Time Travel discussion
Just for Fun
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What Would You Do If You Had 24 Hours to Time Travel?
I've always had this fascination about going back to a time when humans didn't exist -- and it was also safe from "the dragons of Eden." In other words, a time when Earth was Eden -- or, at least, when I thought it was so. Maybe spend a day in the Cambrian Period, just to see what it was like before life crawled from the oceans. Definitely would NOT want to stay, though. Insanity would ensue.(Do I get bonus points for being first?)
Mod
100 points applied to your account. Redeemable in the year 2115.
So I guess you'd be packing your hiking gear and not depending on local food sources. Sounds fun.
Amy wrote: "Robert wrote: "(Do I get bonus points for being first?) ..."100 points applied to your account. Redeemable in the year 2115.
So I guess you'd be packing your hiking gear and not depending on l..."
Okay, so now I want to travel to the year 2115, so I can collect the points.
My initial response would be simple, but selfish ones, and would only take a few minutes of the 24 hours.I would go back to 1989. I would tell myself to not play racquetball that fall, because I sustained a serious back injury when I dove head first into a wall trying to make a shot.
I would also tell myself to buy as much Iomega stock as I could in 1994. Within 18 months, a $15 thousand dollar investment would have been worth over $2 million.
So, kill two birds with one stone. :)
Is there a loophole there? That is, at the end of the 24 hours, can't I choose to time travel back to just before the 24 hours of time travel began, and do it all over again? :)
Mod
Ouch. Sounds like a good plan. Would anything change in your life other than lack of long-term pain as a result of not having the back injury? For example, was there time spent in the hospital or a summer spent doing X instead of Y because of the injury?
Mod
Ah, but first you have to travel to January 21, 2020, to this thread to determine WHERE to go in the year 2115 to redeem your points. The post will disappear after 24 hours and then there will be yet another comment here on February 19, 2021, for exactly 24 hours which will explain what you can do with those points once you have them.
Amy wrote: "Robert wrote: "Okay, so now I want to travel to the year 2115, so I can collect the points. ..."Ah, but first you have to travel to January 21, 2020, to this thread to determine WHERE to go in th..."
Now you sound like the IRS. Maybe I should go back in time to sabotage the creation of that fun group.
Mod
But don't you want your bonus points?
I tell you what. If you sabotage the creation of that fun little group, I'll place the bonus points on an agreed upon GPS coordination on your day of choice in the Cambrian period. Oh wait. Blasted satellites won't be working that far in the past. Better bring your compass and hope the poles aren't that far off. Or you can hope your time machine is adjusted well enough to find it.
My travel back would be pretty mundane to most people. I would go back to February 1927, to a place only a few miles from where I live. I have a newspaper clipping describing a dinner at my great grandparents' home for my great grandmother's 73rd birthday. My grandparents were there, in their forties. And so were a few children, who were later my aunts and uncles. My mother, all of five years old, would also be around. According to the report, "At one o'clock we were invited into the dining room where you never saw a table loaded with so many good things to eat. After dinner we enjoyed the music of the Victrola." If I could get myself invited, it would be a fine "country" dinner with some fine people, and I think I would enjoy it immensely.
Amy wrote: "Robert wrote: "Now you sound like the IRS. Maybe I should go back in time to sabotage the creation of that fun group...."But don't you want your bonus points?
I tell you what. If you sabotage t..."
To do that, I'd have to hope that the map of Earth and its land mass at the time is accurate. I'll bring some snorkeling gear, just in case.
I was on and off work for about a year, because I couldn't sit and work at my desk for extended periods. I had the desktop raised about 6 inches, so I didn't have to lean forward (the L3/L4 vertebrae had gotten knocked out of alignment).The worst part is that I had dropped from 405 to 300 pounds from April to October of 1989, and my life was improving quite a bit, because of a new diet and a daily 3-hour morning regimen of swimming and racquetball. It was not unusual for me to drop 15 pounds during those morning sessions, simply from sweating.
I've always been overweight, and that was probably the point in my life of my best physical condition (32 years old).
Because of inactivity and a return to bad eating habits (comfort food!), I put back on all the weight I lost, and more.
I still sleep in a recliner instead of a bed because the back gets stiff and painful if I'm prone for an extended period.
So I see it as a very pivotal point in my life. But everyone has sob stories, right?
Mod
That would be interesting indeed. What a treasure of a newspaper article. Perhaps you could invite yourself over as someone from the newspaper covering the birthday party and use the same byline from the article as your pseudonym...
Ken wrote: "I have a newspaper clipping describing a dinner at my great grandparents' home for my great grandmother's 73rd birthday."The newspaper left out the description of the obnoxious party-crasher who seemed strangely out of place. :)
Mod
It definitely sounds that only good could come from such a change. You were losing 15 pounds a morning? That was quite an amazing transformation.
Yes, we all have sob stories. But some moments are more pivotal than others, aren't they? That's one of those moments that keeps on giving and it doesn't seem quite fair.
