Time Travel

[Varcoe2Chapman]

I'd go back to Roswell 1949? Find out whether that alienship crashing into that farm and those alien children really happened and the FBI cover-up that followed.

Pick us up a tin foil hat while you're there.

 

[MaddAdam]

I'd do the only thing anyone would do, see the dinosaurs!

This. No other option.

 

[exe ex machina]

This. No other option.

From a pure entertainment perspective...
watching the dinosaurs would be one.

From a fact-finding mission, there are thousands of times to choose from...

* Dawn of Man. Seeing if we really did evolve from apes (i dont believe) or whether we were genetically created from a mix of apes and alien super-race (possible, this is the sumerians 'genesis' story). Or just were always a similar species alongside and separate from apes.

* Alien Influence. Seeing if/when/how/why/where...global pyramids, chariots of the gods, purported war on earth between them (indian lore), etc.

* Mars-Earth. Seeing if Mars had a human population at one time, and/or if they migrated here from there...as ancient lore suggests.

* Jerusalem. Seeing if Jesus the Christ really did exist. Zeitgeist showed how many religions dating back thousands of years before Jesus had the same virgin birth story etc.

* JFK. Seeing if Oswald really did act alone or not.

* Roswell. Seeing if an alien craft really did crash or not.

* 9/11. Seeing, not if, but how deeply the US Govt/Mossad/etc were involved in that.

* Moon Landing. Seeing if there were any shenanigans as purported (im a little iffy).

* Nazi/Spanish/Templar Treasure. Pinpoint where it all was hidden/taken.

* Noah's Ark. Again, a sumerian story passed down thru the ages, find its location.

* Egyptian Pyramids. Seeing who really did build them, and how.

* Georgia Headstones. Seeing who really did build that.

* Atlantis. Seeing where it was located, if it really did exist.

* Stonehedge. Seeing what it's purpose and function really was.

Etc etc etc

Then there's time travel for the purpose of influencing and changing the course of events...

Of which there are thousands more events to choose from.

All of the three categories (entertainment, fact-finding, influence) would be ripe with choices.

 

[MaddAdam]

* Jerusalem. Seeing if Jesus the Christ really did exist. Zeitgeist showed how many religions dating back thousands of years before Jesus had the same virgin birth story etc.

I think there's enough documentary evidence to prove an itinerant Jewish preacher called Jesus existed in the relative toime frame.

I'm not into the whole "influencing shit" view. The idea if that Hitler had not have lived post war Germany would have been a happy and benign place is ludicrous. Goering or Goebbles or one of many others could well have done it ewtc. There were plenty of mad bastards running around then. It was the CONDITIONS that created it.

What I'd like to do is hover above something like the Battle of Agincourt in a hot air balloon. That would be spectacular, albeit utterly brutal.

Similarly, being around for "great moments" would have been awesome - Elzabeth's court when news of the destruction of the Armarda comes in etc.,

 

[MaddAdam]

I'm also amazed at how people want to time travel back to events that took place within the lifetimes of people around now.

 

[MaddAdam]

Also, I'd like to know what it was like to be in a castle under siege. I went to Krak De Chevalier in Syria and the knights there had enough ammo and supplies to basically stay indefintely when besieged. They had to be tricked out.

I'd like to spend a month in castle under siege just to see what the "vibe" was like. Did people just go aboyt their business etc? Was there even a sense of danger? These things went on for years sometimes.

 

[exe ex machina]

I think there's enough documentary evidence to prove an itinerant Jewish preacher called Jesus existed in the relative toime frame.

I'm not into the whole "influencing shit" view. The idea if that Hitler had not have lived post war Germany would have been a happy and benign place is ludicrous. Goering or Goebbles or one of many others could well have done it ewtc. There were plenty of mad bastards running around then. It was the CONDITIONS that created it.

What I'd like to do is hover above something like the Battle of Agincourt in a hot air balloon. That would be spectacular, albeit utterly brutal.

Similarly, being around for "great moments" would have been awesome - Elzabeth's court when news of the destruction of the Armarda comes in etc.,

On the "influencing shit"....I don't know if I'd be so certain about that. The Nazis were a direct result of Hitler. Without Hitler's very rise, not sure the Nazi's under anyone else would've been so destructive. It's a very interesting point, and contention, you make, tho, because there is evidence or literature that suggests the Nazi/WW2 thing was funded by bankers/elites, a willingness to sponsor and fuel such a thing. So was Hitler a well-selected puppet, or was he a 'fortuitous' happenstance.

