qbert4ever said:
....Come to think about it, maybe I should just stay away from time machines. No good ever seems to come of them.
That's mostly because of the attitude of most people and writers and movie makers that fiction should portray our world as good. Most time-travel thingies, or wish-granting movies are always about realising that you have it pretty good. No one can ever, in mainstream fiction, manipulate reality into a better place. It always turns out for the worst. Even when time travel is the answer, it's usually to right a wrong caused by trying to manipulate reality, in one way or another.
And this is because we want to have it good. If time travel or granting wishes or omnipotence always solved everything, people would be pretty disappointed with the world they live in. They'd think it's pretty annoying that they can't time travel and fix everything, that they can't have their wish for millions of dollars granted, or whatever. Having fiction dictate that everything is alright, and everything is as it should be makes people more consent with their lives, and fits well with the big religions of the world, and their views that, even if some of us may not like it, have shaped our society in very big ways, and our perceptions.
Personally, I think it's all bullshit. Using a time machine to correct errors wouldn't screw everything up, if you were just careful about it. The problem is that it could easily go wrong, create a paradox, or become diluted. What if everyone had access to it, all the time? Everyone would be in a different time and change everything, and someone would screw up and blow us all up. If it was just me, or just you, or just him or just her, then it'd work. Sure. If it was all of us, then no. We'd be pretty much fucked.
