Short Story
The Gernsback Continuum
- by William Gibson
- in Universe 11, edited by Terry Carr (Doubleday, June 1981)
Think of it as a giant theme park, a series of elaborate props for playing at living in the future.
If it were time travel, as you say, you’d be here physically. This is merely a matter of data transfer: quantum tunneling is the technical term for it. I understand your confusion.