Time Machine

[108 fountains]

If you had a time machine that would allow you to travel through time and space and spend two hours anywhere in the world at any time in history, where/when would you go?

I think I would choose to spend two hours in Paris on V-E Day, May 8, 1945.

[free]

A very difficult thing to decide. There are so many misteries that I would like to investigate. :) Maybe I'd go to the 16th century to find out the truth about the Piri Reis map. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piri_Reis_map

[cacian]

If you had a time machine that would allow you to travel through time and space and spend two hours anywhere in the world at any time in history, where/when would you go?

I think I would choose to spend two hours in Paris on V-E Day, May 8, 1945.

any reasons why this date in particular?

[cacian]

A very difficult thing to decide. There are so many misteries that I would like to investigate. :) Maybe I'd go to the 16th century to find out the truth about the Piri Reis map. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piri_Reis_map

now that sounds right up my street.

[readspider]

What about the original Woodstock ? By some accounts I've read it must have been amazing....

[PeterL]

I've already written a story about going back to Woodstock, and I know about the Piri Reis map, and VE Day was just a happy day. I can't think of the exact time and place, but I would like to go back and rescue some great treasure that was lost. Seventy tons of gold would be enough, and that's about what Drake sank off the coast of Panama to keep it from the Spaniards and to lighten his ship for more speed. That has never been found, to the best of my knowledge.

[free]

PeterL, you've just given me an idea. I could go to the previous week after checking the numbers of the winning lottery ticket, then buy it there, come back to present and get rich. :)

[PeterL]

PeterL, you've just given me an idea. I could go to the previous week after checking the numbers of the winning lottery ticket, then buy it there, come back to present and get rich. :)

Write it. Stories along those lines have been written before. I've written it myself, but there's room form more such stories. It might work, but you can't tell which present you will be returning to. From any point there are an infinity of possible universes in its future. It takes a lot to change a major trend, but little things like ping-pong balls can change for a very small reason, unless it is your fate to win. Pray to the Fates before you leave. They probably will ignore you, but maybe not.

[AuntShecky]

What about the original Woodstock ? By some accounts I've read it must have been amazing....

Yeah, if you like mud. And traffic jams and no place to take a leak.

[Calidore]

What about the original Woodstock ? By some accounts I've read it must have been amazing....

By other accounts, not so much.

http://www.cracked.com/article/116_5-facts-about-woodstock-hippies-dont-want-you-to-know/

I'll stick with the movie.

[PeterL]

If you haven't heard someone who was at Woodstock talk about it, then find one and listen for a while. Experiences varied.

[free]

Write it. Stories along those lines have been written before. I've written it myself, but there's room form more such stories. It might work, but you can't tell which present you will be returning to. From any point there are an infinity of possible universes in its future. It takes a lot to change a major trend, but little things like ping-pong balls can change for a very small reason, unless it is your fate to win. Pray to the Fates before you leave. They probably will ignore you, but maybe not.

Now you've made me scared. I don't want to change anything, only my financial situation. :)

[PeterL]

Now you've made me scared. I don't want to change anything, only my financial situation. :)

You wouldn't change anything, except the world you were in. Things would change for you, but no one else would notice anything.

Go ahead and write it.

[free]

You wouldn't change anything, except the world you were in. Things would change for you, but no one else would notice anything.

Go ahead and write it.

I would change, not the world. And people would notice because I would be more generous when giving them presents for their birthdays. :)

[PeterL]

I would change, not the world. And people would notice because I would be more generous when giving them presents for their birthdays. :)

Great! Write it your way.

[Dreamwoven]

I would like to spend the time in the era of the Hanseatic League (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_League). Can we choose which level of society we would visit? I would choose to be a minor trader, or perhaps crew a ship. The Piri Reis map (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piri_Reis_map) is a fascinating subject. Many years ago I read Hapgood, Charles H. (1966), Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age, New York: Chilton Books, ISBN 0-8019-5089-9.

That was a great piece of investigation.

[Nick Capozzoli]

If I could travel in time I would like to go to Jerusalem at the time of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, His trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. I really cannot think of any other time in human history that could be more important, at least for a Christian, to witness.

I don't know whether time travel is physically possible, but it's nice to imagine. Time travel would be either forward or backward from present time. Of the two directions, forward travel may seem to be the more possible, at least so far as I can surmise from my limited understanding of modern physics. All that is needed to travel forward in time is attaining a very high (e.g. light) speed or getting sucked into a very high (e.g. black hole) gravitational field...and good luck getting out of that...

So maybe backward time travel is physically impossible. The "grandfather paradox" (i.e. what happens if you travel back in time and kill your grandfather before he gets the chance to sire your ancestor?), presents a logical conundrum to backward time travel. I suppose that there are ways to explain this paradox, e.g. the "multiverse," but maybe it's just more plausible that going back in time is not physically possible.

[Dreamwoven]

This is a good point, and very well put.

I nearly said something along these lines about going back to the my chosen time (though not to anything dangerous!) but in the end did not. Life isn't like that, you can't pick and choose. It reminded me of the question of what you would wish for if you had three wishes. The third wish would be to have another three wishes!

[NikolaiI]

I would go way into the future, just to find out what it's like. :)

[miltonebx]

I would go back to one of the events of the Bible. Did this really happen? I don't know which one---probably one of the miracles. The plagues of Egypt? The Exodus? Healing the blind?

[Pompey Bum]

The plagues of Egypt?

Well, frogs sounds interesting, but I don't know about the rest (especially boils).

I might go back to the dry land just before life crawled out of the sea. I could finally get some solitude, plus--great fishing!

[Sancho]

I'd really like to go to Cervantes' Spain. I'd bring my own donkey. I'd call her, Dapple.

[ladyhart147]

I would choose to be in the presence of Shakespeare as he finished The Tempest. I mean, he was a writer nearing the end of his career at this point in time... I bet he would have had wonderful advice.

[NewSecret]

If you had a time machine that would allow you to travel through time and space and spend two hours anywhere in the world at any time in history, where/when would you go?

I think I would choose to spend two hours in Paris on V-E Day, May 8, 1945.

If I were to time travel I would definitely go someday in our near future within the next 20 years then learn of things that I could benefit off of in this year and profit. I would also like to see myself to know what I'm going to look like. I'd like to see that.

[Pompey Bum]

I would also like to see myself to know what I'm going to look like. I'd like to see that.

Sounds too much like Scrooge's bad trip with the ghost of Christmas yet to come to me. I'd rather go back on time and find myself as a kid and give him/me a good kick in the duff (metaphorically speaking).

Welcome to the site, by the way. You fell through my greeter radar, but it's nice to have you here.

[NikolaiI]

Good point, Secret. As long as you would use the profits for good, and not to create a world like Biff did in Back to the Future. :)

[NikolaiI]

oh i meant to post that a few minutes ago - oh well :p

[NewSecret]

Thank you for the welcome, Pompey Bum.

Traveling in reverse to see yourself as a kid could be fun, though, future sciences are of much more significance. I could bring a widely used product in 2046 that hasn't yet been manufactured to this year and get the cover of Forbes.

[NewSecret]

Good point, Secret. As long as you would use the profits for good, and not to create a world like Biff did in Back to the Future. :)

I would hire a CEO to manage my enterprise then goof off and enjoy the success without a thought about it. Any CEO I would hire though would not be an adversary, of course.

[NikolaiI]

Any CEO I would hire though would not be an adversary, of course.

Of course. :)