Time machines (not Rolex)

[gauchecritic]

If you had a time machine would you go forwards or backwards. The rules are that nothing can be changed (time is immutable) only observed, and if anyone starts mentioning wave functions, Schroedinger's cat or paradoxes they will be sent to the headmistress's room (KM) where they will or will not (depending on fetish) be caned to withing an inch of orgasm. So.

The question is; Backwards or forwards? Why?

Me? Forwards so I can see what happens to the various lads and how their own dreams work out. World famous rockers or factory fodder or anything inbetween.

Gauche

 

[Guest]

No interest in the future whatsoever.

Two precise moments in my life I would love to 'see', observe, recall with all my senses and my present mind.

One: as a very young girl watching my father as he slept; I tried to breathe in time with him.

Two: the moment I began to fall in love with P____; we were sitting in dappled sunlight in a small nook of a meadow in Golden Gate Park. He had just told me a Russian folkstory that had no moral; he was setting it to music.

Otherwise I would love to be 'there' listening to Beethoven compose and perform; and see all of Shakespeare's plays on opening day.

 

[Guest]

if...

 

[pop_54]

If you had a time machine would you go forwards or backwards. The rules are that nothing can be changed (time is immutable) only observed, and if anyone starts mentioning wave functions, Schroedinger's cat or paradoxes they will be sent to the headmistress's room (KM) where they will or will not (depending on fetish) be caned to withing an inch of orgasm. So.

The question is; Backwards or forwards? Why?

Me? Forwards so I can see what happens to the various lads and how their own dreams work out. World famous rockers or factory fodder or anything inbetween.

Gauche

Back son, back, definitely, Jeez I might die next week, who the hell wants to go forward and read one's own obituary in a fortnights time.

Anyway things to do back then, Oh I wouldn't change a thing, honest, I'd wear a condom

 

[MNGuy]

Backwards, there are a few historical events I want to check out:

Was there a shooter on the Grassy Knoll? (I don't believe so.)
Who really built the pyramids, when, and how? (Aliens vs Egyptians.)
What lost knowledge was in the Great Library before it burned?
What really happened during the crucifixion and resurrection?
What really happened to Amelia Earhart and Jimmy Hoffa?
What happened to Neanderthal's?
Where is the Ark of the Covenant?
Who built Stonehenge and why?
Did ancient pre-Egyptian civilizations exist, and if so, what happened to them?
What really happened at Custer's Last Stand?

Just to name a few. If I could sit around and think for awhile, I could find some more.

 

[pop_54]

Hmmmmmmm

Backwards, there are a few historical events I want to check out:

Was there a shooter on the Grassy Knoll? (I don't believe so.)
Who really built the pyramids, when, and how? (Aliens vs Egyptians.)
What lost knowledge was in the Great Library before it burned?
What really happened during the crucifixion and resurrection?
What really happened to Amelia Earhart and Jimmy Hoffa?
What happened to Neanderthal's?
Where is the Ark of the Covenant?
Who built Stonehenge and why?
Did ancient pre-Egyptian civilizations exist, and if so, what happened to them?
What really happened at Custer's Last Stand?

Just to name a few. If I could sit around and think for awhile, I could find some more.

I'm not too sure about the rest, but I think 'Custer's last stand' was the night before them pesky injuns killed him.

 

[Guest]

Gotta Go Back In Time

I would definitely go back and meet my ancestors. I think I would learn so much about my family and who I really am.

b

 

[Dirty Slut]

I'd like to go ahead in time...

To where we finally decide to take that second giant leap for mankind. Beyond a time where petty bickering, greed, racial bigotry, hunger, and starvation has disappeared. Unfortunately, that's a time beyond man's destiny, isn't it.

DS

 

[Sabledrake]

If I can't change anything, I'm sure as heck not going forward. It'd both take away the surprise, and create immeasurable frustration.

Back would be interesting, even just to observe. As MNGuy pointed out, there are a lot of questions that could be answered.

Sabledrake

 

[deliciously_naughty]

I'm a historian...of course I'd go backwards...

1. Observe the French Revolution
2. Check out what was really going on in Elizabeth I's private chambers (did she really have 5 kids by her lover?)
3. Read the books in Alexandria's library
4. See who built the Pyramids/Stonehedge
5. Check out if Atlantis ever did exist and just what was going on there
6. Observe the last hours of the Titanic
7. Watch several great American scandals unfold (and I mean like the Petticoat scandal, the bank of america scandal, etc...not lewinsky or marilyn)
8. I'd like to see the historical Arthur/Robin Hood and see what they really made of
9. Observe Joan of Arc...slightly crazed teen who heard voices, or messenger of God
10. Observe the evolution of New Orleans, wasteland to urban mecca today...it's had 3 flags flown over it, had one of the most complex racial dynamics in the country, and had a different history than most of the American states.

 

[Quasimodem]

Before I choose forward or backwards, there are a couple of questions I need answered.

If I go back, must I go back with my sense of smell intact?

If I go forward, must I go forward without a respirator?

 

[MathGirl]

Originally posted by Quasimodem If I go back, must I go back with my sense of smell intact?

Dear Quaz,
I've often thought about that when reading historical novels. Where there were no showers and baths were rare, you just know those people had BO that would knock a buzzard off a night soil wagon. No Arrid, either.
MG

 

[Guest]

MG & Quas:

I said I wanted to go back and see all of Shakespeare's opening days, and hear Beethoven conduct and play. I couldn't care less about their or the audience's B.O.

I also don't like Mr. Clean sex.

Perdita sans gloves

 

[MathGirl]

Re: MG & Quas:

Originally posted by perdita I couldn't care less about their or the audience's B.O.

