, if given that option? I doubt many would, especially if it included the exact day and time of your demise. I prefer to live as if I was living forever. And if the "myself of the future" could travel back and watch me, I would hope they could not contact me in any way and therefore let me decide my fate for myself, both good and bad. And for that matter, how do you know that someone from the year 2500, where time-travel is now common, is not observing you rat this very moment? Think about it when you have some time in the future.