The Circle of Zero
- by Stanley G. Weinbaum
- Short Story
- Adults
- Debatable Time Travel
- English
- “The Circle of Zero” by Stanley G. Weinbaum, Thrilling Wonder Stories, August 1936.
In Professor Aurora de Néant’s odd logic, everything that’s occurring now has already happened many times before in the endless eternity of the past. So, if you want to know the future, all you need to do is call up your memories of the past. A crazy idea, perhaps, but shortly after the crash of ’29, de Néant, his daughter Yvonne, and his former student Jack Anders have nothing to lose in trying to predict their future.
—Michael Main
In eternity, the Law of Chance functions perfectly. In eternity, sooner or later, every possible combinaton of things and events must happen. Must happen, if it’s a possible combination. I say, therefore, that in eterminty, whatever can happen will happen!
Tags
(9)
- Time Periods
- Circa AD 1900 to 1929: home time of the story: 1929
- Timeline Models
- Time Travel Methods
- Themes
- Get Rich Quick through Time Travel: They hope to “remember” enough of the future to make back all their lost money in the stock market.
- Travels into Yourself: not exactly yourself, but past versions of your future self
- Real-World Tags
- Fictional Tags
- Mad Scientists: “They think I’m mad. You think I’m mad; even Yvonne thinks so.”
- Groupings
Variants
(1)
- “The Circle of Zero” by Stanley G. Weinbaum, Thrilling Wonder Stories, August 1936.
Indexer Notes
(1)
- Classification—We classify noninteractive travels into the past as debatable time travel.