What would you do with a time machine?
That was one of the topics from the Kevin & Bean show recently (*click here to listen to that segment*), brought up because of the movie "Hot Tub Time Machine." As far as topics go, I actually think about this question a lot. Time travel has always been something I'm easily fascinated by, and I usually have a soft spot for books, movies, or TV shows that deal with this subject. Ignoring all the "butterfly effects" or "altering reality" dangerous stuff usually associated with this, who wouldn't want to travel through time? I would guess that there are usually four primary reasons to do time travel. Money. Sex. Changing History. Observing Historical figures/events. This all applies to the idea of going BACK in time and not forward.
Making lots of money seems to be a given to many. You can invent something you know will sell well, gamble on sports that you already know the results to, or buy stock on an upcoming company that you know will hit it big. Sounds like an easy thing to do right? Maybe. I'm a little skeptical that things will really be that easy, considering that this is already a hypothetical situation where the past has changed. So wouldn't that mean that certain inventions, sports results, or successful companies in the stock market could change too?
Sex is a big motivator for many, and in many cases it also has to do with romance. The opportunity to have sex with people you aren't having sex with now seems to be a big thing. People talk about going to the sex liberated eras of the past. That kind of thing. Sometimes it could be as simple as changing history to be in love with somebody else.... to have sex with. It's a simple wish fulfillment to try, but it doesn't necessarily mean it'll get a happy ending.
Changing history is something people talk about as a possible thing to do, usually involving an act to prevent something disastrous from happening. Terrorist attacks. A murder. Altering the results of a war. It's a noble sentiment to do, but I fall under the thinking that things like that are too huge to change. Yeah, it'll be nice if "Sept 11" never happened or JFK survived the assassination, but who is to say what's going to happen to the world from there. You might think things will be better, but how do you really know that?
Observing history seems to be the safest thing to do as an option. Going back in time to witness historical events or meeting historical figures. Not really changing the past, but just experiencing it. This is the option I can see actually happening if time travel was regulated by the government or a controlling entity that is trying to preserve the "space-time continuum" or what not. Seems like the most responsible choice to make at least.
Me however, I've toyed with the idea of going back to the first time I arrived in the USA, way back in 1990. I'll literally change how I handled middle school, high school, college, etc... basically start all over again from that point in my life. Of course this follows the idea that I'll be time traveling into my body in the past, with my knowledge from today, and not my present me being in a completely separate body (although that brings about other options). The downside here is that, why would I want to go back to *that* time of my life. Reliving middle school and high school again? Really now? No, maybe that really isn't the option I would choose after all.
In all honesty, I'll probably choose the responsible option of just observing history. However if I had the option of going to the future, I would most definitely choose that! Hopefully it's a great future with Star Trek's technology and philosophy, and not a dystopian future where bad things happen. Either way, it would be nice to travel through time.
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