On the "hovering"....great choice for an "entertainment" option. So many epic hand-to-hand battles in the distant past. Genghis Khan, Samurais, Braveheart, Waterloo, Alexander the Great, Sparta, etc. That would be something to behold, being able to hover and sweep above such epic brutal battles, long pan-view and zooming in a few feet above too. Like those NFL cameras.

 

[exe ex machina]

Also, I'd like to know what it was like to be in a castle under siege. I went to Krak De Chevalier in Syria and the knights there had enough ammo and supplies to basically stay indefintely when besieged. They had to be tricked out.

I'd like to spend a month in castle under siege just to see what the "vibe" was like. Did people just go aboyt their business etc? Was there even a sense of danger? These things went on for years sometimes.

Add...Zulu battle, Trojan War, General Custer, The Alamo

 

[moses]

I'd like to see if your Dad really is your Dad. I'm tipping no.

Uncalled for.

 

[Catsmaninamerica]

If he doesn't, are you going to get pissed and change your name?

If I was going to see something Holy Landish I would witness the dedications and destructions of the two Temples. I've always had a fascination with the Temples and I'm one of those iconoclastic crackpots who believes they stood in the City of David to the south of what is today known as the Temple Mount. It would be fun to see that for certain. And then you get to witness all the destruction. If your'e going to see an historical event I figure why not something a bit more like an action film. Don't forget popcorn.

Or even witness the curtain tear after Jesus crucifixtion.

 

[sherb]

I'd go back to 1963 and establish once and for all what happened on Nov 22nd in Dallas.

I'd have to build one of these first of course:

 

[BLPC08]

All kinds of religious options,

1) Back to the when supposed Jesus was alive, put him through his paces and decide if he really is the son of god.

2) Punch Mohammed's mother in the guts prior to birth. To be fair there were plenty of other crazy sects going around Mecca/Medina at the time, might not have been much difference.

3) Get Buddha addicated to opiates, reduce him to the stage where he is whoring himself around for his next fix.

Weirdo

 

[BLPC08]

Easy one for me, back to the 80's and gamble the S**t out of footy to set myself up for life, Biff style. Probably in smallish increments so as not to attract too much attention.

 

[Plugger35]

I'd love to go back to 1991 to see my namesake kick his 100th goal in just 14 games with a virtuoso performance.​

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[Howard Littlejohn]

All kinds of religious options,

1) Back to the when supposed Jesus was alive, put him through his paces and decide if he really is the son of god.

2) Punch Mohammed's mother in the guts prior to birth. To be fair there were plenty of other crazy sects going around Mecca/Medina at the time, might not have been much difference.

3) Get Buddha addicated to opiates, reduce him to the stage where he is whoring himself around for his next fix.

There were plenty of Messiah's around Jerusalem and Judea in 30AD as well.
Of course one of them was not the Messiah, he was just a very naughty boy.

 

[Doss]

Going to be significantly less cool and witty than others here, and nominate time travelling back to the mid 1980s in my current form. Why? Well, firstly because of the incomparable fashion and cheap sounding synthesised music....but really, one of my grandfathers died in 1993 and, being only five years old when that happened, I never really got to know him properly.

He was by all accounts a great man and my couple of memories of him are nice ones, but it'd be nice to sit down over a beer and have a chat about life and the world with him. And specifically his life- he was a WWII veteran in the Middle East and New Guinea, so he'd have interesting stories to share.

 

[MaddAdam]

On the "influencing shit"....I don't know if I'd be so certain about that. The Nazis were a direct result of Hitler. Without Hitler's very rise, not sure the Nazi's under anyone else would've been so destructive. It's a very interesting point, and contention, you make, tho, because there is evidence or literature that suggests the Nazi/WW2 thing was funded by bankers/elites, a willingness to sponsor and fuel such a thing. So was Hitler a well-selected puppet, or was he a 'fortuitous' happenstance.

Hitler was but one actor at the time. Indeed, in the early stages of the "movement" and even after they seized power there were competing power bases with the Party. Hence the Night of Long Knives. He was not some mythical superman.

