Things you would try to change if you could use Time Travel.

[Guest Jupiter]

I'm not sure how far this topic is going to go. The idea of this topic sounded interesting.  If you could travel back in time, what are some of the things you would do?

 I'd travel back in time to fix some things that happened in my past. Make more friends and had made some better decisions.

[Salkafar]

Travel back to Sarajevo, June 28 1914, and stand behind Gavrilo Princip. Then, as he prepares to shoot, grab him and stop the whole attack. That, to the best of my knowledge, is the single action with the biggest effect. Perhaps the first world war was inevitable, but then again, perhaps it was not.

Say that the first world war did not take place, or at least did not take place then.

 

No first world war. No Russian revolution. No German revolution. The US' role as major world power is reduced. Austro-Hungary remains the dominant power in the Balkan region. The Ottoman empire lingers on for longer, perhaps Mustapha Kemal never reforms Turkey. The second world war never happens. The nuclear bomb is never built. No jets. No rockets. No cold war. No communist revolution in China. No space race. No moon landing. Japan becomes the dominant power in Asia. The European nations maintain their colonies for longer. And all that is just broad strokes.

 

At the very least, it would significantly slow down the history of the twentieth century.

[RazorLaser]

^Very good.

 

I would go to the 80s to see some of my favourite bands at their peak.

 

And go back about 10 years, to start playing guitar earlier and rid myself of drenn people I was hanging out with at the time haha

[*guyverfan]

i would go back and change everything in my life.

i would tell my past self that instead of always veering to the right at life's fork in the road, to go left.

ofcourse, this would be at the time after i had found guyver so i would still be steered towards finding this community(jeez.....i'm a big suck, hehehe)

[Matt Bellamy]

Only things that would have to do with my life. And only on the smallest scale possible to live a better life, but not make any impacts to society.

 

While it might be noble to assume stopping a war would benefit humanity or such, changing big moments in history can have devastating affects on the present.

 

For example, the amount of technology that has come out of Wars is staggering. If the Wars never happened, we probably would be no where near where we are now in terms of technology. As well, say you saved all those people who died of the Black Plague way back then. Due to the amount of people who lived, could change your friends, family or your own existence from ever happening.

 

If by some chance I was immune to the effects of time travel ( ie I would still live even if my changes caused my parents to never meet) I don't think I could live with that.

 

In other words, it is just selfish to go change other peoples past actions because YOU think it is right. Yes, some smaller ones might have smaller effects, but doing so could cripple the rest of the current society. Which despite the issues we do have, we actually have it pretty good.

[*Chernaudi]

I'd go back and try and foster a romantic relationship in school.  That's the only big thing that's missing from my life now.

[Salkafar]

...it is just selfish to go change other peoples past actions because YOU think it is right. Yes, some smaller ones might have smaller effects, but doing so could cripple the rest of the current society. Which despite the issues we do have, we actually have it pretty good.

 

Any change, no matter how small, has geometrically increasing ripple effects. And to even suggest that World War I and all the horror that flowed directly from it (Including, but not limited to, the Spanish Flu pandemic, the Russian revolution, Stalin's regime, the rise of Communism in Europe, the second world war, the Chinese revolution, the rise of Communism in Asia, the cold war, the nuclear arms race,  the rise of the military-industrial complex, the wars in Korea, Viet Nam and Central America, the Kim dynasty in North Korea, the occupation of Afghanistan, the ethnic wars in the Balkan, and ultimately even the war on terrorism, all with a total body count I can't even begin to estimate) were a price worth paying for the progress that followed from it - a questionable notion in any case - seems very cynical to me.

[*Jess♥]

It may be hard to fathom, but I agree with Matts perspective but for additional reason.

evolution of society.

If it were not for the various wars that occurred, we may still be in an era of colonialism where many more crimes are occurring and none of it is publicised. also due to the lack of progress in technology, a lot of this stuff could be covered up easier. there would be a far higher likelihood of hell on earth.

 

yes there are many many atrocities going on in the world today, but there is a chance for it to be reduced through protests and increased political pressure etc. we are all in a position to become more organised and to make a real effect to equalise the power in humanity and stop these things from happening. what is more, we have the historical perspective to make these decisions. It's pretty bleak that we have all this history and these things still happen, well it's gonna take us some time to get there, to self organise and to create forward momentum in ways that really matter.

 

and so, to summarise my response to the thread, I would not change a thing in history or in my own past. I think all things were important to get to where we are today.

[*Jess♥]

by the way, there is something that is a problem in my life that I sorely wish could have been changed earlier, but if I went back in time and effected that change, this website would probably not exist. So I'm happy for that aspect of my life even though it causes me distress.

