What would happen if time travel became possible?

Think about it, if time machines are eventually invented and perfected think about what would happen to the world. We all know the "rules" that if you travel back in time don't change anything but do you think everyone will actually follow those rules?

Another thing, what would be the point of time travel if not to change something that has happened in the past?

Originally posted by theghost88
Another thing, what would be the point of time travel if not to change something that has happened in the past?

Exactly.
The only point to time travel would be to change something.



Human time travel is impossible anyway so we don't have anything to worry about

Originally posted by ThatsJustWeird
The only point to time travel would be to change something.

I don't know, I think that might be kind of a bad way to think about it. I mean, it'd give history classes a whole different point of view for one. Imagine someone going back in time with a camcorder, filming the Battle of Gettysburg for a lecture. Now that would be a little better than having to read a chapter or two or listening to someone drone on it monotone. And then we'd know for certain exactly how the battle happened, without anything getting lost in the translation.

Also, one thing always comes to mind when people start talking about how we couldn't go back in time and change things. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's seen Star Trek IV; remember that one scene when Scotty is trying to keep Bones from giving away technological secrets? Bones replies: "How do we know he didn't invent it?" I don't think you could go back and, for example, keep Hitler from killing 6 million Jews. But you might go back to try, and find that he was actually on the way to killing 20 million, and that's what you stop. I know it all sounds too sci-fi, but maybe someday it will be possible, and our current lives would be much, much worse than they are. Then again, maybe the future time travellers have less than humanitarian wishes, and our lives could be much, much better than they are.

Of course, there's always forward time travel to think about, but I haven't had enough coffee today (this year for that matter) to be able to rationally think about the ramifications that could have or how plausible it would be.

I think that you have a good point about the whole camcorder thing but think about this, what if someone had a camcorder and was filming the kennedy assasination. That would definately change history.

it has already happened.....and that's why there are no time machines.

well, bill and ted got an excellent grade on their history paper, so there are reasons to go other than changing the future or your present.

If you believe UFO's are really us from the future, it would seem one rule is don't get out of the vehicle, (except for anal probes) and avoid roswell NM !


I would expect like most technologies, we would abuse it, the elite would control it, and the people would not benefit from it. I don't think you'd be able to go to the mall and take a trip for $100 or anything like that.

The most logical reason to use time travel technology would be to go back to 1975, get an IBM spare part for your O/S, stop in during 1999 to post on some boards, and warn us of how lazy and stupid we are

I don't believe that you would be able to make changes when/if you were able to go back into time. Remember the old, paradox: If you were to travel back in time and kill your grandfather, how would you exist in the future to go back to commit the act. The answer is found in possible alternate universes. If we were to go back in time, we could interact, but things would work out in such a way as to not conflict with the future.

Originally posted by theghost88
I think that you have a good point about the whole camcorder thing but think about this, what if someone had a camcorder and was filming the kennedy assasination. That would definately change history.

Good point, but there's some possible scenarios where it wouldn't have any effect on us at all. Let's just assume time travel is possible right now, and I decide to go back in time to film the assassination. Not trying to stop it, just film it. I get there, get everything on tape--the gunman on the Knoll, three reptilians and Bush Sr. hanging out in a nearby bar watching everything happen, name your theory as to what happens here, the important part is whatever really happened, it's now on tape. So now what?

One scenario, I can try and release the footage right then, maybe the day after. Lucky me though, someone involved in the conspiracy recognized me as I'm walking up to the local newstation. Some chloroform, I'm in the trunk of a car taking a long drive somewhere they can dump a body. No news gets out, I never return to the present, everything continues on with no change. Of course, they may not kill me, but they may still either convince me to do keep things quiet or somehow prevent the news from getting out. Basically this boils down to "You can't change the past," and no matter how exactly it happens I'd never be able to get the word out at that time.

Another scenario is I return to my present time and release the news. I can't change the past, but I can change the present. But the people in the timeframe of 1963 through this hypothetical present will never know the difference; this is something that may be the top headline in 2030, makes no difference to you or I now though. And there may still be someone on the inside of the JFK conspiracy who stops me from getting the word out; someone who saw me at the site and kept what I look like in mind in order to keep an eye on me in their future.

The last scenario I'll put up here kind of builds on that last one. I go back in time, get the footage, but my ethics are less than perfect and I see a perfect way to get rich off of this. I get the footage, take it to whomever is implicated the most, and blackmail them. I don't care if the word really gets out, I'm loaded now. And I could do that for more than just JFK or government conspiracies; there's always someone with a skeleton in their closet they don't want the world to know about, and what better way to extort the money than first-hand footage of the event?

There's lots of ways that time travel could be going on without any of us knowing any better about it. Not saying I believe it is happening, but it's something that could be kept under wraps much better than many other projects that are out there.

too bad there isn't any technology in the 1960's that is compatible with your camcorder, so before you can show them the reptilians, you have to explain what digital video is, and how you got it, and where you came from.

just pointing out that the implications/impact of time travel spiral so far out from a time traveller, its really impossible to predict the outcome.


You might have no impact on the kennedy assassination, but you might cause a digital photography revolution that changes economies of entire nations, and cause something else to be filmed that never was, like UFO's on the white house lawn or whatever

cheers

Originally posted by MCory1

Originally posted by theghost88
I think that you have a good point about the whole camcorder thing but think about this, what if someone had a camcorder and was filming the kennedy assasination. That would definately change history.

