I’ll go first.
3 options
- Going back to 1964 to watch the Duke Ellington’s Montreal show. Try to meet the man and the musicians. Hang around my city.
- Go in the end of the 70s to meet my parents before they had kids. Grab a couple of beers and party with my young adults parents. See my uncles, etc. in their young time
- Going to 1881 during the couple of days when Nietzsche wrote Zarathoustra. I want to discuss with guy even if he is supposed to be writing all day long. No consequence right.
What are yours?
EDIT: I’ll clarify: You can’t affect the timeline. It means you cant go back to try to get rich with stocks, lottery, etc. It’s like going to see a movie, when you come back the world will be exactly the same. You can interact with people, but in the end, the day you spend in the past will not have existed for anyone but you, in your memories.
Option 1: Attend Stewen Hawking’s time traveller party - he likely won’t expect someone so dumb though
Option 2: Watch and experience Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia - I often hear our conservatives argue this was actually friendly
I’d definitely try to record everything in both cases.
I’ve always suspected that Stephen Hawking’s time traveler party did happen and there were many people there but Hawking’s agreed to tell everyone that no one showed up.
I bet they also made a clone of Hawkings and left the clone behind and took the real him to the Future with them.
He’s probably partying in 2743 right now in an 18 year old body, surrounded by beautiful futuristic space babes with neon hair and skintight glitter clothes.
But seriously though, if someone did show up, it’s possible saying that no one did was simply required. Imagine everyone now thinking the future people will save us, and suddenly there’s no future.
But I am sure it would still have some effects because of the butterfly effect. Hey, perhaps travelling into the past creates near-infinite timelines each time with all possibilities. I mean, it would affect the time traveller himself, and something would be slightly different each time. Simple example, because of the time traveller’s presence things will go different and they will arrive at slightly different time due to which they will again arrive at a slightly different time. They may know something else, do something else, with some different effect in each time. But there’s only so much a minor thing could do.
Perhaps if Hawking admitted to the vistors, rather than an unimaginable number of similar timelines, there would simply be no… but then the visitor ceases to exist… but if they already travelled back they must have…
Fuck, I hate getting stuck thinking about time travel.
But perhaps that’s the thing, admitting to this would have perhaps resulted in some catastrophic events. But, like, how would you ensure it does not happen.
OK, let’s trace it.
Time traveller goes back, returns, Hawking admits it, we’re doomed with hope, there’s no future, no time traveller to return.
But!!! They have already returned to their timeline. Maybe it doesn’t effect their timeline. Maybe they just doomed one timeline, and only one, because in that one there won’t be…
No, what the fuck, I can’t just… or would that open another timeline… No. If you can’t affect your own timeline it’s not time travel.
Crap.
God damnit!!