But even if Hitler had stopped a big bit of shrapnel in 1916, German still would have lost the war, the Treaty of Versailles would still have been imposed, you would still have had tens of thousands of embittered ex servicemen and also yoiu would still have had radical Communists.

In fact, its well worth considering,. and this is sort of anti-Godwining the thread ... that if Hitler hadn't existed things might actually have been worse.

Imagine no Hitler and Nazis to organise to fight the Reds on the streets. The radical Commos take and hold Berlin and Hamburg and the major industrial areas. Seizing the moment, Soviet Russia sends aid and troops and the Commos consolidate their hold. As Depression hits and France and Britain and the West struggle with their own needs, the Commos mop up and encourage revolutions in Poland etc. By 1936 you have a wall to wall Red state from the French border to Vladivostok.

Using Russian and other satellite states raw materials with the German knowhow and factories, the Red Army begins to rapidly advance in equipment and size.

Using the enormous manpower of this superstate married to German martial skills, this force becomes a massive, well trained and disciplined force equipped with the best of German engineered tanks and aircraft.

Under a spurious pretext - perhaps the staged murder of some Communists - the Red Army pours over the Rhine and into France to "assist their revolutionary comrades". The first Panzer-T-34s are in Paris a week after the invasion. France surrenders three days later and a revolutionary government installed.

Stalin then issues Britain with an ultimatum - surrender or die. The Brits refuse and beg the Americans for help.

Knowing the Russians cannot sail across the Atlantic, the Americans, under a still isolationist Roosevelt, refuse.

Aided by fifth columnists among the very large British communist movement, the Red Air force begins a massive attack on British facilities.

Radar is still in its infancy and only a few Hurricanes have been built while the Spitfire remains a nice design doing flight tests. The Red Airforce quickly establishes air supfremacy.

Shaken by revolts by communist aligned ship workers in Glasgow and Liverpool that sees Royal Navy ships blown up at their docks, the British Government agrees to a ceasefire whole terms are negotiated. Under Red intimidation new elections are called where Communist street thugs quickly engineer the "right result". The newly elected Red government under Mosely swears allegience to Moscow. Sniffing the wind, former colonial governments do similar, often with the active support of Communist aligned Labour parties.

Better or worse?

 

[Gough]

Hitler was but one actor at the time. Indeed, in the early stages of the "movement" and even after they seized power there were competing power bases with the Party. Hence the Night of Long Knives. He was not some mythical superman.

But even if Hitler had stopped a big bit of shrapnel in 1916, German still would have lost the war, the Treaty of Versailles would still have been imposed, you would still have had tens of thousands of embittered ex servicemen and also yoiu would still have had radical Communists.

In fact, its well worth considering,. and this is sort of anti-Godwining the thread ... that if Hitler hadn't existed things might actually have been worse.

Imagine no Hitler and Nazis to organise to fight the Reds on the streets. The radical Commos take and hold Berlin and Hamburg and the major industrial areas. Seizing the moment, Soviet Russia sends aid and troops and the Commos consolidate their hold. As Depression hits and France and Britain and the West struggle with their own needs, the Commos mop up and encourage revolutions in Poland etc. By 1936 you have a wall to wall Red state from the French border to Vladivostok.

Using Russian and other satellite states raw materials with the German knowhow and factories, the Red Army begins to rapidly advance in equipment and size.

Using the enormous manpower of this superstate married to German martial skills, this force becomes a massive, well trained and disciplined force equipped with the best of German engineered tanks and aircraft.

Under a spurious pretext - perhaps the staged murder of some Communists - the Red Army pours over the Rhine and into France to "assist their revolutionary comrades". The first Panzer-T-34s are in Paris a week after the invasion. France surrenders three days later and a revolutionary government installed.

Stalin then issues Britain with an ultimatum - surrender or die. The Brits refuse and beg the Americans for help.

Knowing the Russians cannot sail across the Atlantic, the Americans, under a still isolationist Roosevelt, refuse.

Aided by fifth columnists among the very large British communist movement, the Red Air force begins a massive attack on British facilities.

Radar is still in its infancy and only a few Hurricanes have been built while the Spitfire remains a nice design doing flight tests. The Red Airforce quickly establishes air supfremacy.

