sillyThe rules:
1) You can bring anything you want to the past, but you can't leave anything behind. So you can't bring back the polio vaccine and start treating people. It wouldn't work.
2) You can't take anything forward with you, either, except for information. So you could, say, travel back with a copy of a book and a pen, and have the book signed with that pen. Or you could bring a camera and take pictures. But all things must be somehow made from materials you carried with you.
3) You can't get sick in the past, but you could be eaten by a T-Rex. No one native to the time periods you're visiting will notice anything odd about you.
For my personal use, I would pack a bunch of digital cameras, Flip video recorders, and a gene sequencer, and hop back to Messina in 1347. I would then document the Black Death in ten year jumps, with lots of photographs and recordings of people trying to breathe as they fully expressed the virus. And then, when I got back to the present, I would drive the CDC insane...but I would finally know for sure.
For the good of all mankind, I would hop back to the pre-tape losses BBC archives with a tape-to-DVD portable recording rig (and a technician), and get copies of all the missing Doctor Who serials. Upon returning to the present day, I would probably also get knighted.
So what's your personal use? And what's your use for the good of all mankind?
April 22 2010, 01:45:32 UTC 7 years ago
But I have always found time limits on how long you can spend time-traveling to be rather odd. I can come back half a second after I leave. Who cares how long I am out there, unless there are mechanical limits on the machine?
April 22 2010, 02:04:49 UTC 7 years ago Edited: April 22 2010, 02:11:37 UTC
ETA: Or, actually, with this set-up it could be as simple as the time machine only lasting 24 hours before it needs recharging.
There are times time limits don't make sense, but a limit on how much subjective time you experience away can be logical.
April 22 2010, 02:14:45 UTC 7 years ago
If it's a matter of "don't come back visibly changed, we don't want to deal with those problems and neither do you" (well, in that case, the whole "copying the Doctor Who serials is going to be problematic, but let's ignore that), they should also rule out getting tattoos, ritual scarification, piercings, or other body mods. *would probably do any of those given things if drunk enough while time-traveled*
I am probably tetchy because the last time I saw one of these time-travel questions, the rationale for the time limit was they had a lot of people who wanted to use it so you only got it for a limited time. To which I say "TIME MACHINE" over and over.
April 22 2010, 02:17:21 UTC 7 years ago
April 22 2010, 02:24:53 UTC 7 years ago
Hmm. For pleasure: the founding of Baghdad, jaunt forward every twenty-five years until Tamerlane comes through. Bring with me several digital cameras, a whole lot of memory sticks, notebooks, and pencils. Gather copious amounts of information. (Because, man, English works on the history and culture of Baghdad pre-Tamerlane are few and far between.)
For the good of mankind: ... My general views on changing history are screaming bloody murder about anything I can think of, really. Oooh. Go way, way, way back. Specifically, when there were multiple human species running around (Neanderthals, hobbits, modern humans, that other species we recently discovered bits of), gather copious amounts of information. Write down locations for possible excavation of useful tidbits.