# If You Could Time Travel, What Would You Attempt to Interfere With? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 10, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826 "2011-04-10T02:44:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pinklintango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aeb1de/32.png) [@pinklintango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinklintango)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/1 "2011-04-10T02:44:22Z")
Title says it all, what event would you attempt to interfere with, in some (possibly vain) attempt to alter? If even given the opportunity, would you decline it? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/2 "2011-04-10T03:15:26Z")
I want to test these ideas about paradoxes, but I don’t want to destroy the whole world. So I might kill my dad, early on. He was an abusive asshole, and none of us deserved him, and I can’t conceive how his absence would have any negative effect rather on anyone other than his not to be born later children. If I actually succeeded, well, that would be really interesting. I can’t imagine all the implications of what it would mean. ---
**Author:** ![badlyburnttoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@badlyburnttoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badlyburnttoast)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/3 "2011-04-10T08:47:25Z")
I don’t think I’d change anything big, I’d be absolutely terrified of cocking things up worse then they already are. Then (assuming I’m immune to the effects, i.e. I can’t erase myself) I’d have to try and fix that, which might mess things up more so I have to fix THAT… down that road lies madness. So I’d probably just pop back to tell myself last week what this week’s lotto numbers were or something. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/4 "2011-04-10T09:32:27Z")
I agree, as much as I would like to whack misogynistic christianity in the head with a crowbar to restore it to what I think the real Christ had in mind, or to stop Caesar from taking Britain or stop europeans from conquering the new world I would be afraid of what might possibly happen. I think going back to just before March 6th 2007 lottery that was $304 million and giving myself the numbers, and maybe the numbers for a few more lotteries as well. > [@](#): > > The single largest lottery winning in US was the Mega Millions jackpot of $390 million held on March 06, 2007. There were 2 winners for this draw, each qualifying for $195 million. > > The single largest ticket sold was from Powerball jackpot on February 18, 2006, valued at $365 million . This was won by a group of ConAgra Foods Coworkers. > > The second largest individual ticket was from Powerball jackpot onOctober 19, 2005 , valued at $340 million . This was won by Chaney & West Families. > > Read more: [What is the biggest lottery jackpot ever? - Answers](http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_biggest_lottery_jackpot_ever#ixzz1J6xAapFR) ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/5 "2011-04-10T10:52:54Z")
I would go back to the time of Noah and squash those two bed bugs as they got off the ark ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/6 "2011-04-10T14:16:48Z")
I would go back to 1970 and not leave school early. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/7 "2011-04-10T14:44:10Z")
I would shot Columbus before his meeting with the Catholic Kings. ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/8 "2011-04-10T15:07:11Z")
I’d have to come to one of a opinions, and quickly: 1. I could systematically kill or alter the life-path of anyone I believe the world would be better off without, utilizing a complex system of societal analysis. I might find that killing Hitler would work to avert the Holocaust, but only result in a Russian-centric World War that’s far worse, however by finding a cute Jewish girl for Hitler to date and marry in his early twenties, maybe he’s not such a douche, there’s still a war, but there’s no _German_ genocide. I have no idea where I’d even start with the Japanese Genocides, but I’d probably go further back then that and alter the course of some of histories earlier events. The loss of the Library of Alexandria, I’d encourage the Greeks to research Calculous… hell, I might even bring back a basic physics text book for Aristotle to skim through. 2. I could accept that the Universe _is as it should be_, which while very difficult is probably the most reasonable course of action. 3. I could use the Time Machine to recover items lost to history, or document tragedies/events that are otherwise unknown in the modern world. I’d record the Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks and South Americans each building their respective structures (I’d snap a few shots of the Hanging Gardens while I was out there). There are a lot of books that were lost in ancient fires, a lot of history we just don’t know because no one was there to record it… Or most likely… 4. I’d go back in history, but with a time machine, eventually… I’d go _forward_ first. I’d survey the technology in the future, and obtain as much as I could, obtaining the equivalent of a 26th century iPhone shouldn’t be extremely difficult or dangerous (hopefully) in the 27th century. I’d bring it back and alter their history, my future, rather than my history. I like the world right now, at least enough that I couldn’t change anything historically and risk changing it. If I changed something in WW2, I wouldn’t be here today. I don’t know that I’d exist at all, and that’s depressing. But, I haven’t _had_ kids yet, I can’t miss what I don’t have. If I have different kids than I would have had by not having the tech, who cares? I don’t know the previous timeline children, so fuck 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/9 "2011-04-10T16:48:13Z")
