# Margin of error-Time travel poll **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 24, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043 "2011-05-24T18:26:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@Engineer\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Dude)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/21 "2011-05-24T20:02:19Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > I’d like to pick +/- 1,000 but I’m afraid I’d end in the future and it would be a world-wide wasteland. I think 1000 years in the past would be cool though. I’d be afreaid too, but my morbid curiosity for seeing if the world was anything like _Futurama_ would get the better of me (and then I’d end up in 1011). ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/22 "2011-05-24T20:03:48Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I presume you will be dressing lightly and carrying reference books? Lightly dressed and carrying an old Palm Pilot PDA with enough notes on it to remind me of whatever I’d want to know. Lottery numbers and dates, if I can take the cheaters’ easy route. Otherwise, info about housing trends and IPOs so that I could make some handy investments. I guess I’d convert as much as of my savings into the largest-value bills I could carry that wouldn’t put me over the weight limit and throw it in a briefcase. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/23 "2011-05-24T20:05:55Z")
How about taking knowledge necessary to build a time machine. . .? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/24 "2011-05-24T20:07:33Z")
25 years for me, thanks. A quarter of a century into the future is close enough that I’ll be able to easily adapt to changes in society and technology, and twenty-five years back is easily close enough that I’ll be able to remember enough to profit greatly from wise investing. Win-win. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/25 "2011-05-24T20:11:04Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > How about taking knowledge necessary to build a time machine. . .? Philo says he won’t share his secrets. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/26 "2011-05-24T20:28:04Z")
I chose -/+ 10 years. If I ended up in 2001 again, I’d feel right back at home in some sense (despite the lack of newer technology I’m accustomed to now), and would know enough to make a ton of money in stocks and bets. If I ended up in 2021, I’d be a bit out of touch, but far enough that the advancement of some technology will prove very interesting, and if bio-tech comes further along in life extension or disease elimination/mitigation… it’s a win! The deeper into the future or past, the more you risk in that you’ll be out of touch in culture/civilization, and you have no idea what the future has in store from a geological, or human evolution stand point… where will humans be 1,000 years from now? I can’t even begin to imagine, assuming we’re all still here in some way. ETA: It was a toss up between 10 and 25 years, but I chose conservatively. As much as I’m fond of my childhood years, I don’t want to risk having to relive that time as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/27 "2011-05-24T20:38:10Z")
Would we get to pick where on earth we would arrive? Because if I went to the past to 1011 AD, I’d be the only white guy around in pre-American Michigan, and I can’t speak Ojibwe. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/28 "2011-05-24T20:39:54Z")
To stave off “I’ll go for a thousand years and by then someone will have invented a better time machine so I’ll be able to come back!” type answers, leaving aside the possibility that you have an equal chance of going back as you do forward, according to Philo the universe can only accommodate one time travel machine at a time, and he’s been afraid to tamper with the one he’s got since he received it from his future self. I asked him why his future self didn’t fix it, and he replied that his future self told him that he didn’t know how it worked because _he_ had inherited it from his present(to us) self. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/29 "2011-05-24T20:54:41Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > Lightly dressed and carrying an old Palm Pilot PDA with enough notes on it to remind me of whatever I’d want to know. Lottery numbers and dates, if I can take the cheaters’ easy route. > > Otherwise, info about housing trends and IPOs so that I could make some handy investments. I guess I’d convert as much as of my savings into the largest-value bills I could carry that wouldn’t put me over the weight limit and throw it in a briefcase. For that matter, how hard is it to know that you should buy Amazon, Google, and Halliburton stock? Though that’s just into the “multiplying your money by several” range and not really the “wealth beyond the dreams of avarice” range. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/30 "2011-05-24T21:05:32Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Would we get to pick where on earth we would arrive? > > Because if I went to the past to 1011 AD, I’d be the only white guy around in pre-American Michigan, and I can’t speak Ojibwe. If you end up in 1011, go to Atlantic Canada and look for Vikings. They were white, and their language was closely related to Old English, so you should be able to pick up their language (at least, a lot easier than picking up Ojibwe!). The Vikings had regular contact with the English, so you could just tell them that you were English and they would probably treat you OK and accept you into their community. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/31 "2011-05-24T21:14:24Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Would we get to pick where on earth we would arrive? > > Because if I went to the past to 1011 AD, I’d be the only white guy around in pre-American Michigan, and I can’t speak Ojibwe. The machine is in Philo’s basement in Albuquerque , and won’t fit through the door, but he says he can send you on your way from any location you choose…providing you have a decent UHF antenna to receive the signal that he will send through your cell phone. Oh, and Philo says he will _not_ be held responsible for dropped calls. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/32 "2011-05-24T21:17:59Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > For that matter, how hard is it to know that you should buy Amazon, Google, and Halliburton stock? Though that’s just into the “multiplying your money by several” range and not really the “wealth beyond the dreams of avarice” range. 10 years ago you could try to go find Mark Zuckerberg and suggest a Harvard-only dating website he should create. Surely he’d cut you in on the profits, right? ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/33 "2011-05-24T21:19:42Z")
