Time travel is impossible

In which I explain the name and aim of this newsletter

Hello!

Welcome to the first post for Tachyon. I'm really grateful to everyone who has subscribed. Thank you for joining me.

The aim of this newsletter is to explore what works in the realms of technology, learning and productivity from an individual perspective. The current plan is a mix of reporting on experiments I've done and essays on the main themes.

This substack is named after a hypothetical particle whose special property is that it always travels faster than light.¹ This would give it all kinds of interesting attributes, but the one that I'm drawn to is that it would be able to travel through time. This is also what makes some people think it cannot exist, because time travel is impossible. I'm not going to pretend I understand all the complex theory behind that statement (have fun on that wikipedia page). But I can point you to the anecdotal evidence that apparently nobody from the future came to Stephen Hawking's birthday party in 2009, or (that we know of) showed up to an epic party for time travellers in the 80s. We can also learn from Star Trek that time travel can really mess with the timelines and cause all kinds of subtle variations in Starfleet uniforms. But on the other hand, this particle might well exist, we just haven't been able to prove it either way yet.

This makes it a great figurehead for this newsletter. Not only is it suitably scifi, my favourite genre, but it also gives me some creative license in how I explore the themes of this newsletter. To fulfil the mission of exploring what works in technology for learning and productivity, we'll need to do a bit of time travel. This means not only critically evaluating and reflecting on uses of technology in the present, but also looking back for context and looking forward for inspiration. The historical long view gives us the benefit of the experience and wisdom of those who have seen it all before. This is especially important for maintaining a healthy scepticism in the face of all the hype around the latest in technology. That being said, we also need to be able to look forward in time and imagine futures where we have either achieved a utopia of learning and productivity or are trapped in a dystopia of corporate capture and disempowerment. So this newsletter will draw inspiration from science fiction and other speculations of how we might work or learn in the future.

But the true reason time travel is impossible is that we can only really be in the present. Lessons from the past and visions of the future can only take us so far. There are now more possibilities than ever for taking advantage of technology for learning and productivity. The internet is packed with advice and products claiming to help us learn and work smarter. There are some really exciting and interesting possibilities... and there is a lot of persuasive influencer marketing, hype, and websites prominently displaying their social proof in a parade of logos and quotes from users. But just like a tachyon particle, many of these are only really hypothetical possibilities. How well does the promise hold up to reality? This is why the main activity of this newsletter will be finding what I think are the most interesting ideas and tools and putting them to the test.

This brings me to the above-mentioned individual perspective from which I'll be writing. I work in higher education, specialising in the use of technology in teaching and learning. In that context, it's important to think at scale, and about meeting the needs of the institution, its staff and all the students it serves. I love my job and enjoy working at that level, but in this newsletter, I want to come at technology and learning from a different angle. Why? Well, there are a few different reasons for this.

Firstly, a personal perspective gives me license to follow my interests and curiosity more than I might in my professional context. So I’ll be posting about my experiments in language learning, writing, and flute among others.

Secondly, I want to explore the domain of personal productivity alongside learning, because learning and productivity are so closely entwined. One of the main reasons we learn is to then be able to produce something of value. That is, value in the broadest sense. This is just as true for our work as for our hobbies.

The third and final reason I want to approach it from this personal angle might seem counterintuitive at first, because it relates back to the big picture. Each of us are engaged constantly with all kinds of large systems - at work, in education, in society. Sometimes these systems work for us as individuals, and sometimes against us. The ability to effectively leverage technology to enhance our personal productivity and learning can increase our chance of being successful in spite of ineffective systems, and to help design systems that work better.

Now, because I work in higher education, I also love a good framework. This means I'll be bringing an evidence-informed lens to how I evaluate whether a use of technology is effective for learning and productivity. I’ll try to relate my experiences to broader thinking and literature where possible. More on this in future posts.

I hope this newsletter will not only be of interest to those like me who work in education, but anyone who wants to know what actually works and what they can use to move the needle in areas they are passionate about. I will be following threads that I personally find most intriguing, but I think there's a good chance that my various experiments might help you decide what is worth trying out in your own spheres of interest.

If that all sounds like too much hard work, there's probably still time to make it to that party in 1982. Just don't be surprised if you show up in a parallel universe, or get stuck in a time loop!

LaForge gives a powerpoint presentation that feel like it's going on forever...

Speaking of time loops, I'll be aiming for a monthly posting schedule. I've got a lot of ideas for next year, both AI related and not AI related, that I'm excited to share.

I'll be back before Christmas with my next post. I'll be looking over the past year since the release of ChatGPT, to chart how we tried to get to grips with what generative AI might mean for learning and productivity.

See you then!

Antony Tibbs

1. I first came across the word 'tachyon' in a sci-fi themed 4X strategy game called Alpha Centauri that I used to play a lot when I was younger. The game is an absolute classic.