If you had a time machine, what would you use it for?

[chocovelvetcake]

If I had a time machine, I'd go back in time to meet famous celebrities, politicians, and internet influencers from the past and tell them about what happens to them in the near future, both good and bad. I would also use the time machine to go back and time to meet some family members of mine who died before I was even born.

 

[-Apples-]

I would use it just to see what the 1970’s and 1980’s were like. But I want to minimize time paradoxes, so I won’t do much.

 

[lasagne_of_death]

I know myself, and as much as I'd like to think that I'd have perfect self restraint to not meddle in history, I don't. So if I had a time machine I'd destroy it. That power is definitely not something I think people should ever have. Perhaps I'd be more inclined to keep it if I were only there as a spectator, unable to communicate with, interact, change, or touch any people or objects (does the floor count as an object? Or would I just fall through it? Anyway, not the point, so time [stop me before I start dying of laughter from my hilarious jokes] to get back to it). As much as I dislike how a lot of things turned out, want to prevent horrible things from happening, the consequences and fallout would be huge, and I can't even guess what would happen if I were to change something. Changing stuff would also be changing people's identities, and basically make me a "deity", for lack of a better word, who decides on what should or shouldn't happen.

Anyway, on just a surface level answer, disregarding what could happen, I think it'd be pretty cool to see ordinary people just living their lives. I'd want to hear their perspectives and thoughts on life and the conditions of their lives. From all different times and civilisations.

 

[nightglow]

I am not sure. I know using such a thing effects tons of stuff. I do think it would be cool to meet some of your further back relatives/ancestors. Maybe I would use it to lurk around in other time eras just to see how things were like in real time.

 

[QueenCobra]

—Visit some eras of history I find interesting (Medieval Europe, Meiji Japan, etc.)

—Meet some of my favorite celebrities.

—Meet some members of royalty I’ve found interesting.

—Spend more time with my grandpa and great-grandma, who both passed when I was six.

I wouldn’t want to change history…I’m a little worried about what would happen.

 

[rrenaa]

Hmm…
If I had a time machine, I would travel into the future to see how my life unfolds and whether it’s heading in a direction worth pursuing. I don’t mean that in a negative way, I’m just curious about what lies ahead. If I didn’t like what I saw, I would try to see what went wrong and find different ways to change to see different outcomes. I know changing history is off-limits, but where’s the fun in that? I’m sure there are other things I’d do, but nothing specific comes to mind right now.

 

[Midoriya]

Isn't it obvious? I'd return to the past to undo the future that is Aku.

LOL NAH, but for real I'd probably not use it at all. I'm afraid of what would happen if I changed anything in the past OR future.​

 

[Reginald Fairfield]

Rent an affordable apartment, and record some things to prevent lost media.

How would you even prevent large scale disasters?

 

[MrBox]

⠀

 

[-Blue-]

I would probably just do small things like go to E3 during big game moments, check out the Nintendo store during different times. Just random stuff to see the hype behind different stuff.

 

[-Mars-]

I have no desire to use this time machine, even if it hypothetically did not affect the past, present or future I still don't want to see what's in the past, whatever happened in the past should stay in the past and I absolutely do not want to see the future at all.

 

[Aniko]

We could solve all those mysteries...Who did what and when, who built this and that. Who were the first, who was the culprit..etc...

 

[Devicho]

I've thought a bit before about what I might hypothetically change about my past before were I allowed to go back and change one thing, and while that's not the exact question being asked here, it's close enough, so I'll answer anyway.

Without going into too much depressing detail, my life was kind of screwed from the beginning, and so there aren't many things I think I could've changed on their own that would've fixed anything. So, I think I'd honestly just deal with a lot of the worse things and change one fairly benign thing: I learned about Bitcoin very early on, but I didn't hop on the bandwagon because it felt like a scam. It still feels like a scam, but I do kick myself a little for not investing a bit of money into it when it was nearly free, seeing how much the value would explode over time. I could've become a millionaire had I hopped on.

For a more fanciful "what if I had a time machine" answer, it would be neat to get a glimpse of what the far past was like. I'd especially like to see what things were like very early into humanity's rise, when we were still figuring out language and were still living in a more hunter-gatherer society. I've jokingly thought about the idea of dropping some weird nerd thing far into the past to see what knock-on effect it would have, or maybe carving a drawing of some clearly modern thing like an NES controller into a cave wall just to leave people really scratching their heads millennia down the line.

 

[Beanz]

i would tell 16 year old me to get jaw surgery

i regret not getting it when i had the chance, i fear that i might have medical problems in the future. it can be a brutal surgery but the younger you get it (teenage years) the better; faster recovery and it’s easier to make up school work.

 

[calias]

Extremely shallow reason to time travel, but shopping.


More specifically, shop for video games, consoles, dolls and certain fashion items that are now extremely inflated in the aftermarket. Especially dolls. I know nostalgia is a 20 year cycle but man, a lot of mid 2000s playline dolls are massively overpriced nowadays.

 

[Disneyfangirl23]

I’d change stuff I’ve done in the past that I regret