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If you had a time machine would you use it to solve unsolved crimes?

Wouldn't that create a time paradox if you go back in time to solve unsolved crimes?

If I had a time machine. The first thing I would do is find out what happen to Jimmy Hoffia.


That would be a good mystery to solve.

How would it create a paradox if you went back, saw the crime as an observer took video evidence then shoot back to the current day and present your findings somehow.

There are a large number of unsolved kidnappings in Adelaide that would benefit from a time machine
 
The way time travel works in that story is, if you change history, it only applies to your own personal timeline. It doesn't affect the whole of reality.
Now that depends. Are we in a single timeline, or a multiverse?

Single timeline: did changes made back in the 1940s affect you parents or grandparents, how they met, who they instead married, etc? Could go either way. If you return to the present, because of the law of the conservation of energy, you may very well vanish in a puff of logic. Or turn into someone else, probably with no memory of what happened.

Multiverse: In one, you go back, you kill Hitler, and 'return' to another one where either Hitler is alive or dead. (Fictional) you vanishes or becomes someone else or you're stranded with people who have no idea who you are.

Time travel. It's an inexact day.

I do have a time machine for now, but it only moves forward in time, & operates on water and caloric intake, & when I'm done using it, it will have hopefully deposited me some length of time in the future
Trouble with that machine is it works on a time ratio of 1:1.
 
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No, I wouldn't use a time machine for that. Crimes in general don't interest me.

I would use the time machine to witness historical events, especially those that have been surrounded by a lot of myths since the original event happened, and no-one can be 100% certain what actually happened because there are no trustworthy direct written contemporary sources, only historian's opinions and interpretations of later centuries.
 
No, I wouldn't use a time machine for that. Crimes in general don't interest me.

I would use the time machine to witness historical events, especially those that have been surrounded by a lot of myths since the original event happened, and no-one can be 100% certain what actually happened because there are no trustworthy direct written contemporary sources, only historian's opinions and interpretations of later centuries.

But then you return with your findings would it matter? Would it debunk people's beliefs or even change them?
 
Trouble with that machine is it works on a time ration of 1:1.
Still. I've gotten to see both 1973 & 2023. That's gotta count for something. Point of fact, it's the only time travel we can count on that counts for anything.
 
But then you return with your findings would it matter? Would it debunk people's beliefs or even change them?

Convincing other people might not be my first priority, I'd simply like to know for myself, and then perhaps consider publishing my findings, and perhaps not.

And if I were writing a report about it, to tell other people of my findings, of course the context would matter. Do I claim to have invented a time machine in my basement that I won't show to anybody for fear of my machine being replicated, or am I an officially appointed 'Observer of History'/ historian on the extremely tightly regulated government institution tasked with such research and entrusted with the monopoly on time travel? I would expect to be believed a bit sooner in the latter case, and probably not even then by many people if I were tasked to find out the historical truths around, say, Jesus of Nazareth.
 
What about going forward in time and see what kind of unsolved crimes, and other mysteries people would spend years and even decades to solve, then coming back and witness and document it, becoming heroes in our time.

I could prevent the Zodiac Killer of the 21st Century...or the next Jack the Ripper.
 
In terms of Australia I'm thinking the Beaumont children. If we could go back in time and witness what happened find out who did it we could solve one of the biggest cases ever.
 
What about going forward in time and see what kind of unsolved crimes, and other mysteries people would spend years and even decades to solve, then coming back and witness and document it, becoming heroes in our time.

I could prevent the Zodiac Killer of the 21st Century...or the next Jack the Ripper.

Smart Glass is real now.

But was Smart Glass real in Minority Report, or was it a special effect?
 
Smart Glass is real now.

But was Smart Glass real in Minority Report, or was it a special effect?


A lot of movies and productions showcase new tech because it looks cool. Those transparent screens on Discovery in season 1 and 2 were the real deal. If you have the money you can buy them right now.
 
Could our legal system as it is currently handle time travel? I stop a mass shooting before it happens, have tons of news stories and clippings of this event that no longer exists, can anything be done to prosecute the shooter? Or what if I kill the shooter before it happens, will those new stories and clippings help my case any?
 
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