Mod
P.S. No loophole. The time machine won't last more than 24 total hours. Period.
I'm sure I would be obnoxious, especially in that era. While I could pass myself off as the reporter, the actual reporter was someone from the community that they would all recognize. Second, the clipping is cut off at a point before the byline is given, and, third, these reporters were usually women, and I think this one was also. Not only that, but the real reporter would be there wondering why I was using his/her name. And I would probably meeting the County Sheriff very soon after I arrived.
Mod
Ha. Ha. I guess you'd have to come up with some other ruse for being there. Although I'm still in favor of you trying to pass yourself off as a lady just to see what would happen.
I'd get to meet the County Sheriff even sooner (if I lived).
Amy wrote: "Ken wrote: "And I would probably meeting the County Sheriff very soon after I arrived. ..."Ha. Ha. I guess you'd have to come up with some other ruse for being there. Although I'm still in favor ..."
A time-traveling DOUBTFIRE -- to avoid arrest. I like it. Certainly a comedic warning about the perils of time travel.
The result might resemble what happened to Marty McFly in his "special" outfit when he traveled back to 1885.
Amy wrote: "You were losing 15 pounds a morning?"I used to bring several shirts in my gym bag, and change in between games, putting the wet shirts in a plastic bag. When I got back to the locker room, I'd wring them out in the showers. A LOT of water. :)
I also had to bring a towel along, as sometimes the floor of the racquetball court got
And I drank a lot of water during the session, so I wouldn't get dehydrated.
Amy wrote: "That's one of those moments that keeps on giving and it doesn't seem quite fair."In my retirement community, I live next to a married couple that have been in wheelchairs for 40+ years because of a drunk driver.
More than unfair.
He was even on "What's My Line" at one point. He and a partner developed a method to train horses not to soil their stalls, to wait until they got outside the barn.
Mod
Once those two tasks were finished ... if I could tear myself away from my grandparents, I'd spend the rest of my 24 hours skipping through the future to see what I could see. In the nearest futures, I'd be sure to arrive on Halloween so that my attire wouldn't cause too much alarm. I'd first advance 30 years at a time, then 100 at a time, then 1000 at a time. I'll need to bring along a face mask just in case of nuclear disaster or biological disaster.
Amy wrote: "While there are things in my past that I don't necessarily like, I wouldn't trade the lessons learned from them. Therefore, there is only one thing in the past that I'd like to change. It involve..."Another novel in the making, though not in the same vein as Ken's. So, without trying to pry too much, if you unlinked your website from his, how exactly would that change your life? (Reply optional.)
Amy wrote: "You have a time machine that has enough power for exactly 24 real-time hours of time travel. The machine has the ability to travel to pinpointed locations of both time and space. It's possible tha..."I'd pick up a couple friends, then enjoy a game of mailbox baseball on this long country road near my house that is just begging for it. If any of my buddies busts a melon playing ball, we'd stop by the local ER. However, that would necessitate a rinse-and-repeat, so we'd have to go back in time to start over. (We need a clean game with no injuries; only mailboxes will suffer.) After our game, we would stop by a diner, have a couple beers, and laugh about how stupid we are.
E.B. wrote: "Amy wrote: "You have a time machine that has enough power for exactly 24 real-time hours of time travel. The machine has the ability to travel to pinpointed locations of both time and space. It's ..."Is it the mailboxes that are begging for it, or the owners?
Mod
Stupid sad sob story hidden for embarrassment 's sake: (view spoiler)
Mod
You know, you really don't need a time machine for that ... just some good disguises.
Amy wrote: "Robert wrote: "if you unlinked your website from his, how would that change your life? ...."Stupid sad sob story hidden for embarrassment 's sake: [spoilers removed]"
Well, not stupid, but sad, for sure. Words that were spoken or written, wishing we could reel them in. Been there, done that.
Amy:I’d like to travel to somewhere I've always feared to go, because of the possible Paradox involved.
I'd like to meet an ancestor of mine, Sir Nigel Loring, who commanded The White Company in the 100 Years War.
What a guy, Conan Doyle wrote two books about him.
Employing your scenario, I’d go in an instant & return without Paradox ever coming into play.
So get on it, will ya?
Don’t be a tease.
Mod
If I had any hours left in my day, I'd probably pop into the future. See if there are any impending crises that need averting when I get home. (might snag a couple lotto numbers while I'm at it.) Then I would go back to my life and try to live in the moment.
I have always thought after watching an "I Dream of Jeanie" episode I would like to go back to a Saturday where I know all the winners at the races and could back them. This was in the days before lotto. But my dad always told me that there would probably be a description on the front page of the Sunday paper how a man had backed every winner on the card, but got run over by a bus walking out of the race course.That thought has always stuck with me.
I still say when I bang into a door or wall that I was just testing to see if there was a portal to the past.
