The Time Travel Option

[amadeus]

Let's say you had the option to go back in time 50 years. Before going, you'd be given a bank account with US$100,000 (in the 1950s) and allowed two 1950s-era suitcases full of your personal artifacts.

There are only a few simple rules by which you need to abide by:

[1.] You cannot bring electronic devices, or blueprints/plans used to create those devices, or any component that is used in their creation through the time portal.

[2.] You cannot bring photographs, recordings, or film, regardless of their date of creation, through the time portal.

[3.] You cannot bring any money with you through the time portal. Your one-time stipend of US$100,000 will await you at any bank of your choosing in 1958.

[4.] You cannot bring any living matter through the time portal, excluding the germs and bacteria normally found on a given object.

[5.] If you presently live in a former communist country, you will be allowed to defect to a Western country of your choice without fear of harm to you.

[6.] Coming into contact with your family or friends of family from this time is strictly forbidden, nor are you permitted to tell anyone that you are from the future.

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So, permitting those conditions are met, would you travel back 50 years and live there? You would have knowledge of the future, and thus would be able to capitalize off that.

Would you go back?
What would you do?
What from our present time would you miss?

 

[Phlegmak]

Let's say you had the option to go back in time 50 years. Before going, you'd be given a bank account with US$100,000 (in the 1950s) and allowed two 1950s-era suitcases full of your personal artifacts.

There are only a few simple rules by which you need to abide by:

[1.] You cannot bring electronic devices, or blueprints/plans used to create those devices, or any component that is used in their creation through the time portal.

[2.] You cannot bring photographs, recordings, or film, regardless of their date of creation, through the time portal.

[3.] You cannot bring any money with you through the time portal. Your one-time stipend of US$100,000 will await you at any bank of your choosing in 1958.

[4.] You cannot bring any living matter through the time portal, excluding the germs and bacteria normally found on a given object.

[5.] If you presently live in a former communist country, you will be allowed to defect to a Western country of your choice without fear of harm to you.

[6.] Coming into contact with your family or friends of family from this time is strictly forbidden, nor are you permitted to tell anyone that you are from the future.

----------------------------------------

So, permitting those conditions are met, would you travel back 50 years and live there? You would have knowledge of the future, and thus would be able to capitalize off that.

Would you go back?
What would you do?
What from our present time would you miss?

You first. What would you do?

 

[Theige]

I'd go back to the future style, and bring a sports almanac.

 

[homeyg]

Anyone heard of John Titor? I think it's an interesting story.

 

[philippe]

I'd go to the world expo in Brussels. Then with what's remaining, ( )stock exchanges ftw. So maybe, yeah It would be a great time to go. Become a record producer and recruit those "beatles"...

 

[History_Buff]

Find sciencey types. Bring up the theory of a semiconductor. I know that they're possible, and some idea of how they would work, so I could probably convince someone smarter than me to figure it out.

I can't think of too much else to do without telling people I'm from the future. I could attempt to tell the US just how dilapidated the USSR is. Knowing that could help reduce the odds of nuclear war. I could also make a big fuss about how getting into Vietnam would be a huge mistake, but it seems unlikely that anyone would actually listen/care.

I'd probably find some sort of job as well, gotta do something all day, although 100,000 seems like it would be a fair amount back then.

Finally, I would wait till the mid 70's, buy a whole bunch of gold at fixed prices, then sell it when it skyrockets after hitting the open market. Leave money for presumptive children.

Eventually die. The End.



All in all, not worth it, not by a long shot.

 

[LightFang]

Maybe. I'd go back and make a killing off the stock exchange or sports betting...

 

[DNK]

No. Only on vacation, but I don't want polio and smallpox, so no.

Because I'd prefer there to be advanced medical technology when I'm 70, not that 90s crap. Couldn't even treat AIDS back then, how barbaric...

 

[Narz]

No. Only on vacation, but I don't want polio and smallpox, so no.

Polio and smallpox in 1958?

I wouldn't go back. Now is the best time to be alive. If I had to go back I'd be more curious to go back maybe 10,000 years and I still wouldn't want to go alone nor lose my memory.

 

[DNK]

Just polio then. I think that was still around in the late 50s.

Smallpox... yeah, okay.

Lose your money?
I'd certainly take $700K worth of cash. It's almost worth it for that.

 

[greenpeace]

Well, no because of having to be away from loved ones, but assuming I could bring some people:
Just look at my avatar and you know how long I would be bored and waiting for the future to occur. But yeah, it would be amazing to experience the 60's and 70's (especially since I wouldn't have the same fears of mass destruction as others may have). Perhaps my political ideas would have more relevance . On kind of a technicality side, would I be 50 years older when I get back to now?

 

[Narz]

Ama, are we allowed to bring others? Cause if so I'd go in a heartbeat. Especially if we each got $100K. You realize how many land $100K could buy back then?!!

I'd especially go if I could bring a few notebooks worth of notes to myself. Not notes about future events per se or things to invest in but just some ideas of what to do with myself once I arrived in '58.

