# If You Could Set a Time Machine to Any Date? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 9, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262 "2019-06-09T21:03:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/21 "2019-06-10T15:57:54Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Be careful you might go back and bang your sexy grandma and become your own grandfather! [Then you could write a song about it!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYlJH81dSiw) ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/22 "2019-06-10T16:25:21Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’d travel about 15 years in the future, and get new 3-D printed pancreas and kidneys, and have them transplanted. Then, after my recovery, go back to May 7, 1824, and attend the first performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Then go to the late 1880’s and tell Vincent Van Gogh what his painting will sell for in the future. Why 15 years…shoot for 200 and they can just inject a batch of synthetic stem cells programmed to rebuild/replace your existing organs without invasive surgery. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/23 "2019-06-10T16:30:55Z")
Mundane; go back to 1982, Cupertino, CA. And meet with Jobs and Woz, show them the current iPhone, and Mac hardware, and tell them “oh, by the way, there’s a little company that will want to meet with you called “Microsoft” run by a guy named “Bill Gates”… …whatever you do, DON’T talk to them! Serious; go back to August 2001 and warn the military about OBL and the impending terror attacks on 9/11, try to steer the timeline to a better outcome where 3,000+ people don’t lose their lives and send humanity screaming down a worse timeline. Selfish; go back to my high school days and tell my younger self to avoid the decisions leading up to my current crappy timeline. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/24 "2019-06-10T17:21:20Z")
If the above doesn’t work, go back to 6 a.m. on 9/11 and call in a bomb threat to the WTC buildings, warning that they must be evacuated immediately. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/25 "2019-06-10T17:30:06Z")
The future? Say June 20, 2109. I could pass as some old fart confused by all the modern stuff (I do that now) and still get a look at where the last hundred years got us. Past: March 1 1754 around the area where Fort DuQuesne would be built – just to watch it all unfold. I may stick around until 1758 for its destruction in December 1758. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/26 "2019-06-10T18:58:03Z")
Are we allowed to change history? If so, I would be strongly tempted to go back to 1889 and murder the infant Hitler in his crib. Try to foil John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, Gavrilo Princip, and Pearl Harbor. If not: Golgotha is going to be too crowded with time-travelers trying to get film of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. I would try to get footage of the Sermon on the Mount. Or perhaps try to get a personal interview with J.C. to see what he really preached. I would like to film Homer, performing the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_. Shakespeare’s plays, first run. William Gillette performing _Sherlock Holmes_. Boris Karloff performing _Arsenic and Old Lace_. Pericles, Demosthenes, Cicero. The Gettysburg Address. Get some film of Kennedy’s assassination, from an angle where the grassy knoll is visible. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/27 "2019-06-10T19:26:16Z")
Assuming we could choose the place as well as the time, Rome about 100 AD, at the height of the empire. What an energetic and amazing place and time it must have been. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/28 "2019-06-10T20:28:24Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Are we allowed to change history? If so, I would be strongly tempted to go back to 1889 and murder the infant Hitler in his crib. So you are _FreedomFighter69_! [The truth](https://www.tor.com/2011/08/31/wikihistory/) at last. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/29 "2019-06-10T20:43:54Z")
I’d like to explore my city in the late 1920’s. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/30 "2019-06-12T02:13:15Z")
To all the people who want to visit ancient Rome, Greece, Palestine, etc … don’t forget to learnt the language first. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/31 "2019-06-12T02:58:45Z")
I’d like to take in a baseball game where Walter Johnson was pitching. Or maybe one where Ruth is in right and Gehrig is on first. And I’d be really tempted to go to November 22, 1963 and train a video camera on that window of the book depository. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/32 "2019-06-12T03:02:26Z")
[Del]I’d go back 6 hrs, or how ever long, after a huge lottery drawing that had no other winners.[/del] I’d go back and murder cher before she can record “if I can turn back time” ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/33 "2019-06-12T03:04:49Z")
I got nothin’ ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/34 "2019-06-12T04:28:52Z")
I’d go back to about 1845 to near Sutter’s Mill in California. I’d fill my pockets with gold and return. It wouldn’t be enough to stop the gold rush or anything, but it would be fun to do. Maybe I’d collect up a bunch of pre-1964 nickels and go back to 1964 and exchange them for uncirculated silver dimes or quarters. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/35 "2019-06-12T05:29:03Z")
September 28, 551 BCE. Get rid of Confucius. Sorry to those who admire him. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/36 "2019-06-12T05:32:34Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The trouble with that story is, it would turn out to be your time machine. Damn, that’s classic Twilight Zone irony. Great answer. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/37 "2019-06-12T12:43:51Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Assuming we could choose the place as well as the time, Rome about 100 AD, at the height of the empire. What an energetic and amazing place and time it must have been. Make sure you get your cholera vaccine first. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/38 "2019-06-12T14:00:44Z")
I’d also like to visit London’s Globe theatre to see Hamlet and have a chat with Will. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/39 "2019-06-12T19:03:33Z")
Just to see what would happen: Sept 13, 1862: Pick up the cigars D.H. Hill dropped before Antietam Sept 26, 1983: Swap the analysis papers to show Petrov Stanislav the missile attack was NOT an error August 28, 1776: Make a lot of noise to alert the British that Washington is sneaking away from Brooklyn Heights Channeling Homer Simpson: May 20, 1983: Somehow get into a media-covered premiere of Empire Strikes Back, and tell the TV newscasters outside “Who would have known that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father?” ---
**Author:** ![Rough\_Draft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rough\_Draft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rough_Draft)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/40 "2019-06-12T19:18:28Z")
I’d go back to Florence, Italy, around 1504-1505. Hopefully I’d run across a bunch of great artists like Leonardo and Michelangelo so I could fawn all over them. It would also be interesting to visit the Little Bighorn River, Montana, on June 25, 1876 and see exactly how the Custer Massacre played out, but I’m not sure I have the stomach for that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262.md?page=3)