Neville -- there was an old Twilight Zone episode like that, "An Unusual Camera".When you took a picture, it showed you the scene 15 minutes or so later. They used it to take pictures of the tote board at the racetrack just before the start of each race, so they could see the official results and bet.
As usual, a tragic, yet amusing, ending.
Robert wrote: "Is it the mailboxes that are begging for it, or the owners? "Good question. Might be a little bit of both. ;)
Amy wrote: "You know, you really don't need a time machine for that ... just some good disguises."
Lol, true that. But if I time travel and have my fun, then I can time travel back before I did it and avoid the consequences by never having done it. Right?
Doc wrote: "I would like to hear J.S. Bach play."Oooh, ooh, good one! Well done.
Doc wrote: "I would like to hear J.S. Bach play."Would you settle for P.D.Q. Bach? :)
I'd go back in time to kiss and hug my dog.I'd play with him and sing to him.
Randy wrote: "Doc wrote: "I would like to hear J.S. Bach play."Would you settle for P.D.Q. Bach? :)"
I've heard PDQ play three times in concert. I'm a big fan and have many of his recordings. I've also performed several of his things, including the ground rounds and the Libeslieder Polkas.
I got to meet Peter Schickele twice. He's surprisingly soft-spoken and quiet.
To my intense dismay, after one of the concerts PDQ did at my university, the reporter for the school newspaper wrote a review full of indignation that PDQ and the university orchestra seemed to be making fun of Bach. Apparently, all the laughter from the audience only fueled the fire of that indignation.
I was a big fan of PDQ Bach as a kid, and my parents took me to see Peter Schickele when he performed at the University of Minnesota, back in the early 1970's. It was the same time that the controversial Deep Throat was showing at the Rialto theater in Minneapolis.Someone came out on stage at the start to say Professor Schickele would be late, because of a sore throat. That he had gone to see a Dr. Rialto about it.
Then he appeared in one of the boxes on the side of the auditorium, shouting, "I'm here! I'm here!".
It was a laugh fest all night. And good music too. :)
Mod
I somehow missed the continuation of this thread. I especially like this one. How wonderful it would be if you did ever get such an opportunity. One thing I like about the time travel genre is the beautiful what-ifs it allows us to imagine.
Amy wrote: "One thing I like about the time travel genre is the beautiful what-ifs it allows us to imagine."And one of the wonderful things about the time travel genre is authors that can show us how those beautiful what-ifs can become Monkey's Paw type traps, via the law of unintended consequences.
Randy mentions the 'law of unintended consequences' Randy, I like 'what-if' when you break this law.
I'd love to see a city like London grow one century at a time, to see how it really evolved, right from the first settlers. I'd love to see what the people were like, experience the sights, sounds and smells (until the last century people's body odour would have been overpowering). Would I be allowed to take a discreet camera? I'd get every vaccination possible before I went, but it'd still be risky because virus and bacteria strains would be different.I don't think I'd be able to resist just one stop to get the winning lottery numbers for next week. I've been thinking about this a lot for reasons of plot. Buying any kind of futures contract, share option, placing a bet on a race, etc. - all of these things would have a potential effect on the outcome and risk a loss of capital (as well as prosecution - why would an ordinary Joe or Jill suddenly buy these financial instruments which turned out to be winners?). The only thing that wouldn't carry this risk is advance knowledge of lottery numbers because there's no connection between the choice of bet and the mechanical system making the choice of winners. Even then, you'd have to keep quiet before and after the event.
Reading back what I've written, I see I would be undone by my camera footage of times past. Scientists might not believe I'd been, but the authorities would happily take my winnings from me!
Mod
Ah. The body odor problem. I visited a non-deodorant country back in the early '90s and found it disorienting to come back to a scent-free country. I found it almost confusing to not instantly know someone's smell. It felt somehow dishonest. It would be interesting to see a true time traveler from the past react to the lack of honest personal smells in our time. Then again, some people are more sensitive to the subtleties of smells than others. The only time travel novel I remember addressing the smell of the past is Washington's Providence.
Considering how many colds I've caught season, I'd make a poor time traveler indeed. But perhaps one could avoid catastrophe if given just 24 hours for travel.
I addressed the odors, including body odors, in my latest short story, but since the travelers went mostly to coastal areas, the dominant smell was "fish."
Interesting. I'm a really olfactory person - so smell is really important to me. Amazing incidental fact: if you like the smell of a member of the opposite sex (particularly if you're a woman) then it is almost certainly the case that you're a good match in terms of your genes. Our sense of smell is that good and useful. Smell is supposed to be the last of the major five senses we lose - though I don't know if that's a proven fact (how would you ask a deaf and blind person? Ha, ha!). I always make something of smell in my stories - I find it odd that a lot of authors don't because they're missing depth.
I try to use all of the five senses as often as possible without intruding into the story. It makes the scene much more immediate to the reader even if it contributes in no other way.
Simple answers OR involved narratives are both welcome in response.