# Mankind gifted a one use only time machine. Where will we go? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 13, 2019, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008 "2019-07-13T09:31:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/21 "2019-07-14T03:48:31Z")
You guys sure think worldly. I would go back to Lorain, Ohio in 1893 and film the length of Globeville Rd. That is if the camera can move. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/22 "2019-07-14T03:48:55Z")
> [@Nansbread1](#): > > With the big bang we wont know **either the time or the place** […] (emphasis added) nitpick: we know the place because it’s _any_ place ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/23 "2019-07-14T08:14:17Z")
I would travel to the future and ask them why they didn’t use their time machine to come back and save us from Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/24 "2019-07-14T13:10:24Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > You guys sure think worldly. I would go back to Lorain, Ohio in 1893 and film the length of Globeville Rd. That is if the camera can move. > > Dennis The what now? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/25 "2019-07-14T13:31:52Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > (emphasis added) > > nitpick: we know the place because it’s _any_ place Now tell us the date and time. In fact, this question can be asked of other posts in this thread. You don`t get to search for that two hour period-you have to state it beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/26 "2019-07-14T13:35:42Z")
> [@Dereknocue67](#): > > I would travel to the future and ask them why they didn’t use their time machine to come back and save us from Trump. Because their time machine can only see without interferring…not that it matters because your time machine couldn`t ask the question in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/27 "2019-07-14T14:35:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Now tell us the date and time. In fact, this question can be asked of other posts in this thread. You don`t get to search for that two hour period-you have to state it beforehand. Sure. I was nitpicking that we can’t know the time _and_ place. We know the place. We don’t know the time to the required precision. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/28 "2019-07-14T15:35:20Z")
“You guys sure think worldly. I would go back to Lorain, Ohio in 1893 and film the length of Globeville Rd. That is if the camera can move.” > [@Aspidistra](#): > > The what now? > > 😕 Globeville was the ship building community on the Black River and the start of Lorain in the early 1800s. The Globeville road wound along the western banks of the river. From newspaper accounts and land records we know the various families, dairies, etc that were scattered along the road. Only a few photos exist of this lovely area and they are distant photos. In 1894 Tom Johnson bought the entire area and built Johnson Steel, which became US Steel. So unlike other historic sites you cannot even visit the area to explore, look for relics, etc. It’s gone - dug, re-dug, built on, fenced off, covered in piles of ore and slag - gone. It just captures my imagination. Here it is today: https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.4508375,-82.134315&z=14&output=embed&dg=ntvb&q=Lorain,%2BOH Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/29 "2019-07-14T21:23:59Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Go back and see if Jesus was real, and if so, what he really said. > > The Sermon on the Mount > > Trial before Pilot > > The Resurrection > > A decent Biblical scholar could probably make a good guess for the correct date and location of the trial before Pilot. Jesus’ public ministry was 3-3.5 years long. That’s an awfully long time frame when you have ONE 2-hour window. And the Holy Land, as small as it is, is awfully big under the same conditions. What if you choose Jerusalem as your place at a time when Jesus was in Galilee? And incidentally, that’s **Pilate**. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/30 "2019-07-14T23:12:57Z")
Can we hover over a target at one km and record to millimeter resolution? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/31 "2019-07-15T01:24:50Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Jesus’ public ministry was 3-3.5 years long. That’s an awfully long time frame when you have ONE 2-hour window. And the Holy Land, as small as it is, is awfully big under the same conditions. What if you choose Jerusalem as your place at a time when Jesus was in Galilee? > > And incidentally, that’s **Pilate**. Spelling correction accepted. As I said, a Biblical scholar could make [a pretty good guess](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_Jesus#Prefecture_of_Pontius_Pilate). > [@Wikepedia](#): > > Recent astronomical research uses the contrast between the synoptic date of Jesus’ last Passover on the one hand with John’s date of the subsequent “Jewish Passover” on the other hand, to propose Jesus’ Last Supper to have been on Wednesday, 1 April AD 33 and the crucifixion on Friday 3 April AD 33 and the Resurrection two days later. That narrows the search to[Jerusalem, but where](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilate%27s_court#cite_note-PC-1)? Bromely believes it was just outside of Herod’s Palace in Jerusalem. The Gospels give conflicting accounts of what time the trial was, but they agree it was somewhere between dawn and noon. Given all the things that were reported to have happened, I’d guess 7:00-9:00 a.m., Friday, April 3, 33 C.E., [somewhere around here](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tower+of+David/@31.7763576,35.2262243,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x150329ce76d69c61:0xc0e0fa60a05973e7!8m2!3d31.7763531!4d35.228413?hl=en)would be a reasonable guess. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/32 "2019-07-15T02:12:55Z")
There are so many choices, and one could never say absolutely that the knowledge of one event would be the most significant. Therefore I would please myself, and set the camera in a parsonage in Kansas City, Missouri, May 26.1926, the marriage of my maternal grandparents. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/33 "2019-07-15T02:41:58Z")
The capture of Atahualpa (last Inca) by Pizarro. We know the place and time. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/34 "2019-07-15T03:05:01Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Can we hover over a target at one km and record to millimeter resolution? 😛 Interesting thought, but I suppose you wouldn’t get any useful sound at that distance. Personally, I wouldn’t go for that tradeoff. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/35 "2019-07-15T04:45:14Z")
8 AM, August 6, 1945, just outside Shima Hospital in Hiroshima, Japan We know what the bombing looked like from the air; I’d like to see what it looked like from the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/36 "2019-07-15T05:06:09Z")
I think the more interesting question is HOW mankind will come to a consensus, and what wars will coming to that consensus lead to. Then I predict the actual decision that is chosen, by whoever ultimately holds that power, will be to get a recording of some key event that had recently transpired, specifically as an attempt to gain an upper hand in the very war that was brought on by the device they’re now using to win. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/37 "2019-07-15T15:47:07Z")
The older the better. Knowing a specific time and place shouldn’t be an issue. I like the suggestion upthread of “two hours of dinosaur time”, which would provide enough info to keep paleontologists busy for decades, but I could see an argument for a historical era, too. We know a lot about Rome, but we’d still learn a lot with a two hour tape of it, especially the early years, say Rome, 500 BC. Or ancient Greece, or perhaps some American or African kingdom, or China, or watch the proto-Germans come out of Scandinavia. Also, a two hour recording of spoken proto-Indo-European would be a _huge_ boon to linguists. Or a recording of any earlier language. Go back too far and the trick is finding people. But we know a lot of places that have been inhabited for thousands of years. Carthage, Troy, Memphis or Kish. A two hour window to any of these places in their heyday would be invaluable for historians. ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008/38 "2019-07-16T17:18:00Z")
> [@Nansbread1](#): > > With the big bang we wont know either the time or the place so it wont be possible. > > The time and place is restricted to planet earth for avoidance of any doubt. Technically speaking, we know both the exact instant and the location of the Big Bang. The instant would be the beginning of time. The location would be everywhere, including the material that would one day become the Earth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-gifted-a-one-use-only-time-machine-where-will-we-go/837008.md?page=1)