# A Temporally Impossible Question. But I Am Still Curious. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882 "2010-04-30T16:47:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![figure9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@figure9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/figure9)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/21 "2010-04-30T21:44:01Z")
All you need are some beads and you could buy Manhattan.😃 ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/22 "2010-04-30T21:54:09Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > You are going to run into some serious problems with chaos theory really fast with any gambling scenario. There is no way to tell how fast it will happen but your very existence will start to influence the outcomes of complex systems especially ones that you directly interact with. You could win the first horse race based on your old newspaper (or maybe not even that) but when you start dropping some serious coin on more races over time, it will start to influence the outcome of the races themselves in ways that you can’t predict and it will just steamroll from there so much that your newspapers results won’t be valid anymore after a short time. Even saying ‘hi’ to a jockey in a minor race could change the results of the Kentucky Derby weeks or months later so you wouldn’t have any more idea who to debt on than the average person and you could return home flat-broke. It only takes a quid on four 33/1 shots to make 1.2 million. I doubt that would break the space/time continuum. Your main problem would be finding a bookmaker who could afford to pay you out. Hang on, I’ve got a time machine. I only need to go back to the nearest bank holiday weekend and place my bet with one of the big bookies. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/23 "2010-04-30T22:01:23Z")
> [@figure9](#): > > All you need are some beads and you could buy Manhattan.😃 I read this as “beards,” which would have been an interesting explanation to hear. > [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > It only takes a quid on four 33/1 shots to make 1.2 million. Yes, but how many 33/1 shots can you find who won? IMO if you’re going to gamble, you might as well just take a single winning lottery number for a record (at the time) unclaimed jackpot, then travel to the night of the drawing. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/24 "2010-04-30T22:22:16Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Even saying ‘hi’ to a jockey in a minor race could change the results of the Kentucky Derby weeks or months later so you wouldn’t have any more idea who to _ **debt** _ on than the average person and you could return home flat-broke. (highlighting mine) Best Freudian slip of the week! ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/25 "2010-05-01T02:29:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If you go back far enough, aluminum would fit the bill. It was once more valuable than platinum. [And](http://mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~GEL115/115ch5.html) iron was once more valuable than gold! ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/26 "2010-05-01T03:23:21Z")
Small uncut synthetic rubies to Herculaneum, if your Latin is up to it. Be sure to not be there in 79 AD. Buy some nice pottery, and some nice clothes. Put the spare change into one of the pots. Tulip bulbs to London January of 1637, buy a dozen for a buck each, sell them for 150 Pounds each. Buy some nice clothes. Melt down some aluminum scraps, sell the lumps to the Royal Society, in London, about 1830 or so. Buy some nice clothes. In every case, accept only silver and gold coins of recognizable mintage. Don’t bother exchanging them. Stop off in London again, in 1910, and buy two small strong travelers trunks. Sell your pottery, and your oldest coins to an antique dealer to finance it. Buy nice clothes, pack them all into one chest, along with all your coins. Ship the other chest on a ship you know is going to be lost, and not be recovered. Mail your receipt to yourself in America on a ship you know is going to make it. Go to America, a month or two later, pick up your mail. Find a bank that won’t fail and pay them to keep the letter for 110 years. Bury the chest in the desert, by going there in 2010, Pick a lonely spot, check the GPS, then go back to 1910, take out half the clothes, and coins, and bury it. Back to 2010, and get your chest, containing your antique coins and clothes. Now you have antique coins, and a nice chest to sell, a letter verifying its authenticity, and Clothes that fit you and are in style in the past, along with new money good in the past. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/27 "2010-05-01T04:01:19Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Interacting with the jockeys might affect something. But how would the bets themselves influence the outcome of the race unless something crooked was involved? The only thing it should affect in a legit race are the odds/payouts. You underestimate chaos theory as do most people who think up time travel scenarios. The OP excluded an alternate history scenario once he returns but alternate history also starts to happen once you get there in the first place and gets more pronounced over time. That is widely known as the “butterfly effect”. You could trigger something crooked by influencing the odds or you just could bat a fly away causing it to land on a given horses nose 5 minutes before the race starts causing a chain reaction that sets up a collision on the track making even your short-term predictions nearly useless from that point forward. I am mostly talking about sticking around for a few weeks or months and betting on multiple competitions but it starts from the point of arrival and spreads from there. The route that you drove to work today and the groceries you bought this week altered history and influenced what the world will be like in 50 years including who lives and who dies. There is no escaping it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/28 "2010-05-01T05:24:24Z")
