Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: silly
  • Music: Glee, "Like a Virgin."

Taking the time machine for a spin.

Pop quiz time! Aliens (or mad scientists, or whatever) appear before you with a time machine, and tell you that you get to make two trips backward: one for your own personal gain, and one for the good of all mankind. Each trip can consist of several "hops" (so you can start by traveling back ten years, and then move forward two years, etc.), but can only include one backward hop, and can last for no more than twenty-four hours.

The 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?
Tags: party games, silliness
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  • 120 comments

princess_kessie

April 22 2010, 05:06:51 UTC 7 years ago

For humanity: Assuming I could not go back to the Dawn of Time and get proof of just how the Universe and planets/inhabitants were born, I would get proof in a number of hops that global warming is a cyclical, normal event that humanity has no control over - to stop governmental fear campaigns and big business profiting from that fear, and find a way to stop Big Pharma profiting from the stuff they do to perpetuate sickness.

For myself? That's so tough. Anything I might do for myself might alter the current timeline - and, while tough at times, I wouldn't want to jeopardise what I already have. If I could guarantee only making what I have better, I'd tell past me to invest early, buy property early and patent a really good idea I had 25 years ago that wasn't patented until about ten years ago. I'd also tell past me that following one's heart is far better than listening to one's mother and to pursue the career I truly wanted at 15. But if any of that changed anything I have (or anyone around me) for the worse, I wouldn't do it. I'd simply go back to certain world events I'd like to experience - such as Woodstock, the Beatles live, Elvis live, Many more concerts by people no longer here (like Buddy Holly/the Big Bopper/Richie Valens), the moon landings, and as many hops as I was permitted to fit in...

seanan_mcguire

April 23 2010, 06:26:44 UTC 7 years ago

Excellent!