I picked 25 years. The way I figure it I’m only time traveling to improve my life. 10 years ago I was 18 and had already made the decisions that would set my next 10 years into motion. Sure I could make some minor changes but the major stuff was done. 10 years into the future doesn’t really change anything except for puting me out of touch with everyone. 25 years ago I could not only stragically invest to make myself rich but I could assist from the sidelines to make my life badass not to mention the 80s weren’t so bad that I coulnd’t imagine reliving them and '86 was only a couple of years away from the invention of the cell hpone and wide spread use of the internet (a decade but still not that bad). 25 year int eh futre is enough time for some drastic changes that could vastly improve my life while still leaving most people I know alive so I’ll have some contact to help me get along plus they’ll be at the peak of their earning power and most able to help me. 50 years would be interesting either forward or backward but the problem would be not knowing anyone and the great difficulty relating. I guess I could look up my 11 year old dad but that would just be weird. My mom would be 8 again no help. Going into the future most of my friends will probably be dead or close to it and their kids that are alive will have no memories of me. Basically either direction would be equivilent of stepping off a boat into a foriegn country with no money, ability to speak the language, way to get home or way to earn money. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/34 "2011-05-24T21:36:42Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > One hundred for me. Anything less wouldn’t be as interesting, and one thousand I wouldn’t even recognize. I debated about 100, but I think modern medical care is too important to me. There was a lot of stuff that couldn’t be cured in 1911; less so in 1961. (I assume going forward care would not decline.) If the time travel was limited to the forward direction only, I think I would pick 100-200 years. Although, I wouldn’t be as rich that way. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/35 "2011-05-24T22:23:34Z")
I went with 10 years. I think I could adapt well enough 10 years in the future, and I suspect that we’re on the cusp of some interesting advances, especially in medicine, so 10 years is enough for some cool stuff to come along. If necessary, I’m sure I could parlay a highly fictionalized “man who walked around the horses” type account of my disappearance into something that would support me while I re-established myself. For 10 years in the past, I can pack a whole library of info into a laptop, which will work just fine in the past. Not just stock tips and lottery numbers, but detailed information on disasters of the past ten years. After quickly acquiring enough wealth to support the work (and myself in lavish style, of course), I would set about trying to ameliorate the effects of as many disasters as I could. To establish credibility for the necessary warnings, I would need to hire consultants and feed them the data to “project” the correct scenarios, then send them to present the warnings. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/36 "2011-05-24T22:46:18Z")
If I’m going to take a chance, I figure I might as well go whole hog, so I picked 1000 years. You only live once! ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/37 "2011-05-24T23:23:55Z")
1. Nothing in the past would be difficult to adapt to; and my high degree of education, along with knowledge of the future would put me in good stead whether i chose to make my living legally or clandestine. 100 years into the future would be a bit of technoshock, but nothing will have changed so much that I could not adapt. On the whole that’s probably as far as I’d take it. 1000 is just a little too far into the future for my liking. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/38 "2011-05-25T01:44:50Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > If I’m going to take a chance, I figure I might as well go whole hog, so I picked 1000 years. You only live once! What was your area of the world like in the year 1011? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/39 "2011-05-25T02:51:47Z")
1. If I go back, cool…the 80’s and 90’s were a fucking blast for me, and this time I’m going to know which stocks to sink everything into. If I go forward, ok…tech is going to be a hell of a lot better without being utterly alien. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043/40 "2011-05-25T03:06:38Z")
Ten years seems OK, except it’d be hard to explain to my 7-11 year old kids that I’d possibly be disappearing for 10 years, see you when you’re getting to or finishing college, hope you got someone to pay for it ☹ On the other hand going back 10 years means I’d have a good shot at preventing the 9/11 attacks, so I’d feel more or less honor bound to give it a try. And short some Internet stocks to invest in some real estate on the upswing along the way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-of-error-time-travel-poll/583043.md?page=3)