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If you had a time machine, would you visit the past or future. Me--I would visit the future. How about you. (Original Post) debm55 Tuesday OP
Here's an obscure song you might enjoy with a few thoughts on this topic... unblock Tuesday #1
Thank you very much, unblock. debm55 Tuesday #5
Personally, I would go back to when I was happy which was the 90s Walleye Tuesday #2
Thank you very much Walleye. debm55 Tuesday #7
Can I know what I know or do I just have to be dropped off in time? UpInArms Tuesday #3
You would be the same person with all your knowledge of what happened. debm55 Tuesday #8
Then I would go back and stop the brooks brothers riot UpInArms Tuesday #20
Definitely the future. anciano Tuesday #4
Me too, anciano. debm55 Tuesday #10
I'd go back to 1984 and warn my mother about her developing cancer. Basso8vb Tuesday #6
That's what I would do too. Unfortunately the treatment wasn't as good back then. Walleye Tuesday #9
Oh my, Basso8vb. May here memories be a blessing to you. debm55 Tuesday #12
I'll take future, please EYESORE 9001 Tuesday #11
HAHAHAHAHAHAH. Me too, EYESORE 9001, There are many times in the past I would not want to visit. debm55 Tuesday #13
A year ago I would have said the future. I doc03 Tuesday #14
I would definitely go back to the past. generalbetrayus Tuesday #15
Thank you very much, generalbetrayus debm55 Tuesday #16
Neither one. Dorothy V Tuesday #17
Here's another "time travel" song. generalbetrayus Tuesday #18
I'd go back in time. I've used this method a few times: rsdsharp Tuesday #19
About 1000 years into the future would be my choice. Native Tuesday #21
The time paradox would cause problems LogDog75 Tuesday #22
I'd go to the future. boonecreek Tuesday #23
I'd go to the future. Angleae Tuesday #24
The past Vogon_Glory Tuesday #25
Lions and cheetahs and short-faced bears, oh my! generalbetrayus Tuesday #26
The fishing might be interesting, too Vogon_Glory 15 hrs ago #32
I would revisit the past... GiqueCee Tuesday #27
Past ProfessorGAC Tuesday #28
I'd go back to the 1970s up until we got stuck with Reagan Ritabert Tuesday #29
I'd visit the future if I could be invisible and radiation-proof Wicked Blue Tuesday #30
The past. Dem2theMax Yesterday #31
Forward and then come back and invest with Emile 15 hrs ago #33

unblock

(55,214 posts)
1. Here's an obscure song you might enjoy with a few thoughts on this topic...
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 01:27 PM
Tuesday
?si=ABcej-ydxHObiOae


Did anybody notice, over marmalade and eggs
In between the Princess' legs
What with wars and floods and beggars
Not to mention stocks and shares
If you have a moment to spare
Can you write and reassure me that I have seen
They're constructing a time machine
There will be no need for the obituary pages
We can have any hero from the bygone ages
'Til the truth emerges, the argument rages

Chorus:
The major and the minor
Turn from tallow into tar
Should we leave them in their place?
Down in damnation's cellar

When any form of deity that you might enjoy
Can be conjured with a test-tube and a flame
If it's out there then science can explain it
Or at least remove the blame
And if theres is anyone you'd like to see again
The speak up quickly

Send us back Da Vinci then we don't have to ponder
The maddening smile of "La Giaconda"
The critics say Nijinsky, the dancer, of course
While the punters would probably prefer the horse
You'll find it's quicker than history, cheaper than divorce

Chorus

Bring back Liberace or Ollie and Stan
Shakespeare will have to wait his turn
Elvis Presley and Puccini shall return
I suppose we live and learn, though it's hard to believe as we
cheerfully burn
It's curious
Some will call for justice.
There are murders to solve
What about Hitler? Or at least Lee Harvey Oswald
Give us this day and everything we squander
Anyone beautiful
Somebody blonder
They'll never please mankind, so lie back and enjoy it
Stop press: They've just decided to destroy it

Chorus

Walleye

(40,888 posts)
2. Personally, I would go back to when I was happy which was the 90s
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 01:34 PM
Tuesday

I was working steady doing what I love, and seeing my boyfriend often or visiting him in NYC. As far as what era I would like to be in, I think the future sounds pretty interesting. or at least I did think so up until the last election.

