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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.

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.

Mathias said:

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.

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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....

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.

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.

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.

Mathias said:

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.

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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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

Bowielee said:

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)

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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.

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!

Bowielee said:

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

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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 said:

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.

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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.

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.

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

Sara_2814 said:

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!

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

makare said:

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

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I'm not worried, they squish easily.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Espy said:

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.

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Yeah, I did.
Added at: 19:52

Espy said:

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

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I just like playing devils advocate.

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

makare said:

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

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

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

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

Officer_Charon said:

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

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BAM. Everyone's dead.


Geeze, good thread Bowielee. You killed everyone.

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

Something about freelance web design! That's the ticket

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

And then I'd die.

Officer_Charon said:

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

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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?).

I think it would be fun to see neolithic times too, I always wondered what their social dynamics were really like.

I would travel to 2002 or 2003, and tell myself not to read PvPonline.

Mathias said:

I would travel to 2002 or 2003, and tell myself not to read PvPonline.

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Win

Oooh, I have one.

I'd go back to May 26, 1999. Nou Camp stadium, Barcelona.

I want to experience that roar of the crowd when Manchester United scored those two last minute goals to beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final.

Espy said:

BAM. Everyone's dead.


Geeze, good thread Bowielee. You killed everyone.

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Except Madagascar.

I'd like to see the eruption and aftermath of Krakatoa. I do love a good sunset.

Mathias said:

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?).

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I knew as soon as I posted it that I was going to come across as a beetle-browed troglodyte...

It's a commonly-held perception that diseases have been evolving to get stronger as time's gone by. As a biologist, how do you weigh in on that?

I would go back in time to the day Mathias was born and stomp on him.

Er, wait, I can't change things. Nevermind. :|

Not really, that's just mean. I'd go back to feudal Japan and become an awesome ninja and dress in black and learn how to jump across rooftops and stuff. That'd be so badass, son.

Edit: Above is trollbait.

Mathias said:

Would you even know where to take a shit or how to wipe your ass without toilet paper?

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Ah the 90's... good times, good times.

Mathias said:

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

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Like i pointed out before, forget extinct diseases, people that are used to treated water drinking the water back then might be enough to kill you... hell, there are still places where the locals drink the water while the tourists are advised against it.
Added at: 07:43

doomdragon6 said:

I would go back in time to the day Mathias was born and stomp on him.
Er, wait, I can't change things. Nevermind. :|

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But is that a change or just a stable time loop?
Would certainly explain much...

Edit to my original plan. For extra lulz I do the same thing but say my phrase in Russian.

Officer_Charon said:

I knew as soon as I posted it that I was going to come across as a beetle-browed troglodyte...

It's a commonly-held perception that diseases have been evolving to get stronger as time's gone by. As a biologist, how do you weigh in on that?

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Nope, its a push-pull situation. A pathogen finds a way to evade immunity in a population, that population responds, another pathogen comes in... There is no escalation so to speak, and adaptive immunity is an individual thing, not a population genetics thing. So it's not like you pass down immunity to polio to your kids, but because so many in the population are vaccinated against polio its not really a doing much (your kids still can get polio without vaccination though).

I think that misconception probably stems from bacterial resistance to antibiotic.

Hah! The joke's on all of you! I've been secretly rolling in a pool of excrement every day for the last 15 years to harden my immune system! The past, and thus the present and future, WILL BE MINE!

We used to swim in bacteria infested lakes and rivers back home. I rarely get sick and when I do, my immune system is like an exclusive nightclub bouncer.

Only the pretty viruses and bacteria with wads of dough get through?

mr_thehun said:

I would go back to the height of the viking and make fun of how short they are. (I would die but it would be totally worth it)

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Same as now. Medieval people were just as tall as us, then there was a dip in the 14th-15th century and right back up to our current average height. Women on the other hand, are getting taller.

Vikings were described by those they were marauding as very tall so I'd assume Scandinavians were just as vertically gifted then as they generally are now.

So has anyone figured out how they'd take a shit and wipe their ass in 15th century England yet?

How bout those three seashells in the future?

Time travelers are fucked, I tells ya!

If you were royalty someone else wiped your ass for you.

mr_thehun said:

Health and Nutrition in the Preindustrial Era: Insights from a Millennium of Average Heights in Northern Europe
they were about 5'6 on average not the huge people that are there now.
Added at: 11:24

the same way many Indians do.

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Even that article you posted there agrees with me. 1000 years ago the average height was the same and it dips in between then and now.

I'd go back to July 1054, a sunny day and spend it painting and taking pictures. Always wanted to see that event.

HCGLNS said:

I'd go back to July 1054, a sunny day and spend it painting and taking pictures. Always wanted to see that event.

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A battle in Scotland or the Super Nova?

sixpackshaker said:

A battle in Scotland or the Super Nova?