Shaken by revolts by communist aligned ship workers in Glasgow and Liverpool that sees Royal Navy ships blown up at their docks, the British Government agrees to a ceasefire whole terms are negotiated. Under Red intimidation new elections are called where Communist street thugs quickly engineer the "right result". The newly elected Red government under Mosely swears allegience to Moscow. Sniffing the wind, former colonial governments do similar, often with the active support of Communist aligned Labour parties.

Better or worse?

I think communism in Britain would have been interesting and possibly a little more successful than the Russian experiment. I have always read Marx's original theory as revolving around a post-industrial country, which you'd have been hard pressed describe Russia in 1917 as. Not saying that it would have been successful, and given Stalin f*cked up pretty much everything that he turned his hand to it's failure would be more than likely, but it would still have had a better chance than Russia.

 

[MaddAdam]

I think communism in Britain would have been interesting and possibly a little more successful than the Russian experiment. I have always read Marx's original theory as revolving around a post-industrial country, which you'd have been hard pressed describe Russia in 1917 as. Not saying that it would have been successful, and given Stalin f*cked up pretty much everything that he turned his hand to it's failure would be more than likely, but it would still have had a better chance than Russia.

Indeed. Orwell's vision of IngSoc is pretty plausible.

My point is that we are so Hitler centric in our intepretation of the past. Mrs Hitler could have decided to go the gobby that fateful night in 18 whatever and you still inevitably have had a massive anti democratic right wing movement in Germany post war.

Killing Hitler might make a good end to a movie or a video game, but in terms of "changing history" it would do SFA.

Now, drowning Marx in the bath at birth, there's a more plausible way to "influence" history but even then, Marx didn't "invent" Marxism. A lot of people were talking about those ideas back then. Marx just codified them and communicated them best.

You need to go back to when power and knowledge were a great deal more centralised to really have an effect.

For example. If Obama got whacked tomorrow, the American state would not collapse. It is resilient, it has systems in place and its means of expressing and enforcing power are suitably decentralised.

Compare and contrast with the ructions and splits in the Roman Empire after Caeser J (not Caesar) got knifed.

In fact, if you really wanted to influence shit, you'd go and pop a cap in Hammurabi before he could codify his laws.

Inevitably civilisation was moving in such a way that if he didn't, someone else would have soon enough, but they inevitably would have been different too and as that difference leached through thousands of years of history, who knows what the iteration would be now.

 

[The_Reaper]

I think communism in Britain would have been interesting and possibly a little more successful than the Russian experiment. I have always read Marx's original theory as revolving around a post-industrial country, which you'd have been hard pressed describe Russia in 1917 as. Not saying that it would have been successful, and given Stalin f*cked up pretty much everything that he turned his hand to it's failure would be more than likely, but it would still have had a better chance than Russia.

I'm quite certain that Marx's originally theory was aimed at the British Empire.

 

[MaddAdam]

I'm quite certain that Marx's originally theory was aimed at the British Empire.

For realz. The Victorian Britain he lived in was the epitome of industrial capitalism at the time and it was in this environment that he saw capitalism collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions (I think he may yet be borne out on that one).

It was never intended as a governing theory for ruling a largely agrarian and under-class developed country like Russia.

 

[Marlowe]

Go back 100,000 years or whenever to earliest man, show him how to make fire and basic agriculture. Get civilization rolling so much earlier, we might be off the planet by now.

I would bring them iPods and microwaves, just to witness their reaction.

That's always been my time-travel dream.

 

[Tiff]

I would bring them iPods and microwaves, just to witness their reaction.

That's always been my time-travel dream.

Heh, I always imagine just simply taking a lighter with me. Watch them trying to flint a fire, walk up, and light it with your lighter. That would blow their minds apart.

Then I imagine being assigned as king of their tribe, with a big throne and concubines waving me with palm fronds and hot jungle bishes kissing my feet. "Here tiff, take my wife".

The reality is I'd probably end up being speard to death, eaten, and consequently cause a war amongst the tribes over their new devils fire device, wiping out the race and obviously any potential homo sapien race.

Thank me later. But then there'd be not footy, or me to be typing this? Whoah wtf that's deep, man.

 

[Duritz]

I'd go back to Tuesday morning just past, and have that omelette again for breakfast. That was a good omelette.

 

[exe ex machina]

I'd go back to Tuesday morning just past, and have that omelette again for breakfast. That was a good omelette.

The person who invents a time-machine will probably cite something as inane as that as the reason for the invention.