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[Godot]

Well, I for my part would try to get buy as much 25+ years old money as I can afford, then go back ~25 years and invest heavily in Microsoft Stocks

[jwenting]

it would be instantly declared top secret and used as the ultimate tool for political assassination, kill the opponent in the next elections before he can announce his candidacy.

[Godot]

They can only observe and not do anything else. I wrote the two things just as examples, thats the reason i want to hear what other people think

Ah O.K., only observations ...

and also a 2 way ticket, not a one way one (which i assumed when I made my earlier posting).

So it is somehow like Walters mirror into the mirror universe in Fringe.

In this case, and if it is governmental funded, I assume it depends on the country in which the machine was developed and the scientists would probably first go to times and places of national importance.

(which for americans would be maybe JFKs assassination as you mentioned, but maybe also the signing of the declaration of independance, for french maybe the secret aroudn the death of Napoleon, for other nations mybe other things)

[Guest]

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Edited November 16, 2017 by Guest

[chaltak]

Spring, 1006. Let's get footage of the brightest supernova ever visible from Earth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1006

[ZetaX]

I am not a fan of the 500 year limit on your theoretical machine. My very first, natural instinct was to say "Travel back to time 0 and observe the birth of the Universe in the big bang, and see just how much I can observe through the dense soup of matter."

Asking for a machine that travels to a "time" before time and space is a bit too much...

The first primate, [...], the birth of mans first actual language

Note that those are not a singular event but probably thousands or millions of years long, i.e. not really that good of an observation to do in real time.

[Godot]

They can go back five times for 24 hours, then they are "Time-Travelled" to the present.

Since they could only go back five times, they would try to do something usefull.

Just observing

They could see everything in slow-mo and real-time.

You would be invisible.

Great, the reason i started this thread is to hear other suggestions.

OK. To make it moar interesting you can go back to the birth of Australopithecus and observe anything to this day. Plus you can only observe Earth.

In this case the 5 visits would be:

1. Palestine around Jesus times (to discover the truth behind the stories in the bible)

2. Europe at the time when Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis were around (to find out how they lived together (whether peacefully or sapiens driving neanderthalensis to extinction))

3. Alexandria before the library burned down (in order to 1. read/photograph as many lost books as possible and 2. in order to locate the tomb of Megas Alexandros)

4. Gizeh, at the time when Ramesses II was entombed ... to see/photograph the pyramids and Sphinx in their full glory and to see what the tomb of Ramesses II contained

5. China, tomb of Quin Shi Huangdi, at the time when he was entombed, to see/photograph the wonders that his tomb was said to possess (among them a huge map of china, with mercury instead of water that filled the rivers)

As an alternative to any of these points:

*. Greece at the time when the Antikythera machine was shipped, in order to see what technologies the greece posessed and how the Antikythera machine looked like in working condition

Edited November 24, 2013 by Godot

[MC.STEEL]

The fact that we dont see visitors from the future means that we will probably be smart enought one day to not invent a time machine. ...just sayin.

too much paradoxes and wierdness as if the universe isnt created with time travel in mind

ps:time machines are one of the few tech i am oposed to

Edited November 24, 2013 by MC.STEEL

[THE META]

I know this is slightly derailing the thread, but by any chance did you create this thread in hype for the doctor who special yesterday?

[Guest]

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Edited November 16, 2017 by Guest

[WestAir]

Asking for a machine that travels to a "time" before time and space is a bit too much...

Note that those are not a singular event but probably thousands or millions of years long, i.e. not really that good of an observation to do in real time.

Time 0 is still a time. It's the point where time and space began to propogate. I wouldn't travel before that, because I could not. Really I'm more interested in seeing if the Big Bang happened at all, and what it actually looked like to have billions of Galaxies spew out of something smaller than a penny.

To the OP who said I'd be restricted to Earth - in technically the Big Bang happened "everywhere" because it's space that expands with time, and so at time 0 Earth was at the center of the big bang. Just saying...

As for the first primates, I'm sure there were animals with a mutation that literally became the first "Homo" of the species. There is a first human, it happened, and they looked exactly like us. His or her parents might have been ever so slightly different (maybe just extra facial hair, who knows), but there is a line that was crossed, and I'd like to see it. As for the first language, that too. There was a point, somewhere in the past, where someone finally said (for the first time ever) that THIS means THAT. It could have been something as simple as their own name, and it was probably just one word with one syllable... but again, I want to see it.

[Kryten]

What's the limit to the 'just observing' rule? After all, you need to intercept photons to actually be able to see things.

[ZetaX]

Time 0 is still a time.

Speaking sloppy: space was s singular point there, so there is nothing to observe nor place to fit you in. Also, "seeing" is likely the wrong word, as the avarage traveling length of photons was probably very small in the beginnings.

@Kyten: this is just nitpicking on the fact that observation and interaction are the same on a quantum level. It's no better than throwing in any other problem with time travel, like e.g. violating causality, uncertainty principle, or whatever, and is not really the point.

Edited November 24, 2013 by ZetaX

[Kryten]

Not just on a quantum level. When you look, you're absorbing a heck of a lot more than a single photon at a time, no? It'd be noticeable. It's also been stated that these people physically 'enter' the past, rather than using some kind of time-viewer-if they can't interact, how exactly do they breathe?

[WestAir]

Not just on a quantum level. When you look, you're absorbing a heck of a lot more than a single photon at a time, no? It'd be noticeable. It's also been stated that these people physically 'enter' the past, rather than using some kind of time-viewer-if they can't interact, how exactly do they breathe?