I'd especially, especially go if I could be 18 again when I went. And extra 10 years would really come in handy, especially since without it I might not even live to see 2008 again!

 

[Harbringer]

Become a "prophet", start a cult.

 

[Winner]

Let's say you had the option to go back in time 50 years. Before going, you'd be given a bank account with US$100,000 (in the 1950s) and allowed two 1950s-era suitcases full of your personal artifacts.

There are only a few simple rules by which you need to abide by:

[1.] You cannot bring electronic devices, or blueprints/plans used to create those devices, or any component that is used in their creation through the time portal.

[2.] You cannot bring photographs, recordings, or film, regardless of their date of creation, through the time portal.

[3.] You cannot bring any money with you through the time portal. Your one-time stipend of US$100,000 will await you at any bank of your choosing in 1958.

[4.] You cannot bring any living matter through the time portal, excluding the germs and bacteria normally found on a given object.

[5.] If you presently live in a former communist country, you will be allowed to defect to a Western country of your choice without fear of harm to you.

[6.] Coming into contact with your family or friends of family from this time is strictly forbidden, nor are you permitted to tell anyone that you are from the future.

----------------------------------------

So, permitting those conditions are met, would you travel back 50 years and live there? You would have knowledge of the future, and thus would be able to capitalize off that.

Would you go back?
What would you do?
What from our present time would you miss?

If it was 60 years, I'd shoot Gottwald, the leader of the local commies. 1958, well, that was a dark age, so I'd rather live in the West.

I'd probably memorize the results of some sport games, dates of some major changes in the stock market etc., in order to have enough money in the beginning.

I would make predictions about the future, not exact predictions, but accurate enough to draw some attention, and become a national security advisor to the US president. I'd try to stop Vietnam war from happening and promote a much tougher stance on the USSR, in hope to bring about its collapse earlier.

 

[Mise]

I'd stay here.

 

[Winner]

How could they live without internet and mobile phones anyway...

 

[scy12]

You comment that we can not bring any storage device with us but you neglect that , WE are a storage device. If the scenario gives us as much time to prepare as we wish then it is easy for me to find out what i would do. I would pick a series of modern theories which modern technologies are based on and memorize them perfectly. I will then memorize events of the past that would make me rich. However other than "This is the time where i am living from" , friends and families etc , i want to see how humanity , science ,politics ,my country ,the economy progress through the years. And the previous decades are a No no. Am i allowed to ever go back ? Let's say i do not go back. At 1986 may i find out that i am born ? . Then would the man that would become me , travel to the past ? Do whatever i did ? Travel back in time to meet himself being born. Infinite loop ? That would be an interesting scenario to see.

 

[Brighteye]

It's a tempting offer. I might do it, and cause a very rapid advance in science by so doing, given that I know more biology (off the top of my head) than many experts in 1958. I might also be able to avert rather worrying problems such as the desire to cause global warming.
My knowledge ('predictions/research') would make me famous, and certainly provide additional income. Although I know very little about stock market fluctuations, I could invest in certain companies whose names I recognise. Not all would do as well as they have, because I'd have changed things, but it'd be worth a shot.

Eventually I'd end up being a Bill Gates figure, on the back of various inventions, theories and patents, simply because I could direct my research so effectively, even if I can't remember exactly how to get from transistors to computers, or the precise chemical formula of modern antibiotics or drugs.

 

[Winner]

You comment that we can not bring any storage device with us but you neglect that , WE are a storage device. If the scenario gives us as much time to prepare as we wish then it is easy for me to find out what i would do. I would pick a series of modern theories which modern technologies are based on and memorize them perfectly. I will then memorize events of the past that would make me rich. However other than "This is the time where i am living from" , friends and families etc , i want to see how humanity , science ,politics ,my country ,the economy progress through the years. And the previous decades are a No no. Am i allowed to ever go back ? Let's say i do not go back. At 1986 may i find out that i am born ? . Then would the man that would become me , travel to the past ? Do whatever i did ? Travel back in time to meet himself being born. Infinite loop ? That would be an interesting scenario to see.

Sorry, no paradoxes.

If you went back in time, you'd inevitable change the future. Assuming you'd keep low profile, you'd perhaps not prevent your own birth, but ieven if you did, you wouldn't disappear or something.

Movies about time travel really suck, don't look for logic there.

 

[scy12]

Sorry, no paradoxes.

If you went back in time, you'd inevitable change the future. Assuming you'd keep low profile, you'd perhaps not prevent your own birth, but ieven if you did, you wouldn't disappear or something.

Movies about time travel really suck, don't look for logic there.

Sorry but time paradox are not caused by wishful thinking rather is the only conclusion one may reach if he asks what may happen if events from the past,future and the present meet and influence each other. You can only say do not discuss them and you would be correct until a problem arises. I am interested of witnessing and learning about the man that would become me. It is something that is of interest to someone. As for Movies , what do the movies have to do with anything ? Useless comment that.