Benford notes that his 2009 story must have come from a childhood memory of Mack Reynolds’ nearly identical 1952 story, “The Business, As Usual.”
Yes, I learned that later. I must’ve read it as a kid (was 11 then).

I must look it up sometime. I knew Mack, too, visited him in Mexico in 1966. Odd how the mind works.

Variants

(1)
  1. “Caveat Time Traveller” by Mack Reynolds, in Nature, 2 April 2009.
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Mack Reynolds [uncredited] (based on a work by)
    Gregory Benford (retelling)