Dear Perdita,
The BO might make your eyes water so that you couldn't see the stage. Hamlet might lose something if seen through a miasma of fumes.
MG
Ps. Once the lady sitting next to my aunt at the SF Symphone farted and just about cleared the balcony.

 

[MNGuy]

Re: Hmmmmmmm

I'm not too sure about the rest, but I think 'Custer's last stand' was the night before them pesky injuns killed him.

I was wondering if the stories of troopers killing themselves was true, and when did Custer actually die during the battle, at the beginning as some argue, or at the end.

Plus a couple of more:

I would definitely be in Roswell in 1947.
Roman orgies, overblown or true.
Did the Vikings actually settle in North America?
What did a mammoth, saber tooth tiger, and hell, even a dinosaur actually look like, and behave.
Did life exist on ancient Mars?
What happened to the first English colony in America?

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: MG & Quas:

Dear Perdita, The BO might make your eyes water so that you couldn't see the stage. Hamlet might lose something if seen through a miasma of fumes.

You big butt of negativity, you.

As for today's concert performances, stupid coughers and loud unwrapping of candy bugs me more than farts (unless they're really noisy I guess, and ill-timed).

Positive-thinking Perdita

 

[MathGirl]

Re: Re: Re: MG & Quas:

Originally posted by perdita bugs me more than farts

Dear Perdita,
I find it best to hold them until the final bars of the "William Tell Overture" or the "1812 Overture." I guess it's something about overtures that does that to me.
MG

 

[Quasimodem]

. . . Once the lady sitting next to my aunt at the SF Symphone farted and just about cleared the balcony.

Math,

Was she at least in the right key?

 

[Guest]

new AV

 

[Dirty Slut]

I LOVE your new AV!

Got tired of all of the comments about my boobs, and thought I'd show my next best asset.

DS

 

[Awful Arthur]

If I could go back without seeing myself, and having to adjust some memories to the real reality instead of my remembered reality, I'd go back.

I'd like to know for sure about:
John Kennedy, Oswald, Ruby, Malcom X, George Wallace, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy and Larry Flynt.
A few family matters I've puzzled over.
Who discovered America
Who wrote Shakespear
Who was Jesus

I'd like to see:
How in hell the pioneers survived
How the Khan Mongols lived
How the Knights Templars lived and what happened to their fortune
How the Romans lived and how Latin sounded

I'd like to meet:
Harry Truman
Winston Churchill
Adolf Hitler
George Patton
Ghengis, Kublai and Hulugu Khan
Jacques DeMolay
Sir Issac Newton
Copernicus & Galilieo and learn how to spell their names
Cleopatra

That's should hold me for a while

 

[Op_Cit]

I'd go back in time to the place and moment that Dirty Slut's new photo was taken.



Who cares about all that historical stuff anyway? The reality of those events is surely disappointing. And why hasn't anyone suggested profiteering by witnessing the locations of various sunken/buried/absconded treasures?

 

[Awful Arthur]

Who cares about all that historical stuff anyway? The reality of those events is surely disappointing. And why hasn't anyone suggested profiteering by witnessing the locations of various sunken/buried/absconded treasures?

Well, good morning to you, OC. If looking at Dirty Slut's ass is going to make you this ill every day, maybe we need to ask her to put some clothes on until you've had your coffee. You were understandably preoccupied and missed it, but I did mention the Knights Templars fortune. If we can get DS to go back there they might give it to her.

AA

 

[Guest]

I hate to bring logic into this, and the difficult practicalities of everyone seeing and doing all of the things that have been discussed.

I know everything is being spoken about purely hypothetically, and a lot of important events in history have been mentioned. But, this is merely time travel, travelling backwards and forwards in time, not changing location.

If I went back in time, even one hundred years, I'd still be here, in the same location. Instead of being in my house I'd be in the middle of a farmer's field, most likely being shot at. I could go back further in time, a few thousand years, and walk to the site of Stonehenge, ok it would take me a few days, but it's only 50 miles away. Observing Custer's last stand could prove tricky, unless I walked to Portsmouth, and persuaded a kind-hearted captain to charter a ship for my use. Going back in time and seeing if there really was life on ancient Mars would prove impossible. Not only could I not charter a spaceship to take me there, the mere mention of alien life forms would have me labelled clinically insane, no doubt I'd be executed for blasphamy, or some such thing. Then again, to go back far enough in time, to the point where there may have been life on Mars, there'd be nothing but dinosaurs on the Earth, they'd be no use to me whatsoever.

I've waffled enough, but bear with me for a couple more minutes. An episode of Red Dwarf highlights my point in a very funny way.
They are stranded, in deep space, 3 million light years away from Earth. Their one motivation in life is to retuen to Earth. They get their hands on a time machine, scavanged from a Simulant ship (I think!) And proceed to go on their adventures, back in time. The time machine works, they go back to the 1400's. They are excited at the prospect of seeing life in Royal Court. After the time travelling has happened they look out of Starbug's window, lo and behold they are still in deep space. Just deep space in the 15th century. They are dumbfounded, and declare it a waste of time. I think it's Lister, but it could've been Rimmer, he says something along the lines of... "Oh great, we can drink in the heady medieval atmosphere of deep space."

Katie *nit-picking, and maybe thinking too deeply about all of this*

 

[MNGuy]

You see, this time machine has the following controls, non-Microshit, of course:

Date of event - since it is non-Microshit, you can use generalities, and let the machine find the correct time.
Location of event - again, the machine will be able to tranport you to the necessary spot.
Event preview - You can look at the event, and make sure its what you want to see. It you want to observe a celebrity having sex, but then its to gory, you can back out.
Time traveler mode - Observer only, so the time machine is more like a holodeck, allowing you to view recorded history.