Yep, the mirror that Harold Whitney got from an odd old man really does let you see what
people will look like in the future—a situation that we’d normally mark as a mere time
phenomenon and tag as a simple kind of chronoscope. But the story also has a twist at the end
that makes me wonder whether the old man was also a time traveler.
— Michael Main
I have here a strange invention, a mirror that will let you see how anyone will look at
anytime in the future.
Chronoscopes: The mirror to the future is an example of a simple kind of chronoscope: still images (I think) with only limited control by the user.
Themes
Ex Nihilo Obects and People: Might the mirror be an ex-nihilo object, traveling back from five years in the future into the hands of Whitney, who then takes the mirror to the future and becomes the very man who brings it back to himself?
Self-Visitation: If the mirror is an ex-nihilo object, then the old man is Whitney himself.
I have here a strange invention, a mirror that will let you see how anyone will look at
anytime in the future.
1 English variant