Do over stories.

[amadeus]

Going back to my birthday 13th birthday would be 1998. I'd find one of the bigger Powerball jackpots that would be won around my 18th birthday and get a ticket for it. That's where you get the money from to start investing! If everything else works out as it does in our timeline, investments in Apple, Facebook, and Google would pay off in a huge, huge way. Retire on dividends at 21? Sure beats working!

What if this question were modified so that you'd return to something like age 13, but it is still 2014 and you're in a middle/junior high/whatever school in your general area?

I'd still take it. Let's take the most important part of a child's life at this point: school. I could see it going one of two ways.

First, being trapped in the system―this doesn't sound good, but consider that I am mentally capable enough to just cruise through all of junior high and high school. Being free of financial responsibility for another few years, I could spend that time developing my skills for when I become (legally) an adult.

Second, my "genius" is recognized―I skip grades, test out of school, whatever, and enter university at the age of 14. I'd get a load of scholarships and hopefully connections that could be used once I finish by the age of 18. In both cases, I'm hoping the university doesn't change that much because I'd probably be taking many of the same classes I did when I was actually in college.

I don't think the culture shock of going back to school would bother me that much since I'd already be so detached from the rest of the students. Even in the worst case scenario, where everything turns out kind of like the way it did the first time around, I'd still be in a better position to handle it.

The hardest part would be leaving Japan to go back to the Midwest.

 

[CavLancer]

I don't like the idea of having advance knowledge of how events will turn out, because nobody ever has that and it's easy to be wise in hindsight. I think it's a better thought experiment to imagine you've returned to your early teens in the present time.

What if this question were modified so that you'd return to something like age 13, but it is still 2014 and you're in a middle/junior high/whatever school in your general area? You have the brain of an X-year-old, but physically you're only 13, and you have no advance knowledge of anything. Your parents are also de-aged to be whatever age they were when you were 13, and otherwise they behave the same way, and have the same amount of power over you.

What you have gained is the knowledge and life experiences you've accumulated over the past X-13 years. But it's still 2014, and in every other way you're in the shoes of someone who was 0 as of the 9/11 attacks. You have to deal with the problems of a modern young teenager, knowing what life is like as an adult. What do you do now?

I think this would really suck - I remember feeling like I was in a nonsense holding pattern as a teenager, where I didn't fit in with my peers and I had to do things like bother Civ 3 moderators in CFC and #civfanatics c. 2003, and learn a bunch of interesting things on my own to supplement my generally crappy school education, to keep myself occupied. I could imagine that I'd have some better luck in social life because my social skills are a lot better now than they were then, but then I'd be socializing with other 13-year-olds, which would be less than fulfilling. And like cybrxkhan, I'd feel dirty if I seduced actual young teenage girls, even if I could get away with it because my body was the same age.

Further, I really don't have a good feeling the prospects of people who are currently that age. I suspect the real economy is, at least in the First World, in secular stagnation or decline, and that the ~2025 job market, along other parts of reality like the political world and the natural environment, will be no better, and possibly worse, than today. This is debatable and I sincerely hope I'm wrong about most or all of that, but it's not something I'd gamble my current life for.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but I think I'll pass.

Might change things in such a way as to not know the outcome of many things. Like changing the JFK assassination. Lets say he serves 2 terms, does he continue his misguided involvement in Vietnam the way his VP, Johnson, did? Kennedy could hardly do worse and might do better. If I could warn the FBI about the assassination in such a way that they can't trace it back to me but somehow be able to keep communications open, I might be able to warn the government off committing troops. Imagine a US with no Vietnam and no Nixon. Also, US industry had not yet fled to China. I could warn the government about the long term effects of losing the tax base and inflating a new Asian aggressor.

If successful after saving Kennedy and stopping Vietnam I wouldn't know what's coming as far as events.

If I continued to die and return to 1960 throughout eternity I could get pretty good at changing the future to a better world.

 

[onejayhawk]

Going back to my birthday 13th birthday would be 1998. I'd find one of the bigger Powerball jackpots that would be won around my 18th birthday and get a ticket for it. That's where you get the money from to start investing!

Do you remember the winning Powerball numbers? There will be no reference material but your memory. You have to get every detail correct.

With investments you need to be patient. Buying Walmart in 1972 would be great, but you need to get a couple thousand dollars together, then leave it alone for twenty years. There are some big killings to be had, eg silver in 1980 or shorting Enron in 2001. You still have to have money up front.

One way around the investment issue is to change the world. As bootstoots said, you could switch to another person in this time line. You could move to a different culture. Your history would be good for that. Imagine a grown American waking up as a Japanese child, or vice versa. You could be FAR in the past. What good is 21st century American stock knowledge in 1850 London? Or 15th century Venice?

J

 

[Hygro]

Dude I would kill it. I would get in the recording studio immediately, pass go, head straight to college, kill it again in my econ courses and be putting out dance hits and rap beats as an 18 year old running a trading desk on wall st, purely on being a child prodigy, turn around and denounce the shady stuff right before the crash, cash out and then camp out with occupy in 2011 and then become a hippy and meditate every day.

 

[onejayhawk]

Dude I would kill it. I would get in the recording studio immediately, pass go, head straight to college, kill it again in my econ courses and be putting out dance hits and rap beats as an 18 year old running a trading desk on wall st, purely on being a child prodigy, turn around and denounce the shady stuff right before the crash, cash out and then camp out with occupy in 2011 and then become a hippy and meditate every day.

After you were released from juvenile detention, you mean?

J

 

[Hygro]

After you were released from juvenile detention, you mean?

J

I don't get it.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

You mentioned a fair amount of killing...

 

[onejayhawk]

You mentioned a fair amount of killing...

J

 

[Shaihulud]

Memories are the results of how our brain is shaped and patterned after our experiences. Consciousness is a physical thing, not an ephemereal nothingness that can be imprinted so easily on another. A 13 year old you is a different person from you. It will be a terrible thing to override and take over his/her consciousness.

 

[CavLancer]

Experts.

I'd like to go back and mentor myself, much younger than 13 however. Back when things started getting fugly.

 

[Leifmk]

Replay by Ken Grimwood

Yes, I was going to recommend that. Beautiful, lovely, melancholy novel.