Gobala Krishnan, Hiro Nakamura & The Theory Of Time Travel

This post is inspired by Gobala Krishnan in 3 Things I Would Change With The Help Of Hiro Nakamura

I’ve always asked myself this question… what if I went back in time (about 3 years ago) and taught myself Internet marketing?

Perhaps today, I would have a humongous mailing list, my niche sites would be sitting on top of Google unchallenged and I would be making thousands from commissions each DAY.

Gobala expressed the same sentiments if he had a friend like Hiro Nakamura. Here is an excerpt of his blog post: (If you don’t know who Hiro is, he is a fictional character on the popular TV series - HEROES. A ‘nerdy’ Japanese programmer with the ability to bend time and space with his thoughts)

What if you could travel back in time? What would you do to change the past to positively effect the life you have today?

Unlike Hiro Nakamura who can just blink and be teleported to different timelines in history, most of us are stuck with what we have now and try to make the best of it. But what if Hiro Nakamura was real, he was your friend, and he’s asking you “I am Hiro. How do I save your world?”

Only 3 things Hiro, just tell the “past” me 3 things:

• Don’t Take That Loan - I would ask Hiro to talk to the earlier me (at age 18) to not accept any education loans, because they are nothing but a trap, and most of the “education” I got from taking a loan for RM70,000 was crap anyway.
• Don’t Drink That Beer - I would ask Hiro to ask the past me (at age 22) to stop drinking every single day. I would give the past me (fit and lean) a picture of me now and he would get the point.
• Don’t Bother with The Band - I would ask Hiro Nakamura to hit me on the head (at age 23) with my own electric guitar and tell me to stop trying to be a rock star. I would probably go into a coma for 3 years, but when I woke up I’m sure my band would still be playing the same 5 songs they did. It was a good experience, but this year I realized how much time I wasted by not following my own intuitions in the band.

Now of course you’d say “Never regret…”

But I bet if you were Hiro Nakamura or at least had him as a friend, you’ll be pretty tempted to change things a little bit.

After reading his blog post, my mind started wandering… so I thought back and envisioned other time traveling characters in popular cultures helping me to accomplish my goals.

Soon, I had a ‘conversation’ with Gobala over his blog and here’s what I said… (taking into the consideration what ‘might’ happen if time travel really worked)

“Hiro’s ‘version’ of time traveling will not be able to assist your motives as it fails to overcome the grandfather paradox.

“Example:

“If Hiro’s motive were to help you to fix a problem in the past, and supposed the problem got fixed, your future self wouldn’t need Hiro’s help thus creating a time paradox that would otherwise, render his initial intention non-existent.

“In other words… if he tried to get you to stop drinking, you would either:

(1) Show him the finger
(2) Feel guilty but will keep on drinking anyway
(3) Almost succeed in talking you out of drinking but became restricted by the forces of nature and he will be warped back to the present before he can succeed according to the principle of the predestination paradox (which explains why he couldn’t save his first girlfriend from getting her head cut open by Sylar)

“I wouldn’t choose Hiro to take me back in time… maybe someone else (so I started searching…)

Patricide & The Grandfather Paradox:

“Best known example - Professor Xavier and his son Legion in ‘Age of Apocalypse’ Legion goes back to kill Magneto to prevent Magneto from becoming all powerful. He tries to kill him but Xavier took his place resulting in Xavier’s death, thus erasing Legion from existence immediately.

“This wouldn’t work because if you somehow went back in time to change your past (stop drinking, living like a rock star and getting in debt), you would become an entirely different person with a new life/wife/home/career - and you will cease to exist because you’ve changed the past too drastically.

The Parallel Universe Theory:

“Best known example - Future Trunks from Dragon Ball where he tries to change the past preventing Goku’s heart attack thus creating a new parallel universe but it doesn’t affect Future Trunk’s world at all.

“In other words, you will save yourself from drinking, living like a rock star and getting in debt, but when you come back home, you will still be in the same state (while the new ‘Gobs’ might have a different future and maybe a different career/wife/problems existing alongside you in a parallel universe!)

