Thought experiment: How far back would you go?

[affirmedatheist]

I wouldn't travel. The inherent instability IMHO makes it too risky.

Indeed, I would go so far as to destroy the machine. It'd be too dangerous to muck with.

The only thing that *might* tempt me is going back to the date of what was a date and not watching the movie but speaking more to her (she unfortunately picked the precise type of film that I'm a sucker for).

As much as I'd like a second shot at her, it wouldn't be worth the risk.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I've made so many mistakes but I don't think a re-do would be a good idea , I probably don't realise all the words or actions in my life where I did something that made a change for the better ... for example I could go back and try a fuck of a lot harder to keep my "wife " sounds good but then I would always know that I had stolen my life with her from a friend and 2 beautiful kids wouldn't exist .
I could go back and play kiss-ass with the evil fucker that cut short my academic career , but then my life might not have been so 'interesting' and I could be some arrogant prick in an ivory tower or sad burned out and jaded cynically lecturing students I hate and struggling to publish enough papers keep my job .

so I think only one I would go back and save the Bestest dog in the world Evar .

Something happened to Feck!!!1!

Sorry - work makes it harder to keep up. Please say I am wrong.

[Twoflower]

you are wrong.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

you are wrong.

I don't think I have ever been as happy to hear that!

[rachelbean]

17 years old. So much potential wasted. I'm still trying to fix it, but wow If I could go back

I take it back. I understand where I was coming from when I posted this, but really, I'm fine just where I am

[Trolldor]

High School. I'd do it again, I'd put the hard yards in I'd be better. I'd be where I want to be now.

[Thinking Aloud]

I missed this the first time around...

If I had the time machine, I'd save it. For now.

Whether I'd use it would depend on how the rest of my life panned out, as I'd hesitate to give up on what I have now for the unknowns of an alternative at this stage. I'd consider using it if some disaster befell my family leaving me as the only survivor, or if the world was going to hell and/or our lives were not worth living any more.

Then, and only then I'd think about using it. To when would I go? Possibly 1991, mid-way through university, because after that point, anything I'd do differently would hurt too many people for me ever to consider it. The only person at that point in time who would suffer from any change in my actions would be me, knowing what had gone before in my other life.

An interesting aspect would be the return of memories (and feelings?) from the time, in addition to a lifetime of memories and feelings from the "older" me. I was a theist then - would my atheistic logic swamp that instantly? Would my hobbies of the time instantly lose their appeal?

Right now, I have an idea as to one of the things I'd do with my life again from 1991, but who's to say I'd feel the same way in 10, 20, or 30 years' time? What could happen between now and then to change my opinion of that? What event in my immediate future may eclipse making this temporal decision in terms of importance to me and my loved ones' futures?

No, I'll wait, and if when I'm on my death bed I truly feel there was room for improvement, or a way to stop all the pain around me, then I'll get the machine out, and then I'll decide if to go, and when to go to.

[Elessarina]

I would go back and choose a different course at university to give myself a decent career path. I am glad we could retain the memories of before.. but if it happened now and i went back to then I think I would feel really lonely as the friends I have now are all more recent friends (including all Ratz).. I have not maintained friendships with my school friends really, it would be strange to think of the Ratz I know and that none of us know each other but they're all out there somewhere.. imagine waiting 12 years or so to join RDF and then seeing these people online you know you're already friends with.. maybe I could convince you all I was psychic

[Sælir]

I wouldn´t use it unless you were allowed to keep it for later.
At this moment I wouldn´t use it and that is not because my life has been so great but I would be too afraid to lose what I have now!

If one of my children would die or something like that and I could in some way have prevented that from happening I would definately use it to do that. But that would be the only reason!

