¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ

Letter: Sending a message to our past selves (2)

Published 27 May 2026

From James Squire, Cullompton, Devon, UK

The article on the theoretical possibility of sending messages back in time via quantum entanglement made me wonder if it might be time to try again with Stephen Hawking’s secret time traveller party, but this time at a quantum scale?

The reason why we haven’t seen messages from the future might be that we haven’t noticed them, just like if we sent mobile phone texts back to Victorian Cambridge! Perhaps we don’t need to figure out the exact mechanism, just create a simple miniature alphabet or code that we can easily monitor with a quantum computer? It’s then up to the future to do the hard work. I can imagine, though, that if successful, it would be very dangerous for geopolitics, so perhaps we should just stick to the long route to the future!

Issue no. 3597 published 30 May 2026

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ events and special offers.

Sign up
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop