Here is the situation. Scientist have discovered time travel and they need to test it out by sending a human being. One problem is there would be a 70% chance you would die. Would you still be willing to take that chance? 5 minutes sounds like nothing if your talking about a tv show dealing with time travel but wouldn't this be one of the biggest things ever conceived of in human history in the real world? Nobody has done it before and it might open the doors to who knows what possibilities in the future. You would basically be Chuck Yeager or a Neil Armstrong. Also besides the chance of death you would be stuck in a alternate world for the rest of your life. Sure the world would basically be like your own world but you would have the knowledge that on some level your family there would not technically be your family,not helped by the fact that you might stop the other you from doing the experiment meaning that universe would have 2 of you and you would be the outsider. Plus it means you would know your real family would still be out their, and you would never see them again. Also lets forget that if you did this that the scientist wouldn't know if it worked because they wouldn't know if you had made it to the past. Let's just say that got a science way of proving you made the trip and it was either a success or a failure. Me I would take it. I think my family would be okay without me and while I would miss them I would like to say I did at least one worthwhile thing in my life. If I die I die. Not a big deal and maybe they would learn something for any future attempts. Plus the cool thing if it works it means you might be able to do it again because the scientist from that alternate world would most likely be wanting to do more time travel attempts as well. Who knows maybe they could even figure out away to make a really impressive leap in your lifetime and you could go back to the 60's or 90's or wherever they manage to send you and you might even be able to help those worlds as well with your future knowledge. Jason
Is there a reason they can't send a frog or (shudder) a mouse instead of a human to test it out? ...but to answer your question, no, I wouldn't do it. Not for 5 minutes. If you could send me back to 1978 then, maybe.
I can't think of a reason not to send a frog or mouse so I am just going to say that the time machine tends to make anything other than humans , explode. Chances are a human only has a 70% chance of that happening. Who knows. Maybe your exploded remains that land in a alternate universe could end up saving lives. The other you will see, exploded you and choose not to go back in time. That you then goes on and makes the ultimate internet post that makes people finally see reason and the world becomes a better place in this alternate earth. Meanwhile our earth never gets your internet post and Trump starts Nuclear War that ends all of humanity. At the very least it could be said that humanity was preserved in the creation of this second universe thus are species continues to survive instead of completely being erased from existence. Jason
Let's assume a multiverse where 70% of your instantiations would die and 30% would live. However, even if you could arrange it so that you learn something of potential value such as winning lottery numbers and you have time to buy a ticket, there's no guarantee that the same numbers would come up in your new perceived reality.
I was thinking more about the science of time travel being advanced than about trying to do something like make money off the trip. It would have to be a big breakthrough that could someday change the world but to do it someone has to be the first time traveller so why not me? If I die it's no big loss to the universe and maybe they can perfect it so the next guy only has a 50% chance of dying. If it works then who knows what the next big leap would be in their work. Jason
I'm all about the money. If the scientists don't know you succeeded what would be the point? Don't they have any knowledge of where you turn up in the past? What if it was 5 miles underground, in deep space, or the middle of Antarctica?
You don't think the chance of being seen as the next Neil Armstrong would be appealing? To me it also would sort of be like Jodie Foster in "Contact." Who wouldn't want to time travel if you had a chance. Nobody else on the planet could say they ever did that but you could, provided you live. Plus meeting the other me would also be fun because I love the idea of meeting another me as well. Also the question would be is what your doing on this earth so awesome that you couldn't give it up for anything? Jason
Why would I want to be seen as the next Neil Armstrong if it means most likely being dead? I enjoy life, I don't need firsts, bests, mosts. A beer and a beach is the greatest thing ever and the second greatest thing ever is a nice cup of tea. Fuck fame.
Well I was sort of going off the idea that they would sort of know where you would land and would know if it worked. Plus even if they didn't know the scientist from the second timeline would know when you show up and now they have 2 versions of you. Jason
Do they have two versions? I got the impression you disappear from the present and show up somewhere else, either dead or alive. Not the equivalent of being the first man on the moon though. More like a useless Russian roulette version of Seven Days.
You would still have a 30% chance of living. Plus it's possible that time travel might be used someday for a greater goal and could save lives or maybe even find away to explore space. Can't do that without making the first steps of time travel. Imagine if humanity had infinite amount of time to figure things out by simply going back with future knowledge and helping past earth get more advanced with each trip back to the past to a point were space travel to Mars is simple and all disease has been knocked out. Jason
Seven Days does sound like a better description. I don't think it would be useless. If it works they could then begin to expand the project and maybe find ways to make it safer the next time or increase how far back you go. If you do die then they at least know not to try that angle again. They would have two versions once I arrive but they wouldn't even exist if I never went back. That alone might make it worth it to simply create a alternate universe. If everyone dies in one universe from war or climate change maybe the second universe would fair better, keeping the species going. Jason
We have had thousands and thousands of years to figure stuff out. We've figured TONS of stuff out.. but human nature is what it is and greed makes us want to be on top which means others are under us. Having more time isn't going to fix that.
I agree that humans don't change that much but technology does. Imagine what kind of society we might have had if you went back to the 90's with what we know now and give yourself a extra 30 or so years to work on it while also increasing the knowledge of the people of that timeline. You could make great advances and then in 30 years have another group and maybe even you if you were still alive go back to the 90's again with even more advanced knowledge than you had the first trip and repeat this action over and over. Not to mention you can sort of avoid the issue of climate change stoping your work for a very long time or maybe even help prevent it since you are back in the 90's again. Jason
Meh... maybe 50/50. But here's a thing... if it's "time travel (like sci-fi)" then it's not an alternate dimension... even given a more realistic dimensional time jump, the traveller would probably want to believe that it is his family etc. and since everything is !00% the same (except "5 mins ago") you'd probably believe. On the other hand, maybe you could never accept it and either kill yourself or go bash!t crazy.
They way I think I would see my alternate family is I would see them as family but not having the same roles in my life as my original timeline family. The fact that their would already be a me their means you could never really pretend things are like it always was. I actually think my other self would be kind of cool with the idea because he would be a sci-fi fan and already be familiar with these kind of concepts, not to mention he would have have made the trip into the past as well if I hadn't arrived so he would have already been prepared for some alt timeline weirdness. I think my second family might have a harder time grasping the idea, though my mom loved "Sliders" so she might get it. If my other self tried and explain things I think that would also help things. Jason