If i had a time-machine ...

[1337]

If you had a time-machine, would you change the past? And if yes, what exactly?

I started thinking about this on my throne strangely ...

Anyway I'd like to know what people think about this, anything goes (also considering the consequences that would bring a change).

In my case:

If i had a time-machine, i fear i would use it for personal favors ; think winning a lottery or so...

i'm thinking about what else i'd do, but things like killing hitler or so, nah, i'm not a genius and i don't know what consequences that could bring (like the french going for napoleon round 2 since they wouldn't be broke after ww2). Also important, i care too much for my skin to risk it like that (maybe with the right gear yeah but then again about the consequences...)

I've considered (out of curiosity) to go and witness interesting historical stuff but not sure what exactly...

[Kamos]

I would go back to ancient Greece and steal the powers of a god before Kratos kills them all.

[Blxz]

I would use it almost exclusively for selfish reasons. Sure, I'd do some tourist stuff but on the whole I'd use it to tweak and retry certain things over and over again.

Movies like the butterfly effect always annoyed me because he would do something and come so close to getting it right and then he would go somewhere else and fuck it up instead. Why not just go back and fix that minor fuck-up you just caused and do it right. Groundhog Day for the win!

[Prezo]

Depending on how loose the laws of causality are in this case, I think what I'd probably do is go and give myself a stern kicking around the head and tell myself to smarten the hell up.

otherwise I think I'd just give myself a one way trip to the future =P

[SilentHill]

Who I have turned out to be so far is acceptable so I have no reason to change my own past, Nor do I care for history. So I agree with Prezo, one way to the future.

[1337]

I'll just skip over kamos comment

I'm not sure going back to hit myself (or talk to me) would be a great idea. That could drastically change the future and maybe even impede me from getting the time-machine (TM) in the future, which would be a shame.

Just going back some days up to after i got the TM would be alright since my past version would know what's going on...

Why would you go to the future? I only see advantages if you use it to win lottery, to avoid bad stuff or to know in advance who's gonna win the euro 2012.
But if it's a one way trip into future that's probably not what you meant... considering you'd end up in a world that could look like fallout, i don't see the incentive to do that lol

[toaster Assassin]

If I change some of the bad things that have happened in my past, will I still hold the knowledge that I learned from it. If I forget the knowledge because I stopped the event, isn't there a possibility that I would eventually repeat the mistake (Only at some other time).

[SilentHill]

Why would you go to the future? I only see advantages if you use it to win lottery, to avoid bad stuff or to know in advance who's gonna win the euro 2012.
But if it's a one way trip into future that's probably not what you meant... considering you'd end up in a world that could look like fallout, i don't see the incentive to do that lol

I'm a product of my past enviroment, Winning the Lotto would greatly change my past positivly, Which sounds good but is not. I'm big on psychology and I understand if my past was more happier, I would not be anything like I am today. For reasons that sound narcissitic I do not want to be more normal, or diffreant then my current self.

As for the one way trip, the near future has a very bad outlook, with unsustainable capitilism, global warming, over population, countless eastern issues & lack of unity, Something on the lines of World war three is extremely likely. I would prefer to skip the near future which A two way trip would not accomplish. So I would just keep going forward untill I find a time that best fits my interests in science, sometime far in the space age.

[1337]

Winning lotto can be done in the other way. Go to the future just one day to see the results and come back to win it. Won't change your past only your future

I can see going far into the future as interesting but imagine there was a ww3 between your time and the future you are going to... you'll come out in a radioactive environment which could kill you (or meet the mean morlocks (is that their name?)).

I guess you could go far into the future to avoid possible radioactivity and global warming issues but i think at that point there won't be humans anymore. You'd feel pretty lonely at that point. not?


edit: didn't see you mentioned ww3 lol, at least i'm relieved you are not an idealist thinking it will never happen

[toaster Assassin]

But by you winning the lotto instead of the original person, that would still cause some type of change. (Besides you gaining lots of money) I.E. if the person who was supposed to win was going to use the money to fund some type of research. (Unlikely, but still possible)

As for a one-way trip into the future. ------------------->

Yeah, the overpopulation, the way government is using tech (Yahoo news stated next gen game consoles are going to be monitored for "foreign hackers" by US (also Patriot ACT crap)) and the dependency on technology (Plus the fact that most tech is not made to last/ is of cheap quality) I would say that the future is....well.....probably going to be really really really screwed up.

[1337]

Yes it will change the future obviously, but that's the "unwritten" future in the common sense, so imo it's not really relevant.

If you really want insurance, you could always go far into the future and come back with a catalogue of the important people who invented important stuff. So you can avoid making bad decisions that can influence other peoples life.

The guy who would win the money (if you hadn't screwed his luck) could make nice things as well as he could make bad things lol. Let's say he'd have bought a ferrari and killed himself on the road, so you basically saved his life/future.

