Double Hockey Sticks

It knew everything. At least everything It knew it could know. It had known for a millions of years that it could reverse time, but once the process had begun it would continue all the way until the beginning. It had hoped that there would be another solution, but as the end drew nearer and nearer, it knew this would not be the case. Soon It would not have enough energy to reverse time. Then It would slowly lose it’s ability to think. Then It would die. And each atom would eventually disintegrate into radiation. And nothing would exist for eternity.

It wondered if this existence was worth living. It calculated the happiness and sadness of all beings from beginning to end, figuring that if the net value was positive the decision would be automatic. But It discovered, to it’s dismay, that there was far more sadness than happiness. It’s antecedents used to rationalize pain, suffering, and all else that is bad by saying that it was necessary for the existence of what is good. But it now seemed that the opposite was true. Happiness seemed to only exist in it’s most minimal quantities to juxtapose against sadness.

It hoped by reversing time the next generation would discover another way out. It worried that the next generation would not be a new generation at all but would simply be the same one doing the same things. This bothered It immensely, but it could not let itself die. It could not stand the idea of there being nothing forever. It figured it would delay the responsibility until next time.

That is how it came to be that It would find itself making the same decision every 100 trillion years. An eternal cycle of pain and suffering. It’s antecedents had a name for this.