[LordSpleach]

Well said, Yuki.

 

For me, I might just buy a Sports Almanac.

[*YoungGuyver]

Travel back to Sarajevo, June 28 1914, and stand behind Gavrilo Princip. Then, as he prepares to shoot, grab him and stop the whole attack. That, to the best of my knowledge, is the single action with the biggest effect. Perhaps the first world war was inevitable, but then again, perhaps it was not.

Say that the first world war did not take place, or at least did not take place then.

 

No first world war. No Russian revolution. No German revolution. The US' role as major world power is reduced. Austro-Hungary remains the dominant power in the Balkan region. The Ottoman empire lingers on for longer, perhaps Mustapha Kemal never reforms Turkey. The second world war never happens. The nuclear bomb is never built. No jets. No rockets. No cold war. No communist revolution in China. No space race. No moon landing. Japan becomes the dominant power in Asia. The European nations maintain their colonies for longer. And all that is just broad strokes.

 

At the very least, it would significantly slow down the history of the twentieth century.

The first world war was inevitable because society was begging for it.

In the century before, people were moving from the farms and into the city.  People saw themselves as getting weaker, and saw war as a way to prove their strength.  They glamorized it, recounted all the great military victories.  They thought another great war would be a feather in their caps, and that it would only last 3 weeks tops.

 

They were wrong.

Stopping the death of one man won't stop the war.  They would have simply found another excuse to fight.  The alliance with Germany however... They guilt tripped Germany into backing them, pointing out they had an alliance with Germany, and Germany had never before really supported them.  Germany was desperate for allies at that moment in time, and so they gave 'the blank check', which allowed the war to escalate to such a degree that it did.

 

Technology was ALREADY developing.  It was already making war far more devastating than what man could imagine.  If you could stop the alliance with Germany from bringing them into it, and keep that particular conflict to just those nations, then perhaps you could use that one war to show people how things have changed.  Based on how stubborn people can be, even this is doubtful, given how anyone opposed to war was call a coward at the time.  But perhaps...

 

The world wars were a game changer.  It wasn't the wars that brought the technology, that was already being developed.  But people saw how much more deadly it could be.  Prior to these wars, the kill count was proportionally higher.  And prior, technology had been used to attain even higher proportional death tolls.  After this point in history, the proportional death toll begins to decline in war.  We changed.

 

What bugs me is when idiots like Bush jr say stupid things like 'This generation has never been tested', as if we NEED to go out onto the battle field.  It was promising that we weren't tested in battle!  It showed we were growing, that we could resolve conflicts without violence.

[Matt Bellamy]

...it is just selfish to go change other peoples past actions because YOU think it is right. Yes, some smaller ones might have smaller effects, but doing so could cripple the rest of the current society. Which despite the issues we do have, we actually have it pretty good.

Any change, no matter how small, has geometrically increasing ripple effects. And to even suggest that World War I and all the horror that flowed directly from it (Including, but not limited to, the Spanish Flu pandemic, the Russian revolution, Stalin's regime, the rise of Communism in Europe, the second world war, the Chinese revolution, the rise of Communism in Asia, the cold war, the nuclear arms race, the rise of the military-industrial complex, the wars in Korea, Viet Nam and Central America, the Kim dynasty in North Korea, the occupation of Afghanistan, the ethnic wars in the Balkan, and ultimately even the war on terrorism, all with a total body count I can't even begin to estimate) were a price worth paying for the progress that followed from it - a questionable notion in any case - seems very cynical to me.

But here's the thing: You wouldn't know what would happen. Leaving something like that up to chance is just something I could not live with.

I am a personal believer that the only way to improve is to look to the future and plan for better. I can do this because of the mistakes that have already happened.

In the case of changing a major political event like World War 1, you wouldn't know what would happen, You would just assume that "Everything will be better" (again, selfishly). What if it is not? What if it turns out to be even worse? Would that not make you the biggest war criminal ever? Sure, as said, there is a chance it could turn out for the better... But leaving something that big to chance isn't something I don't think I should personally make.

Kudos to you if you have the fortitude to attempt and accept responsibility for such a thing. But that fact everyone assumes that it would be better, is false. There are always an equal (of infinite) amount of chances that it could turn out for the worse.

And if it turns out worse, and you "write yourself out of existence", everyone in the world has to live with YOUR choice, because you assumed it would be better.

[Salkafar]

 Leaving something like that up to chance is just something I could not live with.

 

...Actually that is exactly what you're advocating. Leaving it to chance, and not interfering.