Poll of the Day > You can travel as far as you want into the future or past once, no return trip.

(+) Yeah! (+)

You cannot take anyone with you. You can bring roughly a backpack full of stuff and the clothes you have on.

You will reappear as close to the same position on Earth from where you left as possible while guaranteeing a safe arrival (you will be moved so you land on safe ground and won't appear inside a wall or mountain, or over lava, etc., and be killed by that,).

If Earth is no longer there or is no longer inhabitable at the time you travel to you will be transported to the closest planet with an ecosystem that can support human life, no matter how far that is.

Do you travel into the past or the future? When do you travel to? How far or how little and why?
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Sure, I'll just travel one millisecond into the future and call it a day.
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I'd go back in time and give young me a sports almanac.
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DarkKirby2500 posted...

If Earth is no longer there or is no longer inhabitable at the time you travel to you will be transported to the closest planet with an ecosystem that can support human life, no matter how far that is.

I was gonna say 5000 years but if this is the case, I'll make it a cool million.

I want to see what becomes of humanity and what type of civilization we build in the far future.
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I've lived through the past, I want to build the future, I'll stay in the now.
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500 years into the future.
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If we go back do we take the place of old us? Or are there now two of us in the timeline? Leaving us to have to come up with a fake identity and all the difficulties that come with pretending to be someone we aren't? Unable to ever see the people that we know and care about again?

Going too far would be super dangerous. Sure, even if earth is dead you get put in a planet that can support human life. But most people probably wouldn't last long. We'd probably be the only sentient being on the planet so we'd be alone. No idea what sort of animals will be there. No idea which plants are actually safe to eat. No shelter until we build something. No access to medical treatment. No immunities to whatever pathogens might be on this planet. So most of us would be probably be dead within the week and that death would likely be pretty awful.
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GanonsSpirit posted...

I'd go back in time and give young me a sports almanac.

This plus I'll fill the backpack with all the high tech shit of today and a print out of all the winning lottery numbers (pick 3 to avoid suspicion and taxes).

I'll be a fucking king in a year.

When doesn't really matter, but I guess I'll go back to the day my son was born.
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I'd go all out and travel back to the Big Bang.
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synth_real posted...

I'd go all out and travel back to the Big Bang.

@synth_real has died from dysentery. (Oregon Trail joke, lol)

What if there's no planet with a habitable atmosphere?
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

What if there's no planet with a habitable atmosphere?

You better put on a batman costume and asphyxiate to death while having the best orgasm of your life!
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Just far enough in the past to let knowledge of future events make me filthy rich
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Probably just back to that 1.2billion$ powerball from last year, then party with everyone I know till we all die
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The past, for sure. I'd bring as much old money as I could afford and a laptop packed with medical/arms info, relevant video footage, and other documents to the late 19th century and try to prevent the new world order that followed WW1 from happening by offering technological advantages and knowledge of the future to those I favour to stop the rise of interventionist America and the Soviet Union over established old world powers and hopefully prevent them from destroying everything each of them has by easing or preventing either of the world wars.

The ideal outcome would be somehow getting Britain and Prussia on friendly terms (ugh), beyond that nobody else's efforts would've mattered and stability would be inevitable with the strongest navy and the best army together. Nationalism isn't always great, but it beats the "every man for himself" fire sale that's going on now. I'd risk making things much worse if there's a chance they could be much better (totally subjective unto me, I know).
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Travel back to the past to correct a bad decision.
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DarkKirby2500 posted...

You will reappear as close to the same position on Earth from where you left as possible while guaranteeing a safe arrival

It would suck if I wanted to travel a few hundred years into the past 'cause then I would be stuck in the wilderness of Florida.

TheCyborgNinja posted...

The past, for sure. I'd bring as much old money as I could afford and a laptop packed with medical/arms info, relevant video footage, and other documents to the late 19th century

How much battery life do you have?
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What happens if we travel to a point in our life time? I mainly ask because I'd use it to win the lottery, but that could be a problem if there's time paradoxes involved.
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GanonsSpirit posted...

I'd go back in time and give young me a sports almanac.

