Your Single Chance at Time Travel

[blackrave]

Sort of lame but I would go back right before the burning of the library of Alexandria. I would try and make an index of the library's collection and then would take as many books/scrolls as I could and hide them somewhere safe. Even if I can't read them myself I just can't imagine how much knowledge was lost at that one instance and how much we could learn about our history if even a fraction was saved.

Need a companion?

I wouldn't expect to find secrets of using practical magic or constructing some high-tech devices.
Rather I would go for historical data, that was present only in this place.
Mostly creation myths older that Sumerian ones

I'd go back in time to pre-historic times with a high powered crossbow/bolts (That are reusable) and an inflatable solar powered raft that would allow me to get around the world. I would think kill EVERY human being (or even mostly human neindrathals etc) on the face of the planet. If I could get a virus together to do alot of the work for me, I'd use that as well.

I'd probably kill all the monkeys/apes etc as well just to play it really safe.

And how would you fight aliens that were mining our planet at that time?

 

[lechat]

Sort of lame but I would go back right before the burning of the library of Alexandria. I would try and make an index of the library's collection and then would take as many books/scrolls as I could and hide them somewhere safe. Even if I can't read them myself I just can't imagine how much knowledge was lost at that one instance and how much we could learn about our history if even a fraction was saved.

it's prolly just filled with the era's equivalent of harry potter, tax law and outdated notions of science

 

[scorptatious]

I would travel into the future and see what life is like several decades from now.

But knowing me, I would accidentally set the machine to one minute instead and completely waste the opportunity. Making both present me, and future me sad.

 

[LiberalSquirrel]

To the time of the dinosaurs for me. I don't particularly care which period. I just want to know what they looked like. I could get some definitive answers on colors and patterns and eating habits.

Hm. Then again, seeing proto-humans would be cool too...

 

[SirPlindington]

Bring a shitload of people back with me, with the best of current technology, and allow us to expand from the past. Gives us another 10,000 or so years, and by that point we'll be pretty set as a species, methinks.

 

[joshuaayt]

I'll write a list of every single major disaster, bombing, conflict, dangerous violent scenario- every single time a lot of people died for no good reason, for the past, uh. I dunno, however far back I decide to go.

Then, go back and get to warning people. I'll start with natural disasters first- sadly, no one will listen to me the first few times, but I have to make sure no one suspects me of being involved before I work up a reputation as a seer. Imagine if my first warning was of a mass murder? They'll just arrest me when my intel proves accurate.

So, warn of a few earthquakes and tornadoes until I have the media spotlight. Then? Prevent every major incident between the time I go back and now. My immeasurable value will afford me a means to live, and probably also governmental protection.

I guess there's always the danger I'll be perceived as a risk to every nation's security, so I'll either get a warm welcome by the government I choose to represent, or have my brain dissected. But I can always just pop back to the present if things get squirrely, so there's no reason not to at least try.

 

[Gormech]

I'd go back to my senior year in highschool where my science teacher was talking about how us traveling into other dimensions and stuff was crazy but he'd pass whoever could prove it. No amount of money could surpass stepping into that room at that exact moment.

 

[ccggenius12]

I'd very much like to see Freddie Mercury live, in concert. From what I can tell via youtube, he is one of the few artists that sounds better live.

 

[InsanityRequiem]

I'd totally go back to June 28, 1914 and take the spot of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's driver. That way, I take him to his destination and keep that man from dying. Not only would I have prevented World War 1, but also WW2 and the rise of Communism! Serious, keep that Franz alive and a lot of the current world problems would be smaller than they are today. So what if the face of the planet geopolitically changes? Muahaha.

 

[Zuljeet]

I can travel through time now. Sadly, it's all going forward @ normal speed with no reverse and only stops when I die. Alas.

 

[Meatspinner]

I'd buy a sports almanac and give it to my 16 yo self. That or somehow make sure Rome stays as a republic

 

[TheDoctor455]

I would probably take the original manuscripts (and any copies floating around at the time) of every religious text, steal it...

and hit the 'prophets' over the head until they forget everything about the whole affair... then travel back to see what happens. Might even spare the world some suffering.

 

[VALOCARAPTOR]

visit a secluded country during the middle ages, Japan, maybe a first nations area and teach them all the most important things of modernity becoming their god, i will then tell them there will be a second coming on the date I time travelled back in time, I would then be the messiah for the strongest most technologically advanced nation

 

[DrunkenMonkey]

Go back in time to the stone age and carve my name, birth date and a rough picture of me onto a large boulder before painting that same information on numerous cave walls. Then come back to the present and watch as people think I am a god.
Or something equal to jesus.
I'm only using blood because that's probably the only thing that'll last long enough for "important" people to see it (e.g scientists and archaeologists). Unless any of you have any paint that'll last several thousand years...

What'd be funny though is that if the predictions were known about for a long time, people might think than your parents deliberately named you after the prediction rather than the other way round. That said, I think archaeologists would definitely be stumped on how modern writing, Arabic numbers and the AD date system found their way back into the stone age ;-)

OT: I wouldn't change anything major in history since there would be too much risk of something unforeseen happening: e.g. you kill young Hitler and prevent WWII but then a different WWII happens twenty years later after our one would have happened which involves nuclear weapons and wipes out 90% of humanity. I would therefore go back and save someone's life, not sure who, probably just someone random. Choosing which time period to visit would be hard though, so many interesting places to sight see....

You know what's funny, the way the world works, all that is probably 100 percent true

So there you have it kids, if you gain mastery over time don't kill Hitler, because he might be the unintended savior that saved the human race

 

[TheAmokz]

I'd go back to 1980's and buy as much apple and microsoft shares as i can.

 

[Talaris]

After watching Steins;Gate, I would be very hesitant as to what I would do in the past. I would probably simply watch a historic event or person, like Jesus dying on the cross, or Charles Darwin going about his research on the Galápagos Islands. Being on set during the filming of Star Wars would be cool too.

 

[Abomination]

Forward, learn who will win certain games in different countries within a months from when I left, bet everything I have - even taking out a loan - on them using my winnings to fund the next one. Attempting it for a longer period of time within a concentrated area would be unreliable as my successes MIGHT change things.

Better safe than sorry.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

Go back and swallow the Big Bang.

Just 'coz.

 

[Stordarth]

I don't think I'd risk time travel. Ironically, time travelling is one of the super powers I've always wanted, but when I think of the consequences of it, it feels unethical to me.

If you have a significant other, and you travel forwards in time, you cease to exist in the interim. You essentially abandon the one you love for that entire timespan. I couldn't travel forwards in time, knowing the hurt my actions would cause my partner - even if I explained what I was doing and why; I don't think any excuse or justification would be worth it. This doesn't matter if you intend to return, of course, provided that you can choose to return at pretty much the time you left. My actions would therefore create (or rather, perpetuate) an infinite causal loop. In that instance, I'd probably just get the euro millions numbers from the most profitable draw date, and see if they'd stay the same for me to bet on them.

I'd be too afraid of travelling back because I might inadvertently interfere with the relationship I currently have.

 

[Hawk of Battle]

My first thought was to quantum leap back into my 16 year old self and changes the entire last 8 years of my life, starting with not breaking up with my then girlfriend. Biggest mistake I ever made. If that's not an option then probably last week/several months ago, lottery numbers. Boring I know, but safe and practical.

It would be interesting to see the past or future, and maybe aquire advanced technologies or advance humanity a bit, but that idea would depend on the nature of the timetravel device in question.