UpInArms

(52,888 posts)
3. Can I know what I know or do I just have to be dropped off in time?
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 01:35 PM
Tuesday

If I can keep my knowledge, I would go back and fight harder

Basso8vb

(1,112 posts)
6. I'd go back to 1984 and warn my mother about her developing cancer.
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 01:39 PM
Tuesday

So she wouldn't leave behind a 12 year old daughter and 17 year old son in 1988.

Walleye

(40,888 posts)
9. That's what I would do too. Unfortunately the treatment wasn't as good back then.
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 01:42 PM
Tuesday

My mom died in January 1989 of colon cancer. She was only 70 her family and I still grieve.

EYESORE 9001

(28,393 posts)
11. I'll take future, please
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 01:44 PM
Tuesday

Enough with the past and paradoxes & the like. My wife is a frequent time traveler. She brings up the past.

debm55

(45,579 posts)
13. HAHAHAHAHAHAH. Me too, EYESORE 9001, There are many times in the past I would not want to visit.
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 01:47 PM
Tuesday

doc03

(37,930 posts)
14. A year ago I would have said the future. I
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 01:48 PM
Tuesday

don't want to live in a dictatorship so now the past

Dorothy V

(334 posts)
17. Neither one.
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 01:57 PM
Tuesday

I fear the future and would want to stay in the past.
I Would rent the thing out! $500.00 an hour! Not responsible for what happens!

rsdsharp

(10,868 posts)
19. I'd go back in time. I've used this method a few times:
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 02:10 PM
Tuesday
&pp=ygURdGltZSBtYWNoaW5lIHNvbmc%3D

LogDog75

(495 posts)
22. The time paradox would cause problems
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 02:39 PM
Tuesday

As we learned in Back to the Future II, when you change the past can cause an alteration to the timeline. If you go back in time, you automatically affect the environment around you causing a disruption in the space-continuum timeline. If you go forward in time, you disrupt that timeline because you originally wouldn't have been there. The danger of time travel is too great to do.

If you could travel in time then I'd opt for going back in time provided you could only observe and not interact or influence anyone or anything. It would be like opening a window and watching what was happening. It would be interesting to see not only the persons involved in some of history's most important events but to see and examine what people did that lead up to and caused the event to fully understand what and why something happened. Seeing into the future through a "time bubble" would allow us, in our time period, to advance our civilization faster than we'd be able to handle it. It would be like introducing what our society has to those in the 1700s. Eventually, they'd be able to handle it but the disruptions it would cause to society's natural progression would cause them to develop differently, either for the better or the worse.

boonecreek

(1,010 posts)
23. I'd go to the future.
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 02:45 PM
Tuesday

The day after election day and see who won. If it's the Dems I'll stay.
If it's the Repugs, its back to 1993.

Vogon_Glory

(9,872 posts)
25. The past
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 03:21 PM
Tuesday

If I could go with an armed escort, I’d love to go on a sight-seeing safari to North America’s South Plains around 25000 BC and look at the wildlife.

Vogon_Glory

(9,872 posts)
32. The fishing might be interesting, too
Wed Jun 11, 2025, 12:34 PM
15 hrs ago

I can’t help but wonder what was swimming around Lake Bonneville (Great Salt Lake Valley & Bonneville salt flats) and Lake Alamosa (Colorado’s San Luis Valley).

GiqueCee

(2,338 posts)
27. I would revisit the past...
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 03:38 PM
Tuesday

... and make a few adjustments to ensure that you would even have a future to visit.

ProfessorGAC

(73,038 posts)
28. Past
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 04:12 PM
Tuesday

But, I'll follow the rules & change nothing.
I'd like to see the Sistine Chapel being painted.
I'd like to see Babe Ruth play.
I'd like to see the pyramids being built.
Well, I would change one thing. I'd take some 1981 $20 bills & buy about a thousand shares of Apple.

Dem2theMax

(10,716 posts)
31. The past.
Wed Jun 11, 2025, 12:17 AM
Yesterday

So I could ask my birth mother all the questions I was afraid to ask her when she was alive.

Emile

(35,058 posts)
33. Forward and then come back and invest with
Wed Jun 11, 2025, 01:04 PM
15 hrs ago

start up companies that will be in the Fortune 500 in the near future.

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