[hiyymer]

Here's the deal. Through nefarious means, you have acquired a time machine. The trouble is, it has a very peculiar means of operation: -

• You can only use it once and the machine is destroyed in the process.
• You can only travel backwards in time and only within your own lifetime.
• You can take nothing with you.
• You will arrive at your destination in your own body exactly as it was at that point but with your present memories intact alongside your memories as they were then.
• Once you travel backwards in time, the current timeline will cease to exist except in your memories.
• The simple fact of you travelling back in time affects the universe in subtle ways. While this has no effect on anything major, it does affect delicate, random events. For example: you cannot rely on the lottery results being the same this time around, of sporting events playing out exactly the same way, of stocks and shares rising and falling in the same manner as before, or of world events that rely upon complex, chaotic processes occurring at exactly the same time or in exactly the same way.
• This extra level of randomness is exacerbated as time goes by. That is, should you go back a short distance, by the time you catch up with the present, things will be fairly similar, but if you travel back a few decades, world events might end up very different indeed - assassins' bullets may miss, terrorist plots may go undiscovered, the football league tables may be unrecognisable, etc.
• Upon catching up with the time at which you discovered the machine, it will not exist. This really is a one-shot deal!

So. How far back would you go? Remember that if you go back beyond the birth of a child (not necessarily your own), or before you met a special friend, there is a chance that those events might not happen at all. Would you use the machine at all? Is there a point in time where giving up everything you have had since would be worth it, just for another chance?

Think about it.


Edit: Extra condition added (in bold) in response to several posts.

"present memories in tact". That would mean you be a completely different person than you were at that point of time before. How we react to the world is determined by the patterned associations that can shift and change as our brain experiences life. In other words you would be older and "wiser" than your chronological age. I think you might have a radically different life than you did before, just because of who you have become.

[my_wan]

I would have no compunctions about going back very nearly my birth. Yes it's possible people who exist now wouldn't in the new timeline. Yet every interaction you now have on this planet effects who will exist in the future and who doesn't. It might also lead to disastrous effects on this planet during the period I lived in the old timeline, but the odds of that particular small section of time is insignificant relative to the deep time to come. It may even avert disasters to come in this time line. I'm not playing god with who lives and who doesn't. I'm merely playing a different role while events take their own course.

The rule against taking things with you, or knowing sports scores, is insignificant compared to what my knowledge could change. You may not know the details of stock prices, but the general technological trend is nearly unavoidable. In chaos theory, which prevents knowledge of superbowl, etc., winners, the strange attractors are unavoidable. Taking a few dollars from a football bet wouldn't even be couch change compared to the money that could be made even with such detailed knowledge of what's going to happen.

The laws of science don't change under any circumstances. Viagra and variants alone is far more valuable than sports scores. I can reproduce off the top of my head a huge number of extremely valuable technologies. I can reproduce from memory a fair number of key scientific research papers. Should I take ownership or credit when the people they came from might not in the new time line, or might not even exist?

A career would be the last thing on my mind. Rather I would be creating careers for others. The uncertainty of individual events is no barrier to wealth that would make Bill Gates look homeless. Not even taking Bill gates shoes would be worth the money for the effort. The amount of public domain research and projects I would fund at a personal loss would be astronomical.

[eXcommunicate]

I'd go back to the day after my daughter was conceived. That was about 6 years ago. I couldn't bear to go back any further, having memories of my two children, but knowing I essentially have erased them from time (because you can never properly reproduce the events to conceive them in the same way). I once had a nightmare about this exact scenario actually. I dreamt I had gone back to my high school days and changed the course of my life, but I was distraught, nearly suicidal, at the memories of my children who would never be. I think 6 years though is plenty of time for me to have corrected the course of my life. No need to go and relive those horrible teenage years.

[kiki5711]

I would go back to 1974. A missed opportunity to get married to a very handsom Japanese guy. I blew it. Next time I wouldn't.

[Gallstones]

September 01, 2009

[Aerzia Saerules Arktuos]

Seems like the perfect deal to me. Now I can go back to when I was say, 4-6, and undermine many people's misconceptions about me from the beginning. I'm fine adapting to a different social environment... and would only really miss one person in my 'real life', though the absence of some online friends might be somewhat uncool.

Having such memories when so young would be interesting psychologically. I could so abuse America's systems and gain myself some vast advantages. Preferably, I would wait on using it until I've lived a number more years, so as to glean even more time into my total lifetime, and learn a great deal more about myself. I would begin learning other languages from that point, and could easily shape world history in many ways. Perhaps run for USA president when I'm 30ish. The future is mine to create