[Question] If you could be magically transported to one place and time, when, where, and why?

[Bowielee]

Just like the title says, if you could visit any time or place in history, where and when would it be, and why would you want to go there.

For me, it would be London in the early 70's during the birth of the Glam Rock era. To see the emergence of David Bowie, T-Rex, Lou Reed, etc... would be the most amazing thing ever.

I've always loved that era of music.

 

[Mathias]

The late 70's, so I could make some phat loots in the 80's knowing what I know about that era's stock market.

And I'm going to cut off anyone who says something stupid like "I want to be a knight in medieval England, or a Samurai in feudal Japan. STOP. RIGHT. THERE. You'd be murdered, gang raped, and robbed (in that order) the second you arrived.

 

[@Li3n]

And I'm going to cut off anyone who says something stupid like "I want to be a knight in medieval England, or a Samurai in feudal Japan. STOP. RIGHT. THERE. You'd be murdered, gang raped, and robbed (in that order) the second you arrived.

Nah, you'd be totally safe because no one would want to even be near you because of the explosive and deadly diahreea you'd get the first time you drink the water....

 

[sixpackshaker]

The good old days were terrible. That is why I fear the GOP most of the time, they have no sense of real history. It is like they want to turn the dial back to 1890's. Without realizing just how brutal America was for the 99% back then.

 

[TommiR]

Late 18th-early 19th century England, during the early stages of the industrial revolution. I'd read up on various related inventions before I went, and then use my advanced technological knowledge to build up a vast business empire.

 

[bhamv3]

Questions: Can I travel to the future, and regardless if we go forward or backward in time, do we get to come back?

I think I'd be more interested in seeing the future. Though I have a bit of a pessimistic view of how the world is going to turn out, so I'd be mainly interested in seeing if it really does turn out like Fallout.

As for traveling into the past, I want to travel to, say, the junction between two Chinese dynasties, just when the old emperor is about to be killed by the rebel leader, who's going to be the new emperor. I'd kill the new emperor (if I could do this by telefragging him as I warp into the past, all the more convenient) and take his place.

And yes, I am mainly interested in being an emperor for the harem. Though having my name go down in history as the founder of a dynasty is also nice.

 

[Espy]

The late 70's, so I could make some phat loots in the 80's knowing what I know about that era's stock market.
And I'm going to cut off anyone who says something stupid like "I want to be a knight in medieval England, or a Samurai in feudal Japan. STOP. RIGHT. THERE. You'd be murdered, gang raped, and robbed (in that order) the second you arrived.

Did you seriously just tell people to make their silly time travel fantasy "realistic"?

I'm with bhamv, I'd probably go to the future if I could go forward. I'd love to see what things are like in 50 years or even 300 years although I'm a little terrified of what might await me.

 

[SeraRelm]

Kill Hitl-

I'd probably do something practical and safe like... go back a day with the lottery numbers for today. My desire to see the future is tempered by my fear of humanities tendencies to outstrip wisdom with knowledge in terms of technology. As for the past, too much danger in altering the present in such a way that I might not exist. One day would be safe enough, I think.

 

[Bowielee]

OK, to define it a little more. No going forward in time, only backward.

You can come back. It's more a day trip than a one way ticket.

Also, you can't do anything that would change the future, such as beat up a young Steve Jobs and found apple yourself.

(I do find it fascinating that the majority reaction is to do something for monetary gain)

 

[phil]

I'd dress up like a pulp Sci fi spaceman, pop up in some live broadcast like the Nixon/JFK debate and yell something about my temporal flux capacitor not working before vanishing.

 

[GasBandit]

Where I'd go, and what I'd do, depends largely on two factors... if I'm allowed to change the course of events, and if I can bring equipment with me.

And I don't mean that in a "ha ha I'm being evil" kind of way.

 

[BananaHands]

I'd go back in time three years from now. Hand myself a random item. Tell myself "When the time comes... you'll know what to do with this."

I'll dwell on it for three years, until I come up to the point where I can travel back in time and I'll get that it was a goof. I'll laugh... Then I'll go back and do it again.

 

[GasBandit]

Also, you can't do anything that would change the future, such as beat up a young Steve Jobs and found apple yourself.

(I do find it fascinating that the majority reaction is to do something for monetary gain)

Oh, well, that firms that up. Basically we're only going back to "experience" something first hand without effecting change. Well, in that case I can't make up my mind because there's a lot of things I'd like to have seen first hand - famous battles, the moment of discovery for important concepts/inventions... but to be a spectator in time travel makes the whole thing kind of fall flat to me.

 

[Sara_2814]

DINOSAURS!

I would love to go see dinosaurs and learn all those mysterious things about them: what colors they were, what vocalizations they made, what behaviors they had, etc. Any time in the Jurassic or Cretaceous periods, I'm not too picky.

Yeah, yeah, I know. They'll probably eat me. But considering all the lame ways you can die, "Eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex" would make a pretty awesome obituary!

 

[strawman]

I do find it fascinating that the majority reaction is to do something for monetary gain

What are some other interesting ideas?

For primary motivators that make us want something we'll visit Mr. maslow:
- Physiological
- Safety
- Love/belonging
- Esteem
- Self-actualization

In our time, a lot of the above can be fulfilled with excess money. Once you have the money you can decide how to fulfill your various other needs.

But if you go back in time and, for instance, try to gain the respect of others, find your ideal mate, learn what really happened that the historians glossed over, you can't necessaily fulfill your other needs.

To a degree, money is the "stem cell" of our society - it can be turned into anything. So it makes sense to essentially "wish for more wishes."

I think your rule about not changing the future precludes that, though. At that point, you might as well say that you have a quantum telescope that allows you to view any point in history - because any participation would alter the past/future.