Irrelevant. It's a hypothetical scenario with the ultimate goal of learning what historical event people most want to witness.

[ZetaX]

They bring their breathing equipment with them and are shifted "out of phase" or similiar thing from SciFi. And ignoring quantum mechanics, i.e. only using relativity or classical stuff, you can probably have something that exactly mimicks any photon you absorb or something similiar. But all those pseudo-explainations are still irrelevant: you are completely missing the point of this question and are just nitpicky without it causing any advance. I will try to rephrase it to you: of what event (with the above temporal and local restrictions) would you like to see a rather detailed three dimensional footage¿

[zekes]

"Imagine, Americans with the ability to re-write history? You've seen their movies...."

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary.

[Savage117]

@the OP, you should probably change the title to "Time-Viewer" because that's basically what it is in a nutshell, and the current title seems to be really confusing the people who aren't reading the post, just a suggestion.

On the subject: Id like to study parts of the Bible, to glean what is true and what is fiction, and should some of the more fictitious sounding parts be true, find out how they happened and why. I would also like to see the creation of life on our planet, was it some sort of spontaneous chemical mess that created us? Was it an alien species seeding a young planet with life? Was it an asteroid from space with all the things needed for life to grow on it?

To the argument on whether we could go back to the Big Bang, even if we were restricted to viewing just the Earth, we would still be able to go back to the Big Bang. The Earth was part of it, it may have been a nanoscopic particle at the time but it was still there. Also we would be able to go before the Big Bang, probably wouldn't see anything due to light not existing yet, but you could. The Big Bang was not the creation of time, Humans were, time did not exist until we invented it, only space and distance did, time is a Human concept created in order to quantify our existence and allow us to measure it.

[Sternface]

This may sound strange, but I would love to go back and witness firsthand some nuclear weapon tests. This is undoubtedly the first thing I would do. Notably, Czar Bomba, Castle Bravo, Ivy Mike, Trinity, and operation Crossroads - in that order. I know nuclear weapons aren't exactly a good thing, but their power has captivated me since I was young and first saw a video clip of a test. Plus the physics are very interesting.

This will also sound weird, but I would also want to travel back to WWI and WWII. I am fascinated by this period, and to see some of the battles first hand would be incredibly powerful (not good, or bad...just powerful). Specifically, I would want to observe the landings at D-day, the sinking of the Yamato and Bismark, the battle of the Coral Sea, and Java sea, the battle of Kursk, and El Alamein, and the Soviet encirclement of the 6th Army and 4th Panzer division at the conclusion of the battle of Stalingrad.

WWI, I would only want to take a small peek, just to see the shock and awe of front-line trench warfare. I would be too depressed to stay any longer than a few minutes.

[ZetaX]

Ah, we seem to have a similiar taste here, as all those are things I would also like to watch. It probably has somewhat to do with the inherent "epicness" (also a way to say "not good, or bad...just powerful") for me, and I would e.g. add the launch of Apollo 11 for that reason.

[Sternface]

^Right?

I would definitely add Apollo 11 to that list. If I was protected by a time-traveler's force field (highly recommended for the safety-conscious time traveler who would rather avoid such unpleasantries as being burned at the stake by savages and natives for the crimes of witchcraft and sorcery) I would love to stand right under the Space Shuttle during launch, and bask in all of her 215dB glory.

Here's a great short clip that somewhat captures the enormity of the sound:

btw, you think nukes are bad for Global warming? just kidding.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Sternface

[Bluegobln]

I highly recommend some people in this thread read the book "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus" by Orson Scott Card. It gives some interesting insight into the concepts of observing the past, and the implications of doing so. And well... some other fascinating things. I particularly like his ideas about the origin of the tale of Noah's Ark (in the same story, yes..). A very good book.

[Skyler4856]

Moon landings

[hugix]

This may sound strange, but I would love to go back and witness firsthand some nuclear weapon tests. This is undoubtedly the first thing I would do. Notably, Czar Bomba, Castle Bravo, Ivy Mike, Trinity, and operation Crossroads - in that order. I know nuclear weapons aren't exactly a good thing, but their power has captivated me since I was young and first saw a video clip of a test. Plus the physics are very interesting.

Same, I would love to see that magnificient violence (such a paradox!). The mere power that man can create. I once read (I think it was on cracked) an officer had a small bullet catcher like frame from mirrors all pointing inwards. During the testing of an atomic bomb he held the frame towards the explosion, held a sigarette in the middle of the frame and it lit. He used an ATOMIC BOMB to light his sigarette. I would love to see something like that.

And ofcourse I would visit all spectaculair launches. The Apollo launches, Gemini, Voskod. The first space shuttle.

I would not visit wars and assasinations and such, I would love to see an atmoc bomb but not the two Japanese bombs. It's just to messed up. I'm not a violent man. I just like brutal raw power.

And I would travel to more fun facts and things. Did the MEsopatamians really invented beer, was Marylin Monroe really that pretty. Was Jesus real? Did Elvis really carried a gun meeting the president? Visit Led Zeppelin Live. See the beginning Black Sabbath (Back when they played jazz). See Johnny Cash in San Quentin. Visit the Eiffel tower / Hoover dam / Burj Kalifa during construction.

But it would have dark properties, I'm afraid I would revisit my own past, seeing myself happy with previous girlfriends. Reliving memories I've burried a long time ago. Go back in time and spy on people I know to find out how they'd think of me. I know myself good enough that I'm not strong enough to visit moments I should not.

[NASAFanboy]

I've decided!

I want to go to that missing one minute of tape on the Watergate scandal. We'll be rewriting the history textooks in short order.