Time Machine Question

Which Machine Would You Choose

  • Go back in time and return to the present

  • Go forward in time and return to the present


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MA-Caver

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Just for the hell of it this question popped up in my head (watching some sci-fi movie) ...

If you had a time machine which would you prefer?

A: The ability to go back to any point in time in the past and return to the present or the time that you left?

B: The ability to go forward to any point in time in the future and return to the time that you left?

There is no C: both. You could only do one or the other... why?
 

Drac

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I'd go back.. There are a few things I'd do different..
 

tshadowchaser

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Providing all we can do is observe and not change any thing I would like to go back in time. Observing some of the events in history ( the building of the pyramids, the crucifixion, etc.) might give a better understanding of the world today.
If I went ahead in time it would be to find out the lottery numbers
 
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MA-Caver

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Providing all we can do is observe and not change any thing I would like to go back in time. Observing some of the events in history ( the building of the pyramids, the crucifixion, etc.) might give a better understanding of the world today.
If I went ahead in time it would be to find out the lottery numbers
Going back in time would definitely provide understanding as the old quotation of failing to remember history is to repeat it, but it would only be our individual understanding... unless you could record the history as it happened (via video camera) and bring it back for study. But even then you'd have to be careful so to not be observed while doing so, else you might end up as a BBQ. But go back far enough say to the pyramids and they'd probably think you as a God.

Going ahead in time would be educational but potentially dangerous because you see things that will be; terrorist attack or nuclear war or whatever and try to forewarn and be changing that, or prevent the death of a friend who is destined to die.
But definitely getting Lottery numbers is the way to go... I had the same thought :lol:
 

elder999

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I'd like to see if the Myan Prophecy is true.

Don't worry-you will! :lol:

I'd go into the future, take notes, and come back and make ome investments-as well as bet on the lottery a few times. It'd be nice to look around, but I'd probably be content to spend a few days in the library, looking back over the last few years (our "future"). 'Course, you don't really say how far forward or back one can go, so I'd have to go with 10 years-though one would be enough.

Which brings up another head bender-what would the temptation be after 10 years had passed to go and have a chat with my past self at the library? Might it in fact happen the "first" time I made the trip, since I'e already had the idea? :lol:

If I didn't get met by that future me, would that mean I'd died in the interval?

A trip to the past would be nice, but it would just be sightseeing-there's no value added except for the expansion of knowledge-and you couldn't prove anything new or thought-provoking that you discovered first hand. The highest margin for profit is in going to the future, and I'm a greedy bastard!:lol:
 
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kwaichang

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Don't worry-you will! :lol:
Which brings up another head bender-what would the temptation be after 10 years had passed to go and have a chat with my past self at the library? Might it in fact happen the "first" time I made the trip, since I'e already had the idea? :lol:
.
Well I've alwarys felt that going either way you have a problem meeting yourself. With most writings involving time travel this is nearly always avoided at all costs because of the major effects it has on the Space Time Continuum.
 
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MA-Caver

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A trip to the past would be nice, but it would just be sightseeing-there's no value added except for the expansion of knowledge-and you couldn't prove anything new or thought-provoking that you discovered first hand.
Sure you can, find out once and for all who killed Kennedy and Hoffa and all of that... Heh and go to Roswell and SEE the UFO crash take pictures and then see if the government can deny it all... bwah ha ha ha ha haaaa
But I'd definitely would go back to Washington and watch the MLK "I have a dream" speech, just to be there, along with other pivotal moments in U.S. history as well as other significant points in time around the world.
 
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elder999

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Sure you can, find out once and for all who killed Kennedy and Hoffa and all of that... Heh and go to Roswell and SEE the UFO crash

Or even watch them building the pyramids, or take photos of the crucifixion, but could ya eat it? :lol:

(There was no UFO crash at Roswell-it was a weather balloon ....:lol: )
 

Rich Parsons

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Just for the hell of it this question popped up in my head (watching some sci-fi movie) ...

If you had a time machine which would you prefer?

A: The ability to go back to any point in time in the past and return to the present or the time that you left?

B: The ability to go forward to any point in time in the future and return to the time that you left?

There is no C: both. You could only do one or the other... why?

From "testify by Rage against the Machine:
Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now controls the past
Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now?
With time travel to the past and then back to present or point of leaving allows one to control the future as it becomes the present or past.
 

Bob Hubbard

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Toss up for me, but I'd go forward.
I want to see when MT buys up AOL, ya know. ;)
 

Bob Hubbard

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Hopefully sometime soon but pray that it's not the other way around.

I dunno. :D

The way they've been going...would you want it?

Depends on if I can send out MT signup cd's to the world :D



I dunno, I do like the idea of time travel though. Read a story once where someone kept traveling back in time, killing famous people, their parents, etc, but only managed to erase themselves from the time-stream. Otherwise, time was unchanged.

Course, going back and seeing history as it happens, famous battles, crimes, mysteries, etc. The historian in me would love it.
 
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MA-Caver

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I dunno. :D



Depends on if I can send out MT signup cd's to the world :D



I dunno, I do like the idea of time travel though. Read a story once where someone kept traveling back in time, killing famous people, their parents, etc, but only managed to erase themselves from the time-stream. Otherwise, time was unchanged.

Course, going back and seeing history as it happens, famous battles, crimes, mysteries, etc. The historian in me would love it.
Well I know you'd love to visit the battlefields of Gettysburg, Antieam, Shiloh, Fredricksburg and so on as they happen ... but might want to think about bringing wearing full body kevlar armor so you be able to come back. Though of course... you'd be making yourself a rather conspicuous target at that...
Make sure your time machine doesn't get blasted by an errant scatterball.
 

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