The past or the future?

Imagine you have the ability to travel either forward or backward to anywhere in earths history. But you only have one go at it.
Meaning You can travel to the time of your choice and if you decide to come back to this time time, you can never go back or forward again.


I'd say that unless you do something like start a war or teach humans how to pollute the earth sooner, the tiny changes you make would not alter historyenough to matter. having kids or murdering people is another thing.. not that any of us would murder people. but let's say something happens. like an accident. anyway. let's say all the cliche time travel stuff is not true. even if you change history drastically you won't dissapear if you aren't born in the future.

past? future? round ticket.

Which would you choose and why?

Additional Spam:
I would travel to somewhere between the years 601 and 700. I'd like to control of a large deserted island of which there would be thousands and thousands back then and start my own country. It'd be hard to get people there though.. but knowing all the useless future stuff that I know I could probably steal from large sums of money very easily.
or
I'd go back to when I was a kid maybe around 8. and warn myself of things from then on and make things go the way I want them to since I never would have realized these things back then.

nd i was going to say I don't know if this thread is approriate for the GD but I looked around and decided to post it)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'd like to see what the world is like in, say, ten thousand years' time. Potentially the human race would be extinct by then at the rate we're currently progressing, but it'd truly be interesting to see how the planet changes in the space of a few millennia. Something seems oddly appealing about wandering around ruins of the future.

Of course, there's also the possibility of morlocks.

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I'd go back to year 2001 when my dad was still alive, so perhaps we can alter his fate so can still be alive now. >_>

How ya doing, buddy?

I'd go into the future by a few hundred years to see what sort of mess the world has become by then. I would also be interested to see if we had managed to colonize any other planets, and the sorts of technology that would be readily available.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

i would love to travel to the future like a millenia ans see what happened witrh humanity, alien encounters, space travels, etc.
but probably i would chose the past, to correct things that i did wrong, and in a bigger scale trying to prevent big social problems, wars, conflicts, etc.
and maybe making a quick buck talking my knowledge to buy future petroleum pits, gold mines, etc,etc,etc. hehehehehehehe

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hmm one go eh. I guess I would want to experience the 80's and it's party hard entirety. I love 80's music even though I was only born in 88, so I wouldn't know much about it. I have watched about every episode of I love the 80's on vh1. Also I would have loved to go to a Michael Jackson concert at that time. He was just huge then and every performance was extreme. Rap was about fun most rock was about fun, everyone in the 80's was just trying to have fun. No one was trying to hard to be hard. At least that was the medias message, and thats more then what we can say now.

On the other hand I would like to travel a few hundred years back and I would like to go to Hawaii around the time of the duke(the guy that introduced serf to cali). Life seemed so simple and pleasant then I envied such a life style. No complicated life just simple living. I have lived in Hawaii for three years and I can tell you right now it can get ugly. Yes Hawaii has ugly sides especially Oahu.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'd go forward. I want to see if humanity can get to a point where we live in a sustainable way instead of raping the planet. I want to see if we can ever go into space in such a way as to make it worthwhile. I want to see if we can live on other planets. I want to know if we can reach, and live in other solar systems.

If I can take my girlfriend with me, I'm not coming back. If not, then I'd stay for a while, and come back to her. I'd be aiming for about 400 years in the future... if not more.

FELIPE NO

I would move ahead to a time where it is not so distant into the future. Maybe like 20 years or so. When I would get there, I would steal an invention after I researched what invention that I invented. Because when I go into the future, I the story is already set and I can become rich and famous.

Of course, if I had to go into the past, I would probably go back to when America was first founded, meet people, and bury a little keepsake so I can sell it when I get back.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Dekoa

Of course, if I had to go into the past, I would probably go back to when America was first founded, meet people, and bury a little keepsake so I can sell it when I get back.

monetary gain, this person has the right idea.

you can move me back to last week so I can win some lottery!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I would definitely go about 40 to 80 years in the future. Mainly because I also want to see what the world will be like. Actually, probably nothing has changed. Although I would assume that robots and androids would have taken a pivotal role in doing work for humans. Another 100 or so years after that and the Matrix will start.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by The Wise Vivi

I would definitely go about 40 to 80 years in the future. Mainly because I also want to see what the world will be like. Actually, probably nothing has changed...