My usual answer to this question is to go back and prevent my parents from meeting, even if it means killing one or both of them. Yeah, I’m not a happy camper, and rarely have been so in my nearly 50 years. Right now I’m not feeling all that well and I’m pissed about some other things, so I might go all the way back to [The Toba supereruption.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory) > [@](#): > > The Toba supereruption (Youngest Toba Tuff or simply YTT[1]) occurred between 69,000 and 77,000 years ago at Lake Toba (Sumatra, Indonesia), and it is recognized as one of the earth’s largest known eruptions. The related catastrophe theory holds that this supervolcanic event plunged the planet into a 6-to-10-year volcanic winter, which resulted in the world’s human population being reduced to 10,000 or even a mere 1,000 breeding pairs, creating a bottleneck in human evolution. Some researchers argue that the Toba eruption produced not only a catastrophic volcanic winter but also an additional 1,000-year cooling episode. I would see to it that those survivors didn’t. More and more I come to the belief that the world would be better off without humans. ---
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/10 "2011-04-10T16:52:22Z")
I’d tell Billy that he and his goat could stay. ---
**Author:** ![Makeitstop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@Makeitstop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Makeitstop)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/11 "2011-04-10T17:02:53Z")
Most of the things I would try to interfere with would be with fictional works rather than real-world events. The top priority would be trying(and most likely failing) to stop something from happening in the Firefly movie, Serenity. Spoilers: I’d try to stop them from killing Wash. Shepard Book, I could take. But not Wash. That killed the franchise, I firmly belive this. If this event had not taken place, Serenity would be one of my top 10 movies of all time. As it is, it’s only in the top 50. End Spoilers. Other than that, I might try to make sure that the TV series Lost and Sopranos were not created in the first place. Maybe try to make sure Angel, Heroes or Dead Zone had a final season or at least a movie-finale. If I had to stop a real-world event though, I think I’d go back to last week and try to stop myself from dropping an _entire_ cutting board of freshly-cut onions while I was cooking that pasta. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/12 "2011-04-10T17:07:50Z")
go back to last Thursday night so I could pay my phone bill on time ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/13 "2011-04-10T17:18:38Z")
Probably I’d be too scared to do anything, but if not I’d be tempted to think big. I read a short story once about guy who invents a time machine and really wants a more advanced, science-friendly society. What he decides on is to go back to ancient Greece and teach Aristotle about the importance of the scientific method (as Aristotle was hugely influential, and his often-incorrect opinions were considered authoritative for centuries, etc.). Needless to say it doesn’t work out for the protagonist, but can anyone come up with plans that work on a similar scale? ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/14 "2011-04-10T17:42:42Z")
I’d go back to late 2003/early 2004 and tell my past self not to go to medical school, and clue him into the existence of the [seduction community](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=598813). ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/15 "2011-04-10T20:58:01Z")
Last night, for some bizarre reason, I watched _A Sound of Thunder_. For those of you unfamiliar with the title, it’s the movie adaptation of the classic Ray Bradbury short story of a group of time traveling hunters who travel back in time to kill a T-rex, but accidentally kill a butterfly and the ripples of that minor event have dramatic consequences when they return to their own time. Having viewed this film, I believe I have a unique perspective to the question in this thread. If I could travel back in time, what would I interfere with? I’d interfere with the filming of _A Sound of Thunder_. My god, that was a horrible, horrible movie. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/16 "2011-04-10T22:04:53Z")
I’d go back and make sure the idiots who wrote the bible would get it right from the get-go. As long as people are going to thump that book forever, they might as well have some real facts, a few less hooks to hang their bigotry and bile and maybe some predictions of things to come and tell people take a step back and stop taking the book as literal. I would also add that DMark is a divine person and they should give copious amounts of money to him while he is on earth. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/17 "2011-04-10T22:16:40Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > I’d go back to late 2003/early 2004 and tell my past self not to go to medical school, and clue him into the existence of the [seduction community](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=598813). Could you give the same message to my past self while you’re up? ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/18 "2011-04-10T22:24:27Z")
I’d go back about a month ago and prevent myself from accidently stubbing my toe on the kitchen table. Though knowing my luck when I returned to the present I’d probably enter a brutal post-apocalyptic reality due to some exceedingly unlikely events following my foolish messing with things man was not meant to know the wont of. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/19 "2011-04-11T02:13:29Z")
I would be strongly tempted to try to murder the baby Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![pinklintango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aeb1de/32.png) [@pinklintango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinklintango)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826/20 "2011-04-11T03:31:14Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > More and more I come to the belief that the world would be better off without humans. I’m sorry for you. You are so small. Please don’t imaginarlly reduce the rest of us to your stature, we are actually having a pretty good time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-time-travel-what-would-you-attempt-to-interfere-with/577826.md?page=2)