Issue 13
Time Travel: A Return Investment
By Julie Haire
Time Travel. That was the name of the transaction as it appeared on my credit card statement. For $10.00, I had invested in the Time Travel Fund, joining thousands of other people who hope to be retrieved just moments before their death by time travelers from the future. Supporters say the Time Travel Fund is not unlike cryogenically freezing yourself after death in hopes that science will one day be able to revive you. The only difference, they say, is that The Time Travel Fund costs just 10 bucks. In approximately 500 years, compound interest will grow that small amount to trillions of dollars ($1.00 at 5% interest over 500 years equals $39,323,261,827.22.)
The founder and president of the Time Travel Fund, Wayne Quigley claims it includes members from over 60 countries and “several famous science-fiction authors, including one Hugo award winner, at least two U.S. senators, one state governor, and a fair number of celebrities, including one who has won at least one Academy Award.”
Quigley continues: “People are drawn to the fund for many different reasons. Some want to live on other planets and the future is the only way that could ever happen. While others have health conditions they hope can be cured in the future. Some have signed up deceased relatives in the hope they may see them again.”
“If it were a scam we would be asking for a lot more than 10 bucks,” reads a paragraph on the Fund’s website—which includes links to The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy along with a documentary about time travel by NOVA and an article by Carl Sagan. “Ten bucks is enough to put you into the fund, print and mail your certificate, and cover our costs of maintaining the database and website. We don’t expect to get rich off this for at least 500 years.”
www.timetravelfund.com