The Self-consistency principle:

“Best known example - Doraemon and Nobita When ever Nobita or Doraemon tries to change the past, they realize that everything they’ve done doesn’t change the present/future in anyway because what they’ve done is part of history all along! They would bump into their past selves, get into trouble and would somehow fail in their mission.

(Another good example: Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in The Lake House)

“In your case, Hiro travels back in time to stop you from drinking everyday. He speaks to you and you might brush him off as an annoying stranger. Next, he tries to get your friends and family to advise you, but you won’t listen.

Then in the end, you will realize, “Hey, there were many people that CAME TO ME IN THE PAST who tried to remind me to stay fit…” So it was part of ‘history’ all along!

The Self-Healing Time Travel Principle

“Best Example: Nobita’s great, great grandson. Even though Nobita married another woman, his great, great grandson would somehow, still be born. It’s like - instead of driving to KL, you would wind up taking the train instead.

In your case, you can try and stop yourself from drinking, but along the way,

(1) New problems (as a result of changing the past) might arise and cause you to start drinking again
(2) Overeat because you have nothing to do after you stopped drinking
(3) Or you might simply neglect to exercise anyway

“So at the end of the day, your tummy will still be there, you might evade the education loan but spend the money in bad investments or even joined another lousy band - either way, your past will still find it’s way back to your present state.

Self-existing in a Parallel Universe (The BEST Solution):

“Best Example: Marty McFly from Back To The Future. Marty travels back in time, give his father George Mcfly the confidence he needs to change his life. Marty exists in a new future where his dad is rich, successful and tames his childhood enemy.

“Another good example is Frequency by Dennis Quaid and James Caviezel. He ’saves’ his dad from a fire accident and he suddenly exists with 2 sets of memories fused into his brain.

“Gobala, if you are successful, you will be richer, thinner, a better musician PLUS you will retain all your knowledge in Internet marketing, hence - turning your life into a super utopia.”

So if I were to choose the best ‘time machine’, I’d pick Doc Brown’s time traveling De Lorean to travel back in time and teach myself all about Internet marketing.

It sounded like a good idea, but all of a sudden, my mind was nagging me…

“You Shouldn’t Change The Past…”

I knew better.

As much as I’d like to travel back in time, we must never regret the mistakes in the past, because those mistakes are necessary for making us what we are today (trials forge character).

I realized that my life now is filled with joy and I wouldn’t change ANYTHING in the past because each element of the past was a HUGE stepping stone that got me to where I am today and contributed to every aspect of my success.

I looked back and somehow, I was glad that I’d:

• Failed some exams in college (if I did, I would still be stuck in my old job and didn’t step step out and try new things because I was ‘comfortable’)
• Broke up with my Ex-girlfriend (TODAY, I wouldn’t trade my wife for any other… besides, my ex-girlfriend is happily married with kids )
• Fell sick for 2 weeks straight (It gave me a paradigm shift to change my unhealthy lifestyle - today, I’m healthier than ever!)
• Lost a lot of money through trial and error in many MLMs (If I didn’t join any MLMs, I wouldn’t have learnt all about marketing in general. I was also a shy person and MLM helped me to build confidence)
• And one of the most important lessons: I lost money in E-gold, HYIP, Autosurf and Matrix games (Even though I lost money there and I’d advise people to keep away from it, somehow, I was really glad I got into those because they ‘opened my mind’ to the possibility of making money on the INTERNET… thus becoming the MOST IMPORTANT education in my life!)

I wouldn’t change ANY of these elements because they were so crucial to making me what I am today.

I abandoned my time travel pursuit and moved on.

But WAIT!

Time travel is STILL POSSIBLE! I’ve learned that there IS one way you can time travel…

Do you know what is that?

You’ve guessed it - by traveling into THE FUTURE!

You can use the LAW OF ATTRACTION to envision what you want in the future or SEE yourself being IN the future… rich, successful, happy… and you can make it come to pass if you attract enough of it and make it come into reality by taking action on the things you’ve attracted.

What we do with it today, will determine out future. We can change the PAST (right now), and have a better life today (in the FUTURE).

After all, the future will someday become the present and the present will always become the past. So if you want to change your destiny, make the changes TODAY and you will have a better life.

Cheers, Gobala (and Hiro)!