Good point, but there's some possible scenarios where it wouldn't have any effect on us at all. Let's just assume time travel is possible right now, and I decide to go back in time to film the assassination. Not trying to stop it, just film it. I get there, get everything on tape--the gunman on the Knoll, three reptilians and Bush Sr. hanging out in a nearby bar watching everything happen, name your theory as to what happens here, the important part is whatever really happened, it's now on tape. So now what?

One scenario, I can try and release the footage right then, maybe the day after. Lucky me though, someone involved in the conspiracy recognized me as I'm walking up to the local newstation. Some chloroform, I'm in the trunk of a car taking a long drive somewhere they can dump a body. No news gets out, I never return to the present, everything continues on with no change. Of course, they may not kill me, but they may still either convince me to do keep things quiet or somehow prevent the news from getting out. Basically this boils down to "You can't change the past," and no matter how exactly it happens I'd never be able to get the word out at that time.

Well, in order to get a time machine, and not change the past,, you would have to get a guy to devote his entire life to a device he will never get to use, and as long as you don't change what it was that made you want to build a 'time machine' it would still exsist, but if you went back and chaned your mottivation, like, say you wanted to save some one, once you saved them, you would ether still stay in the real universe, or would be thrown in to a paradox, either one with just you inwhich you are erased from history altogether, or the universe collaspses in on it's self, but if time is infinatly overlaped with other versions of earth, then it might be possible to change on of those worlds and get out alive, but not so easily in this world, you have to take into acount, that if you do change something, you have to have the motivation, to choose something that you WOULD change, for sure, but then never do, to keep yourself anchored in time, so to speak, and then you could change the past, but the thing is, it isn't really that you can't change the past, it's that it already happend, time is like a puzzel, aslong as you stay on one stream of it, but if you cross over into an alternate time flow, you able to change it, but it doesn't matter, because you've most liky screwed yourself over, and thrown yourself into a world where your mothers name is debbie instead of stacy, or the four leaf clover is the dominate species, and the three leaf clover brings good luck because of it's raity.hell, the grass might even be blue and the sky green! It's all full of improbabilaties and such....not immpossible, but very Efing hard to work out.

Hmmm...I wonder if maybe Aristotle,Davinci,Ben Franklin and Einstein might be the same person?

Hmmm...I wonder if maybe Aristotle,Davinci,Ben Franklin and Einstein might be the same person?

If time travel were possible to the general public then every last man and woman would travel back one week to buy a winning lottery ticket.

But then again, lets say they make rules and you must abide by them or they tavel back further and take you back to keep you from messing things up. That could keep people from damaging any timelines.

That brings up another scenario though. Say time travel is recreational and people are allowed to go back to watch certain events live but cannot in any way interfere with the outcome. At EVERY major event you would see the same faces and people in the background. The time tourists.

I do believe some day we will discover the secrets of time and ways to travel it. ANYTHING is possible and i'll not be the naysayer on this issue.

To close this, imagine the end has come for mankind. The Sun has gone all wobbly and the Earth is dying as a result. We could simply send everyone back a couple of billion years and keep right on living the good life. Time travel could very well save our species.

Just some thoughts,

Wupy

Originally posted by mrwupy

... imagine the end has come for mankind. The Sun has gone all wobbly and the Earth is dying as a result. We could simply send everyone back a couple of billion years and keep right on living the good life. Time travel could very well save our species.


Wupy

Thats an interesting thought.

I think if time travel did become possible, any undesirables would not wake up the following day. If such a machine became available, it would be a select few people of great power who would have it. Can you imagine how easier it would make their lives to go back and cut some roots of family trees, therefore making todays population decreased. Just a thought.

I'd think if it were possible, future would be in the present with knowledge of what tomorrow brings in hopes of changing today... see any changes?
Speaking of time, strange that our time is calculated by a "watch" in that it tells of elapsed time/present time/future time and if we went back to "watch" it happen... ("not on my watch") sorry, the failings of language become evident.

As to going back to film an event, you'd be accused of orchestrating it in the first place since you were there and watched it happen and did nothing to stop it.
Going forward in time is interesting if you could make it back. I think if time travel is possible you would enter a different dimesnion/time line (like sliders) but getting back to your origin would be impossible since just by leaving you change the course of events that happen in your absence.
Paradoxical in that even by doing nothing, we exist in this reality and if we did something we affect the outcome of others lives.

But, the Book of Revelations was written. Perhaps that change from the future by going back to tha past is what is going on with the entire Bible?
Sad that we are still headed for the downfall anyway.

It wouldn't be good to travel in time... You'll just end up with a hell of a lot of problems...

Originally posted by syrinx high priest
I would expect like most technologies, we would abuse it, the elite would control it, and the people would not benefit from it. I don't think you'd be able to go to the mall and take a trip for $100 or anything like that.

Even the elite can get greedy at times. Who's stopping them?

[edit on 10-8-2005 by theghost88]

imagine taking like an f-16 or even an f-22 into world war two or right after it. They reverse engineer it and realize that they make it. So we have modern planes in the 50's and 60's. Imagine the airplanes wed have now, our black projects would be regular planes of today

First off, the very act of *being* somewhere changes things, so it's not really possible to NOT affect the past.

That being said, here's what would happen:

I, or one of the very many other smart people, would go back in time, and stop, by whatever means necessary, the creation of the devices. Time travel for all of the masses would be the end of the world.

If a government got to it, it'd be the beginning of domination by that government, unless they were far better than any to date.

Originally posted by PurityOfPeace
I think if time travel did become possible, any undesirables would not wake up the following day. If such a machine became available, it would be a select few people of great power who would have it. Can you imagine how easier it would make their lives to go back and cut some roots of family trees, therefore making todays population decreased. Just a thought.

What if their grandmother slept with the milkman?