This, pretty much, along with other money-making stuff. The only issue is what I'd do afterward; while I could exploit the same things for money, I'd be without documentation for any nation in the world.



TheCyborgNinja posted...

The past, for sure. I'd bring as much old money as I could afford and a laptop packed with medical/arms info, relevant video footage, and other documents to the late 19th century and try to prevent the new world order that followed WW1 from happening by offering technological advantages and knowledge of the future to those I favour to stop the rise of interventionist America and the Soviet Union over established old world powers and hopefully prevent them from destroying everything each of them has by easing or preventing either of the world wars.

The ideal outcome would be somehow getting Britain and Prussia on friendly terms (ugh), beyond that nobody else's efforts would've mattered and stability would be inevitable with the strongest navy and the best army together. Nationalism isn't always great, but it beats the "every man for himself" fire sale that's going on now. I'd risk making things much worse if there's a chance they could be much better (totally subjective unto me, I know).

Trying to change that much history would be dangerous. Plus you have logistical issues with how well your laptop would work (not sure how reliable the old power grids are; could fry it), the fact that a lot of things can't really be stopped so much as delayed (ie, even if you stopped Archduke Ferdinand from being shot, another even could easily trigger the war), the fact that foreknowledge could allow both sides to prepare even further making the war worse, etc.

Plus you could easily unwrite your own existence. A lot of people died before they could meet your great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents. So one of your ancestors might marry somebody different or get killed by one of the new-people, thus unwriting your history.
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Take me back to like 1992. Just one issue I have with time travel... Will they take my money? I figure they might think it's counterfeit or something. I remember Doc Brown having a collection of "old money" for just such an occasion in the Back to the Future movies.

Government identity might be a problem too.

WarGreymon77 posted...

Take me back to like 1992.

I've thought many times about going back to 1992, the difference being that I would wake up in my younger body with all my future memories intact.
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Can't bring my wife. Not interested.
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Person106 posted...

WarGreymon77 posted...

Take me back to like 1992.

I've thought many times about going back to 1992, the difference being that I would wake up in my younger body with all my future memories intact.

If I were going to go back in my younger body, I'd rather be in 2004 or something. I'd be a toddler in 1992. But I'd like to go back to the early 90s and pick up some SNES accessories and that kind of thing before they become rare and expensive. That and just enjoy the carefree times of the decade.

TheCyborgNinja posted...

The past, for sure. I'd bring as much old money as I could afford and a laptop packed with medical/arms info, relevant video footage, and other documents to the late 19th century and try to prevent the new world order that followed WW1 from happening by offering technological advantages and knowledge of the future to those I favour to stop the rise of interventionist America and the Soviet Union over established old world powers and hopefully prevent them from destroying everything each of them has by easing or preventing either of the world wars.

The ideal outcome would be somehow getting Britain and Prussia on friendly terms (ugh), beyond that nobody else's efforts would've mattered and stability would be inevitable with the strongest navy and the best army together. Nationalism isn't always great, but it beats the "every man for himself" fire sale that's going on now. I'd risk making things much worse if there's a chance they could be much better (totally subjective unto me, I know).

Trying to change that much history would be dangerous. Plus you have logistical issues with how well your laptop would work (not sure how reliable the old power grids are; could fry it), the fact that a lot of things can't really be stopped so much as delayed (ie, even if you stopped Archduke Ferdinand from being shot, another even could easily trigger the war), the fact that foreknowledge could allow both sides to prepare even further making the war worse, etc.

Plus you could easily unwrite your own existence. A lot of people died before they could meet your great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents. So one of your ancestors might marry somebody different or get killed by one of the new-people, thus unwriting your history.

1. The power supply issue wouldn't be that big of a deal given the fact it wouldn't be hard to adapt the voltage when the science is fairly basic. Electricity wasn't as confusing by this point as to matter much. It's not like I couldn't bring a wall adapter with me in my backpack anyway, knowing what they'd have.

2. I don't believe going back in time is possible without creating a tangent universe to avoid the paradox, so the timeline I left would remain unchanged, less the fact I disappeared from it one day. As soon as you simply exist in the past, that timeline is forever split upon your arrival. Theoretically, shooting 200 people could have less of an impact on the future than giving up a seat on the train to somebody else.