But that's not nearly as much fun as wishing for more wishes.

 

[Allen who is Quiet]

What are some other interesting ideas?

For primary motivators that make us want something we'll visit Mr. maslow:
- Physiological
- Safety
- Love/belonging
- Esteem
- Self-actualization

In our time, a lot of the above can be fulfilled with excess money. Once you have the money you can decide how to fulfill your various other needs.

But if you go back in time and, for instance, try to gain the respect of others, find your ideal mate, learn what really happened that the historians glossed over, you can't necessaily fulfill your other needs.

To a degree, money is the "stem cell" of our society - it can be turned into anything. So it makes sense to essentially "wish for more wishes."

I think your rule about not changing the future precludes that, though. At that point, you might as well say that you have a quantum telescope that allows you to view any point in history - because any participation would alter the past/future.

But that's not nearly as much fun as wishing for more wishes.

Stienman, in this case, the answer is to wish for more genies.

I'd go back in time to the point where I could go back in time without any restriction on changing the past.

 

[Shegokigo]

Can't change anything in the past? So basically a trip back in time for a "viewing"? It would also depend much on how openly I'd get to view it, due to Mathias being right, just bein near a fray like that would likely end in bodily harm. Could I view it as a spectral anomoly? I would just love to sit and watch, travel from place to place where it's happening and enjoy it in the moment.

The Crusades then, or the Mongol invasion wars or Hitler's genocidal years. Pretty much any time in history where massive numbers of people were brutally murdered in horrific ways appeals to me. I would just love to sit there and take in the sights, sounds, smells, tastes of it all.

This would be an entirely different paragraph of responses if we could affect the past.

 

[makare]

Id love to see Ancient Rome. Probably not the actually city of Rome but one of the smaller cities

DINOSAURS!

I would love to go see dinosaurs and learn all those mysterious things about them: what colors they were, what vocalizations they made, what behaviors they had, etc. Any time in the Jurassic or Cretaceous periods, I'm not too picky.

Yeah, yeah, I know. They'll probably eat me. But considering all the lame ways you can die, "Eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex" would make a pretty awesome obituary!

Just don't step on any insects....

 

[Sara_2814]

Just don't step on any insects....

I'm not worried, they squish easily.

 

[DarkAudit]

Can I get an extended stay? I'd choose March-October 1951 in NYC. Epic baseball season of all epic baseball seasons. I'd spend my afternoons and evenings at Ebbets Field, Polo Grounds, or Yankee Stadium. And when there'sno baseball, I'd be catching hockey or basketball in the old MSG.

Single day? November 22, 1963. doesn't have to be in Dealey Plaza itself, just somewhere to take in all the media coverage as it happened.

 

[Gared]

Either post-WWII America, the rise of the suburbs, as a vast majority of Americans were buying their first cars and homes, the birth time of the bikini, the surfing movie, the reign of Frankie and Annette. Or, alternately, the day from that oh-so-famous picture of Times Square when V-Day was announced of the sailor kissing the nurse.

 

[Frank]

Despite Math's insistence on my immediate death, I would like to fantasy go back to the time when the Normans conquered England about 1000 years ago. That's where my family's name originated when were part of the conquering horde.

 

[Officer_Charon]

Tun Tavern, 1775

Lexington, 1775

Antietam Creek/Sharpsburg, 1862

Ypres, 1915

Belleau Wood 1918

Tarawa, 1944

Omaha Beach, 1944

Iwo Jima 1945

Chosin Reservoir, 1950-51

 

[Mathias]

I don't see why everyone's getting all butthurt. Fact is, humankind is a bunch of candyasses compared to what our ancestors used to endure. You're pretty much the products of a 90% birth mortality rate until like the 1960's.

Honestly guys, say you travel back to 1776 to witness the signing of the Deceleration of Independence. Would you even know where to take a shit or how to wipe your ass without toilet paper? People from this time couldn't make it in any other more distant era, nor could those people survive in modern times.

 

[Espy]

This is why we can't have fun around here. No one considers that all that fun leads to death.

 

[Mathias]

Did you seriously just tell people to make their silly time travel fantasy "realistic"?
I'm with bhamv, I'd probably go to the future if I could go forward. I'd love to see what things are like in 50 years or even 300 years although I'm a little terrified of what might await me.

Yeah, I did.
Added at: 19:52

This is why we can't have fun around here. No one considers that all that fun leads to death.

I just like playing devils advocate.

 

[makare]

I want to take a nice hot roman bath so i can catch tb (well catch it AGAIN stupid old people) and then die.

 

[Mathias]

I want to take a nice hot roman bath so i can catch tb (well catch it AGAIN stupid old people) and then die.

Oh yeah, that reminds me of all those lovely extinct infectious diseases that we time travelers would be susceptible to in a heart beat.

 

[Officer_Charon]

How about the common cold, which has survived by constantly evolving to counteract tougher and tougher immune systems?

 

[makare]

They'd kill us we'd kill them..

 

[Espy]

How about the common cold, which has survived by constantly evolving to counteract tougher and tougher immune systems?

BAM. Everyone's dead.


Geeze, good thread Bowielee. You killed everyone.

 

[Gusto]

I'd go back to 1996 and start a video game webcomic.

 

[Officer_Charon]

Something about freelance web design! That's the ticket

 

[General Specific]

I would go back in time to when I started reading this thread to tell myself not to bother.

And then I'd die.

 

[Mathias]

How about the common cold, which has survived by constantly evolving to counteract tougher and tougher immune systems?

That statement is 100% inaccurate. Actually, wow, that's like a billion light years away from true. The common cold rhinovirus actually has very deep pockets (canyons) in it's capsid shell that house conserved protein receptors - i.e. it actually doesn't have to constantly "evolve" to counter tougher and tougher immune systems (what?).