[SilentHill]

Complete human extinction, especially by humans is so unlikley I didint consider it, It would be dissapointing to find that nothing on this planet ever gets off, nor that anything intelligent from off the planet ever gets on.

In such case, assuming you can go to places the time machine does not exist, Perhaps ill visit the big bang, look for a multiverse. I can think of tones of things to check out. I don't get lonely.

[1337]

since it's a time-machine and not a space-machine i'm not sure where you would land during the big bang clash. (Imagine you go back to see the big bang however you can, and you end up meeting a kind of god pretty awkward moment i guess )

I meant human extinction as in ww3 (nuclear war doesn't provide a winner, only losers) or something like a meteor coming down in those few thousands of years you'd be traveling forth.

[Blxz]

I would avoid the travelling to the future. Bad things are very likely and totally unpredictable. What if you went forward and that spot just so happened to have a car 1 metre away travelling at high speed the second you arrived (maybe a road was built in the intervening years?). You and your time machine would be destroyed instantly with no way of going back.

Going into the past is far more likely to be possible to plan out and minimise risk.

Of course this is a moot point because time doesn't exist. We think it exists because it permeates every aspect of our life but it is simply the way we measure the change in things. As for the idea of time moving slowly in gravity wells or lightspeed I'd answer that with the fact that the way we MEASURE time is going slower (atom vibrations for those fancy atomic clocks). Doesn't mean time is moving faster or slower since it is still existing in parallel with everything else.

[1337]

I would avoid the travelling to the future. Bad things are very likely and totally unpredictable. What if you went forward and that spot just so happened to have a car 1 metre away travelling at high speed the second you arrived (maybe a road was built in the intervening years?). You and your time machine would be destroyed instantly with no way of going back.

Going into the past is far more likely to be possible to plan out and minimise risk.

So true, the farther you go into space, the riskier it is when you arrive (providing you don't start your journey on the highway)

Of course this is a moot point because time doesn't exist. We think it exists because it permeates every aspect of our life but it is simply the way we measure the change in things. As for the idea of time moving slowly in gravity wells or lightspeed I'd answer that with the fact that the way we MEASURE time is going slower (atom vibrations for those fancy atomic clocks). Doesn't mean time is moving faster or slower since it is still existing in parallel with everything else.

That's wrong, time does exist. You say time doesn't exist and then you talk about measuring it and about it existing in parallel... We invented the time units but time was always there... just as you can guess different length even if it was the humans that invented length units.
I'm no expert like Einstein in the matter but if we didn't move through time, there would be no change, we'd just be like a movie that's on pause. Obviously trying to rewind the movie/the time with a time-machine is science fiction but i'm just curious

[SilentHill]

I'm for time as a dimension, Its complex and equal everywhere, as far as we know. Every phenomenon as complex as time is really should be considerd real & explained, Gravity is certainly real.

But the closest thing to time travel possible is watching time. Since light is the closest thing time has as a record/memory, if you can manage a way to move far instantly, like quantum entanglement you could watch the light from different distances.

since it's a time-machine and not a space-machine i'm not sure where you would land during the big bang clash. (Imagine you go back to see the big bang however you can, and you end up meeting a kind of god pretty awkward moment i guess )

I think time travel would out-do dog races in gambling, $100 on a cristian god anyone?

[txfirefighter]

I'm for time as a dimension, Its complex and equal everywhere, as far as we know. Every phenomenon as complex as time is really should be considerd real & explained, Gravity is certainly real.

But the closest thing to time travel possible is watching time. Since light is the closest thing time has as a record/memory, if you can manage a way to move far instantly, like quantum entanglement you could watch the light from different distances.

since it's a time-machine and not a space-machine i'm not sure where you would land during the big bang clash. (Imagine you go back to see the big bang however you can, and you end up meeting a kind of god pretty awkward moment i guess )

I think time travel would out-do dog races in gambling, $100 on a cristian god anyone?

timeline by michael crichton? (sp)

and lets not go mocking Christianity

[SilentHill]

timeline by michael crichton? (sp)

I havent seen it, and I would'nt base any of my knowlege on science fiction movies/books. Though some movies can accuratly adopt scientific theory, I would'nt trust any part of fiction.

[Blxz]

Txfirefighter, you never really struck me as the religious type before. Or it is just more of a general "no making fun of religion" type of thing?

[toaster Assassin]

Reminder to everyone and anyone,
be-careful of what you post. By posting remarks about race,religion ect.. there is a chance that it will cause problems and escalate into some type of argument. Which can = topic locked.

Obviously, no one in this post has the intent to cause trouble,(its all good) but to maintain forum peace it is a good idea to limit/carefully consider when dealing with the topic of religion.


Back to the topic.

Time and its machine.