3. The outcome of my meddling doesn't matter to me. I'd rather die trying to accomplish what I want rather than not try at all because I'm simply idealistic to a fault and given the power I'd have to use it.

4. Knowledge has many uses. Stopping an assassination doesn't really mean much, necessarily. Giving an empire the ability to manufacture WWII-era vehicles, strong antibiotics, and AK-47s, etc. even a couple of decades earlier, would result in such a swift overrun of all opposition that the conflict would end easily and decisively with no other forces even being able to compete at an industrial output level, let alone a technological one. And it's completely feasible.
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bump
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TheCyborgNinja posted...

TheCyborgNinja posted...

The past, for sure. I'd bring as much old money as I could afford and a laptop packed with medical/arms info, relevant video footage, and other documents to the late 19th century and try to prevent the new world order that followed WW1 from happening by offering technological advantages and knowledge of the future to those I favour to stop the rise of interventionist America and the Soviet Union over established old world powers and hopefully prevent them from destroying everything each of them has by easing or preventing either of the world wars.

The ideal outcome would be somehow getting Britain and Prussia on friendly terms (ugh), beyond that nobody else's efforts would've mattered and stability would be inevitable with the strongest navy and the best army together. Nationalism isn't always great, but it beats the "every man for himself" fire sale that's going on now. I'd risk making things much worse if there's a chance they could be much better (totally subjective unto me, I know).

Trying to change that much history would be dangerous. Plus you have logistical issues with how well your laptop would work (not sure how reliable the old power grids are; could fry it), the fact that a lot of things can't really be stopped so much as delayed (ie, even if you stopped Archduke Ferdinand from being shot, another even could easily trigger the war), the fact that foreknowledge could allow both sides to prepare even further making the war worse, etc.

Plus you could easily unwrite your own existence. A lot of people died before they could meet your great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents. So one of your ancestors might marry somebody different or get killed by one of the new-people, thus unwriting your history.

1. The power supply issue wouldn't be that big of a deal given the fact it wouldn't be hard to adapt the voltage when the science is fairly basic. Electricity wasn't as confusing by this point as to matter much. It's not like I couldn't bring a wall adapter with me in my backpack anyway, knowing what they'd have.

2. I don't believe going back in time is possible without creating a tangent universe to avoid the paradox, so the timeline I left would remain unchanged, less the fact I disappeared from it one day. As soon as you simply exist in the past, that timeline is forever split upon your arrival. Theoretically, shooting 200 people could have less of an impact on the future than giving up a seat on the train to somebody else.

3. The outcome of my meddling doesn't matter to me. I'd rather die trying to accomplish what I want rather than not try at all because I'm simply idealistic to a fault and given the power I'd have to use it.

4. Knowledge has many uses. Stopping an assassination doesn't really mean much, necessarily. Giving an empire the ability to manufacture WWII-era vehicles, strong antibiotics, and AK-47s, etc. even a couple of decades earlier, would result in such a swift overrun of all opposition that the conflict would end easily and decisively with no other forces even being able to compete at an industrial output level, let alone a technological one. And it's completely feasible.

You would end up creating a world where that stuff wasn't invented or discovered and therefore would lose that information anyway. Thus wasting your one time time travel, good job!

I'd withdraw all my money, go back a couple years and hang out with my younger self and keep a low profile. Invest the money in whatever is going to make the best return, easily make millions, re-take control of my life when my younger self heads back to the past to continue the cycle.
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I'd figure out a way to have my money make money for the next 20-30 years then jump forward that far.

20-30 years worth of video games and advancement in video game tech, would be freaking awesome, as long as the world doesn't go to crap by then.

I'd let relatives etc know I was going and give them the power to manage my money etc as well, to ensure it will be there unless there is a global breakdown etc.

Not much diff then going into stasis for 30 years really, and who knows, by then they may even have the tech for that (so I could keep jumping forward hehe).

I'd be hoping for some real high tech VR by that point with a global MMO VR RPG experience that I could just lose myself in.
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