Trying to find a scifi book/short story I read about the furthest distant future ever

Question

It may be written in 2000, and set in distant future. It could have been on Earth. The bit I read was about an elevator time machine doorway. This was used routinely to travel back and forth in daily life. But a renegade wanted to go as far into the future it would allow. It seemed he was getting a tour, being unfamiliar with it. The two humans stepped in, stopping a few times and briefly having a look around, seeing recognizable things and other people. They continued and went so far that objects started losing their form and colour. There was discussion between the 2 characters that they were warned of this danger, that it may affect them or the time lines, by going so far into the future. Lastly, I recall the renegade getting off the elevator and being in awe in the formless future.

This might have been a short story.

Answer 1

I don't think that this is it, unless you have mis-remembered fairly heavily, but I'm putting it here if anyone else is searching for a work with similar concepts. The "elevator to travel through time" is used as part of Isaac Asimov's The End of Eternity (written in 1955), using the terms "upwhen" and "downwhen" for the travel. The main character does go further forward than most people, into the "Hidden Centuries", where there isn't anything around the transport mechanism, but I don't recall it being specifically formless.

The basic idea is that Eternals (those who run "Eternity") adjust the past in small ways to ensure that Eternity is founded the way their history says it was. They are also there to ensure the greatest good, or smallest harm to humanity for any given event or technological development.

The problem with this point of view is that by keeping safe, nothing of note is ever invented, since most major discoveries (at least in the reality of the story) involve harm to large numbers of people (whether immediately as a single event, or a low rate over a long time). Another group, similar to Eternals, but with a larger view of the future, is trying to destroy Eternity, because overall, this is better for humanity.