Get a dime from 1938 (you might even have one already), go back, buy an issue of _Action #1_. Profit. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/29 "2010-05-01T05:44:16Z")
Get a few ounces of gold and melt it into an unremarkable lump. Jump back to the end of the civil war and get scammed into trading it for a few trunks of confederate money. Take the money back to the beginning of the civil war and buy precious metals and jewelry. Bury the loot on your property so it ages properly and jump back to the current time to make the discovery of a lifetime while doing some landscaping. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/30 "2010-05-01T06:20:38Z")
Dicey, schmicey. Bring back all the bouillon you can carry. People in the past loved soup. ---
**Author:** ![BrightNShiny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BrightNShiny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightNShiny)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/31 "2010-05-01T06:50:34Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > You underestimate chaos theory as do most people who think up time travel scenarios. The OP excluded an alternate history scenario once he returns but alternate history also starts to happen once you get there in the first place and gets more pronounced over time. That is widely known as the “butterfly effect”. You could trigger something crooked by influencing the odds or you just could bat a fly away causing it to land on a given horses nose 5 minutes before the race starts causing a chain reaction that sets up a collision on the track making even your short-term predictions nearly useless from that point forward. I am mostly talking about sticking around for a few weeks or months and betting on multiple competitions but it starts from the point of arrival and spreads from there. But, what if we go with the theory that nature has to always be consistent, so you couldn’t change the past even if you tried? The only way the OP could make his millions if the OP did, in fact, make his millions. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/32 "2010-05-01T06:53:00Z")
Bring back Cubic Zirconium 1/10ct gems, sell as diamonds. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/33 "2010-05-01T07:51:24Z")
Go to Costco. buy as many varieties of uncracked peppercorns as you wish. A couple of those large-ish 20 oz bottles should be sufficient. Travel back to medieval Europe, and have an awesome vacation. Bring back souvenirs! ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/34 "2010-05-01T11:55:15Z")
**Triskadecamus** , great plan, but at what point do you send the GPS satellites back in time? ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/35 "2010-05-01T13:28:19Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > **Triskadecamus** , great plan, but at what point do you send the GPS satellites back in time? I knew someone would miss that. You check GPS in 2010, don’t move physically, and go to 1910. Bury stuff. Return to 2010, check GPS. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/36 "2010-05-01T13:38:30Z")
Wouldn’t it be easier to buy a property with a house on it that was built in, say, 1910, then go back to just beforehand and bury your strongbox under the soon-be-built house? Better yet, while you’re thinking about buying the house, walk around with a metal detector to make sure the strongbox you will/have buried is there before you make the purchase. At least you’ll know when you demolish the house that it will be worth it. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/37 "2010-05-01T23:08:33Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > Pick a lonely spot, check the GPS, then go back to 1910, take out half the clothes, and coins, and bury it. Back to 2010, and get your chest, containing your antique coins and clothes. How do you check your GPS again in 1910? ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/38 "2010-05-02T05:30:36Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > How do you check your GPS again in 1910? Is that sentence actually that hard to parse? It’s 2010. I got out in the desert without leaving the current time. I check my GPS. I travel back to 1910, noting that my position seems unchanged visually, out here in the empty desert. If I don’t move around on the earth during the trip through time, I bury the chest, and then return to 2010, again checking my GPS as I arrive, to be sure that the trip has not changed my location. A century of time has, in all likelihood made my hole undetectable. But I am still here, so I dig. See? Never checked the GPS in 1910. If my shit is gone, I can go back to 1910, starting from the same place, and dig it up in 1910. Come back to 2010, try another place, and repeat the procedure. I figured it would work the first time, but hey, why not be careful. Tris ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/39 "2010-05-02T23:51:21Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > Is that sentence actually that hard to parse? > > It’s 2010. I got out in the desert without leaving the current time. I check my GPS. Ah, we’re stipulating that all time shifts will leave you at the same position relative to the Earth’s surface? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882/40 "2010-05-03T14:15:09Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Ah, we’re stipulating that all time shifts will leave you at the same position relative to the Earth’s surface? Or that you can target spatial coordinates as well as temporal. At least for **Trisk’s** plan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-temporally-impossible-question-but-i-am-still-curious/537882.md?page=3)