If you can go only one direction with time travel, which would it be? Would you go into the past, or into the future? And how far would you go?

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Time travel in only one direction, past/future, does not allow the traveler to return to their point of origin. The traveler could, if they chose to travel into the past, stop at different ever further past dates. One could plan it so they could visit great events/people of the past, but as one went farther into the past they would sacrifice things like electricity, indoor plumbing, and modern transportation (cars,planes, and trains). A good horse would take on the added value it once held. The draw however could be meeting/ observing famous people/events from the past.

The future would be an even less certain travel option. While technology should continue to advance, travel into the future could land you in a world that you were not expecting. One might land in a world already destroyed by nuclear war or by biological weapons. One might enter a world devastated by a collision of the earth with an asteroid or comet. On the other hand it might just be a paradise were food, energy, and resource problems have been eliminated.

If I could retain the option of returning to my point of origin, I'd visit the past. Being most careful to not to disrupt the events of the time traveled to. Eliminating Hitler or Ben Laden as a child might sound great, but it might be worse as far as how the future could unfold. However, witnessing Thomas Jefferson as just another person attending church or being another face in the crowd to hear/see Jesus Christ could be life altering. Being discovered would be constant danger, but getting to see Julius Caesar/Rome might be a most interesting thing. In addition, if planned well, one could return from the past as a most wealthy person. Imagine investing in Apple or Microsoft on the ground floor !

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It would be an easy choice for me.
I would go back in time.
In January 1974, my Dad was in the hospital with a heart attack. The doctor told us he was doing great, and would be back home in a couple weeks.
The next morning, he was dead.
I would go back to 1973 so that I could tell him one more time how much I loved him, and to apologize for all the times I was such a bonehead.
I’m glad I got to see him and tell him I loved him the night before he died. So he knew it.
He always stressed to me to never avoid telling someone you loved them, as you never knew when it would be the last time you saw them, no matter who might make fun of you.
Any of you reading this, if you love someone, TELL THEM SO!

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I too have lost family and close friends, but for me they have a valued place in my past and disturbing/adding to those memories only serves to stir up the pot where my memories rest. I would however like to not interact, but observe (without it being known) certain members of my family tree as they were long before I was born. My father as a young man that joined the US Navy in 1940, my Grandfather (father's side) to see him in the prime of his life as he lived and farmed in N.C., and Charles Carroll of Maryland (signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution) come to my mind first. I'd just like to be the guy sitting in the tavern or at church anonymously observing them.

Interacting with people in the past, especially family members, runs a risk of altering/damaging the timeline of their/your future. I can understand wanting to go back and visit those that we have known in our lives, but I believe that doing so would be a great mistake and could do more damage than good.

If one could go back and discover lost information about shipwrecks, or lost civil war gold, or just what the truth of Oak Island is could be both fascinating and profitable too. Was there another shooter in Dallas the day Kennedy was killed?

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Ahhh! So , Smokey watches “civil war gold” and “oak island”! 2 of my favorite shows. That, and the lost gold of ww2.
I just wish at least One of them would actually find something!
I myself like treasure hunting with my metal detector.
Anyway.....beings as time travel isn’t real, it’s all just for fun to talk about it.
If it WAS real, I would have told my Dad to get to a cardiologist BEFORE the first heart attack so they could do heart bypass, as I had done.
So maybe he would still be here.
But being as none of it is real, I guess it doesn’t really matter.

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I'm aware of many unsolved cases that involve treasure. Ships, mines, hidden clues yet to be discovered that could lead to artifacts or gold or truths that need to be revealed.

Was LBJ behind the Kennedy assassination? Did Hitler really die in 1945 or did he escape to S.America as some believe. Did Howard Hughes promise Melvin Dummar a fortune for coming to hid aid one day outside of Las Vegas? Have real Aliens visited the Earth and who would know if they ever have? Do programmers really need to make changes to perfectly good web sites or do they do so just because they can? 🤨

As for trying to change the past, IMO that is most unwise and could result in an even worse future. Watch the movie,"The Butterfly Effect" as it tells just such a story. Stopping Judas Iscariot from betraying Jesus may be noble, but it would change much of the history that followed that time.

Had many children known that their parents whipping/beating practices could have been stopped, but could also have resulted in breaking up their family, would they have wanted to travel in time and put a stop to their abuse as a child? Complex questions that interfering with the past bring up.

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The TV show “Timeless” was good at showing what could happen if you could change the past.
There was a movie too (I can’t remember the name) where an American aircraft Carrier went back in time, and could have stopped the attack at Pearl Harbor. They were going to attack the Japanese bombers, then at the last minute decided not too because of how it might change things too much.
Talking about treasure, I saw in TV where a man in England uncovered a gigantic treasure with his metal detector. It took days to gather it all up.

With the JFK assassination, I too wonder what all really went on. Jack Ruby killing Oswald, was it just because Ruby loved JFK and couldn’t stand seeing Oswald’s smirk, or was he hired to silence Oswald? I remember seeing a film of Ruby saying he wanted to go to Washington, where he would tell the whole story of why he killed Oswald, and if they wouldn’t spend him there, no one would ever know the truth.
They didn’t send him to Washington. I wonder why?
And Hitler, I believe he got away. There are so many things that have come up over the years that show a strong Nazi presence in South America after WW2. And eye witness reports that say they saw Hitler there. He sure had the resources to do so.

I think I’ll change my answer and go forward in time. Then I can get the “Power Ball” numbers!!!😂

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I've grown a strong fascination with RFK the man, and also the assassination.


I would probably go 5,000 years into the future. I love history, but to go way into the future would be amazing. It would be incredible to see how many "historical facts" are misquoted and inaccurate as well as how many are actually accurate.

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I can see it now....”historical facts”...”the Minnesota Vikings won 4 Super Bowls in the 1970s and were a dynasty”.......😂

RFK, I was 11 years old when he was killed. One of the saddest things was, if the bullet had hit him anywhere else then behind the ear, he probably would have survived.

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Final Countdown was the film and starred Kirk Douglas. Martin Sheen and James Farentino played major roles as well. Farintino remains in 1941 and emerges as a billionaire when the ship returns to port.

The uncertainty of travel into the future is a risk not worth the gamble.

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