# 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:** 3
**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 12, 2019, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/41 "2019-06-12T19:19:40Z")
Some of y’all are the reason we have the Time Police, smh. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/42 "2019-06-12T20:13:43Z")
> [@Rough\_Draft](#): > > 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. Had I been asked this question a few years ago I would have answered Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, just to see the troop movements. And, yes, the combat. But I can’t imagine being able to deal with the carnage and suffering now. Funny, though, I don’t have an updated time in mind to replace it. I’ll have to keep thinking. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/43 "2019-06-12T20:35:16Z")
> [@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. I’m all for killing Hitler, but why does everyone with time travel always pick baby Hitler? Go back to the early 20s and toss a few grenades into a Nazi party meeting. It’ll be a lot easier on you, and take out a bunch of other people who deserve it. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/44 "2019-06-12T21:15:35Z")
Jan. 20, 2021, Washington, DC. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/45 "2019-06-12T21:22:12Z")
Is the challenge to guess the exact time and place of the thing we want to see, or can we just describe the event we want to see? If I can just describe the event, I would like to spend some time with Neanderthals and other proto-human species, but I don’t know exactly what is the optimal time/place for that. If I am forced to pick an exact date and place, then I pick January 30th, 1969, at 3 Savile Row in London. In the morning, GMT. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/46 "2019-06-12T21:26:03Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > I’m all for killing Hitler, but why does everyone with time travel always pick baby Hitler? Go back to the early 20s and toss a few grenades into a Nazi party meeting. It’ll be a lot easier on you, and take out a bunch of other people who deserve it. It’s a little disturbing how eager people are to assume that time travel also exempts them from moral prohibitions on baby-killing. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/47 "2019-06-12T22:59:53Z")
Arrange for young Adolf to get a job as an animator for Walt Disney. No moral prohibitions on that. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/48 "2019-06-12T23:50:55Z")
**802,701** 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/49 "2019-06-13T00:08:52Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > I’m all for killing Hitler, but why does everyone with time travel always pick baby Hitler? Go back to the early 20s and toss a few grenades into a Nazi party meeting. It’ll be a lot easier on you, and take out a bunch of other people who deserve it. Adult Hitler had an uncanny knack for surviving attempts on his life. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/50 "2019-06-13T01:45:18Z")
I’m setting the time machine back 300 million years or so and going camping in the Carboniferous period. I wonder if sea scorpions are edible? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/51 "2019-06-13T13:11:51Z")
I would want to go into the future but the problem would be to know how far to go such that: Technology and civilization have advanced beyond any predictions being made today The apocalypse has not yet happened Future English is still mutually comprehensible to today’s English I’m going to say 200 years. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/52 "2019-06-13T13:18:54Z")
Wednesday April 1, 33 AD, and I’d stay through Monday April 6th. Then I think I’d go to November 2, 1963. And finally, I’d go back to about 66.25 million years ago, and to 65.75 million years ago (to see the difference). You can work out the where yourselves. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/53 "2019-06-13T14:11:00Z")
> [@Jet\_Jaguar](#): > > I’m setting the time machine back 300 million years or so and going camping in the Carboniferous period. I wonder if sea scorpions are edible? I would like to see all that weird Devonian shit. Huge blobby marine invertebrates, weird-ass giant plants, ancient fish, first amphibians. ---
**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 13, 2019, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/54 "2019-06-13T15:21:08Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > June 14, 1947 near Roswell New Mexico. > > While I know the UFO angle has been debunked I’d love to see what actually crashed right as it crashes. > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The trouble with that story is, it would turn out to be your time machine. The bigger problem would be starring in Alien Autopsy. Seriously, how could you convince the people of that time period you were not a space alien? “I’m human. Test my DNA.” “What’s DNA? See, it’s taking our form, but using secret code words we do not know.” ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/55 "2019-06-13T18:14:35Z")
I’d love to visit several locations circa 10,000 to 6,000 BC and see what kinds of civilizations are flourishing then and what levels of technology\* they have. \*pottery, building, agriculture, record keeping etc. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/56 "2019-06-13T19:44:35Z")
A couple more mundane ones; Go back in time and insist Douglas Adams to go to hospital instead of his health club that fateful day. Go back in time and warn Terry Pratchett of impending Alzheimer’s Get Robin Williams the help he needed to prevent his suicide ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/57 "2019-06-13T19:51:40Z")
If I could get the timing right and set it to return me just before I was blown to smithereens, I would like to hang out in Chicxulub for a few days watching dinosaurs and then finishing up my trip with the most awesome fireworks display ever. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/58 "2019-06-13T19:55:37Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > A couple more mundane ones; > > Go back in time and insist Douglas Adams to go to hospital instead of his health club that fateful day. > > Go back in time and warn Terry Pratchett of impending Alzheimer’s > > Get Robin Williams the help he needed to prevent his suicide No love for Jim Henson? ☹ Also I’m not sure what Pratchett would have done differently had he known earlier. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/59 "2019-06-13T20:36:59Z")
D’oh, forgot Jim Henson, that’s a given, definitely save him ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2019, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262/60 "2019-06-15T04:22:19Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Heinlein used the basic idea(expanded) in [By His Bootstraps.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_His_Bootstraps) and [All You Zombies.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_You_Zombies) Those sound familiar. It’s been awhile. I might go back to Albuquerque and strike up a friendship with the young Bill Gates. Encourage him in his endeavors and offer some financial backing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-set-a-time-machine-to-any-date/835262.md?page=2)