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A sunny day in Scotland?! That's even rarer that a supernova. Besides we all know that the supernova was not visible in Europe

What does it say about me that I'd like to camp out in front of a certain tomb about 2000-ish years ago just to see it? Maybe also see a certain star 30-ish years before that, considering the season right now.


(really trying not to start a flame war about it though)

I considered that, but then I thought maybe it's better not to know for sure.

I would go back to ancient times and take a metric fuckton of salt. Trade that salt for gold. Then come back. I'd be sure to have a gun so that if the natives want to get all up in my grill I'd school them with my boomstick.

When I came back I'd sell the gold and have fun spending money.

HCGLNS said:

A sunny day in Scotland?! That's even rarer that a supernova. Besides we all know that the supernova was not visible in Europe

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Maybe you could feel the supernova's coming by the pricking of your thumbs.

HCGLNS said:

A sunny day in Scotland?! That's even rarer that a supernova. Besides we all know that the supernova was not visible in Europe

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Can't really say that... just look at the time frame... Europe was one of the least advanced areas on the planet in the 11th century. No one bothered to write it down.

Eriol said:

What does it say about me that I'd like to camp out in front of a certain tomb about 2000-ish years ago just to see it? Maybe also see a certain star 30-ish years before that, considering the season right now.


(really trying not to start a flame war about it though)

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It's kind of hard not to want to do it if you are a person of the Christian faith right? I mean, the hard part is deciding which of many events you would want to be at.

Espy said:

It's kind of hard not to want to do it if you are a person of the Christian faith right? I mean, the hard part is deciding which of many events you would want to be at.

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Then you rejoin the time stream and pick up the bible to see The Two Marys and one strangely ranting barbarian, discovering the empty tomb.

assuming we could also magically understand the language I'd go to the sermon on the mount. that would be something to see.

makare said:

assuming we could also magically understand the language I'd go to the sermon on the mount. that would be something to see.

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And then be shocked to hear him open with, "Yea, verily, what is the deal with oxcart food? Am I mistaken?"

"Did he say that the Greek shall inherit the Earth?" - Life of Brian

makare said:

assuming we could also magically understand the language I'd go to the sermon on the mount. that would be something to see.

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sixpackshaker said:

"Did he say that the Greek shall inherit the Earth?" - Life of Brian

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I'd be the guy in the back (I'd be there anyways, being 6'7" tall) yelling "Speak up!"

I do understand that is a joke and it cracks me up but on a realistic note I think they've found that location was chosen because it had amazing acoustics and so the people in the back heard just fine. at least i think i saw that on a show.. so take that with a grain of salt i guess

sixpackshaker said:

"Did he say that the Greek shall inherit the Earth?" - Life of Brian

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No, no. It's blessed are the meek. That's nice, isn't it? I'm glad they're getting something, because they have a helluva time.

Sara_2814 said:

No, no. It's blessed are the meek. That's nice, isn't it? I'm glad they're getting something, because they have a helluva time.

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Oh, shut up, Big Nose.

Hmm, maybe I'd go back to see God get his Zeus on. Of course, being an immaculate conception, there was probably nothing to see.


Then I'd come back and tell people, "yeah, it was pretty much just like Nick's prom night."

makare said:

so take that with a grain of salt i guess

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Go back in time and tell that to Lot after the whole Sodom and Gommorah thing

drifter said:

Hmm, maybe I'd go back to see God get his Zeus on. Of course, being an immaculate conception, there was probably nothing to see.


Then I'd come back and tell people, "yeah, it was pretty much just like Nick's prom night."

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The immaculate conception actually refers to Mary's being born without sin in the Catholic Church. Other denominations don't, to the best of my knowledge, don't believe Mary was born without sin, and don't refer to Christ's conception as an 'immaculate conception', rather as a virginal conception (which Mary's was not), and it is otherwise known he was born without sin, being, you know, the Lord and all.

/raisedcatholic

So then I actually could see God getting his freak on? Verily, his wang must needs be majestic beyond all bounds.

Also, I could have some fun narrating.

"Looks like Mary will get to spread the gates of Heaven, Chuck."
"He's got stamina that would make Samson quail from despair."
"Whoa, I haven't seen flooding like that since the days of Noah."

Aw jeeze I'm going to hell.

I liked that and I mean like in so many different ways.

1977 so that I could attend the Star Wars premiere.

Being alive in 1977 was so wasted on my parents

I'm like to visit ancient Rome. See the senate, maybe a gladiatorial game or two, see the aqueducts and marching Imperial Legions.

Terrik we can go together!

We're off to see the aquaducts! The wonderful aquaducts of Rome!

Dinosaurs, all the way.

Emrys said:

Dinosaurs, all the way.

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Are you kidding?

Raptors will eat your face

the face is the tastiest part of the weasel

Kovac said:

Are you kidding?

Raptors will eat your face

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Nah, I figure it'll be something even lamer, like I'll be stepped on by a butterfly.

Kovac said:

Are you kidding?

Raptors will eat your face

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But they will have to start at the knees...