Yeah cause nothing has changed in the last 40 to 80 years... oh wait, er, um, yeah, I'm on a computer, and people have been to space.

I'd abuse the ability for monetary gain by playing winning lottery numbers and then investing in the next big company to have a technological breakthrough.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Seeing the future would probably be my first choice. I'd probably want to go at least 200 years forward just to see what things are like at that time. I know that I wouldn't normally be able to live that long, so going anywhere into the future would be much better than going into the past.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Future, definitely. If you go to the past it means you've been there, but the world's like this even after that, otherwise you'd give rise to the grandfather paradox! Besides, go to the future, know it, use that knowledge in present... more effective.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'd definitely go into the future, since I already know what's happened in the past. I'd say around 4050, that should be a significant enough jump for the world to have moved on. I want real virtual reality and casual space travel to be commonplace. I'd also want to see what shape the earth is in and what energy sauce we decide to use.
Oh and I would have to take my fiance with me otherwise I'm not budgin'

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by MetheGelfling

Yeah cause nothing has changed in the last 40 to 80 years... oh wait, er, um, yeah, I'm on a computer, and people have been to space.

Never know. Things could happen that would cause limits in the future. You have to remember the past 40 or so years have seen such a quicker pace in advancement than in most of time humans have been on this planet.

FELIPE NO

Hard choice when it's restricted to a one-shot detail that's a single round trip at most. I would most definitely like to travel back and forth seeing if minute changes make any sort of difference.

If I had to choose, it would probably be a round trip to peek in the future maybe 50 or 500 years, and then come back if it's too bleak. I would really want to do something like going back in time to assassinate Hitler or something, then coming back to see what the world would be like, undo that, and try something else, but of course that's sort of selfish.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Domino

I'd go into the future by a few hundred years to see what sort of mess the world has become by then. I would also be interested to see if we had managed to colonize any other planets, and the sorts of technology that would be readily available.

you know. I was thinking about this.
what if you went to to far ahead and the earth was just gone and you were destroyed in the emense vacuum of space?
Just a thought.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Jan

I'd go back to when I was a kid maybe around 8. and warn myself of things from then on and make things go the way I want them to since I never would have realized these things back then.

Yeah, I've occasionally wondered about this. I like the idea of myself guiding myself through the early years of my life. If only to teach me a bit about life in the 'real world'. I used to be so naive...

Originally Posted by K_ Takahashi

monetary gain, this person has the right idea.

you can move me back to last week so I can win some lottery!

Originally Posted by MetheGelfling

I'd abuse the ability for monetary gain by playing winning lottery numbers and then investing in the next big company to have a technological breakthrough.

I'd probably try to do something like this at the same time. Monetary gain =

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Krelian

I'd like to see what the world is like in, say, ten thousand years' time. Potentially the human race would be extinct by then at the rate we're currently progressing, but it'd truly be interesting to see how the planet changes in the space of a few millennia.

Or just go at around 700,000,000 AD just to see the oceans evaporate since the sun increases its luminosity at 10% or 1,500,000,000 AD just to see the Earth "die" due to immense heat. (I mean, few creatures would survive a 200 degree centigrade heat)

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One of my favorite spots to visit will be of the antiquity, like Ancient Greece or Rome. However, with human rights being of a primitive state (outsiders as slaves or gladiatorial fighters and so on), it may be hard.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Future. I'm fascinated by our species' potential and want to see what we've achieved scientifically/technologically in say... 600 years. That would probably be the time I would like most to live in assuming that we're still around.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

HOPE THE WORLD BEEN NUKE FIRST BEFORE future jumping.

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Id just go to the future, I really dont see a point in going back to the past, well then again, if you go to the future and see what'll happen, you'll go back to the normal time (technically, the past) and try to alter what'll happen, so either way, its the same, going back to the past, or to the future

I feel like I can do more stuff when I go see the future Then again... x_x lol... either way would do.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?