# Selfish use of Time Machines?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selfish-use-of-time-machines/570097>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 4, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selfish-use-of-time-machines/570097 "2011-02-04T00:36:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selfish-use-of-time-machines/570097/21 "2011-02-06T19:55:14Z")

</div>

> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> The pursuit of knowledge serves all humanity.

Then why not physically bring it back? Most people would say they want to meet X for knowledge’s sake. It’s the non-sharing that characterizes the knowledge-style answers.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selfish-use-of-time-machines/570097/22 "2011-02-06T20:03:01Z")

</div>

> [@Superhal](#):
>
> Then why not physically bring it back? Most people would say they want to meet X for knowledge’s sake. It’s the non-sharing that characterizes the knowledge-style answers.

Who says I wouldn’t bring it back? Of course I would bring it back. That’s the great thing about knowledge - you can share it equally with an unlimited number of others.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selfish-use-of-time-machines/570097/23 "2011-02-06T20:11:15Z")

</div>

> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> Who says I wouldn’t bring it back? Of course I would bring it back. That’s the great thing about knowledge - you can share it equally with an unlimited number of others.

No, I’m saying if you go back to collect knowledge, you want ownership of that knowledge, and you decide how it gets distributed, and thus it is selfish. It’s mainly for your benefit, not others.

Compare:

A. My father died not knowing X. I went back in time to collect that knowledge for HIS sake.

B. I want to know how X happened. I went back in time for MY sake.

C. One of the great mysteries in the scientific community (that I am not a part of) is X. I went back in time for THEIR sake.

B is overwhelmingly preferred over A or C, particularly for say the first 5-10 things someone would do with a time machine. This is even true if you read the numerous time travel threads in the past week.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selfish-use-of-time-machines/570097/24 "2011-02-06T20:20:19Z")

</div>

> [@Superhal](#):
>
> No, I’m saying if you go back to collect knowledge, you want ownership of that knowledge, and you decide how it gets distributed, and thus it is selfish. It’s mainly for your benefit, not others.

I don’t care about ownership of the knowledge. I would be just as happy if somebody else brought it back.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selfish-use-of-time-machines/570097.md?page=1)