# Time Machine for sale...How old would you like to be? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2005, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-machine-for-sale-how-old-would-you-like-to-be/290678 "2005-02-18T06:44:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-machine-for-sale-how-old-would-you-like-to-be/290678/21 "2005-02-21T03:25:30Z")
I’ve actually engaged in such mental masturbation and realized I could rule the world if I could start over as a child knowing what I know now. Unfortunately I think that instead of being a prodigy I’d be a megalomaniacal freak like Stewie on _The Family Guy_ and probably end up institutionalized. ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-machine-for-sale-how-old-would-you-like-to-be/290678/22 "2005-02-21T03:45:19Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Exactly! > > Soneone wisely said, “youth is wasted on the young.” > > In an ideal world, we would be born with a 95 year old body and grow younger as we matured…then, by the time we got to be in our youth, we would know how to appreciate it. > > And continue to regress to childhood for the wonder of all things new. > > And instead of dying, you would just crawl in your mother’s womb and go to sleep. I want to think this is cool, but every time I encounter the premise it just reminds me of “Mork & Mindy”. _sigh_ I knew there was a reason not to watch all that Nick at Nite when I was young. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-machine-for-sale-how-old-would-you-like-to-be/290678/23 "2005-02-21T07:28:58Z")
If I could start over in high school with today’s knowledge I would settle on one life course and stick with it. I would be an artist. No, wait. I would be a pianist. Or a singer. No, a journalist. Wait, a trumpeter. On the other hand, acting would be a great career. Or I could go into law. Or . . . Come to think of it, it would probably go about the same whether I retained my cirrent (age 62) knowledge or not. Screw it! I’ll stay as I am! ---
**Author:** ![Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirt_Ninja_13)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-machine-for-sale-how-old-would-you-like-to-be/290678/24 "2005-02-21T08:28:27Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Retaining all my current knowledge, I’d go back to age 10. > > A friendship started there that I’d like to stop before it started. > > Of course, all my knowledge from that point _should_ be altered, so I don’t how that would affect my life from that point. I don’t suppose you’ve ever seen The Butterfly Effect, have you? If I could keep my favorite form, thus far, I’d say it would be me after the summer of my freshman year: 19 after spending an entire summer in an office job and going to the gym for an hour a day, five days a week. If I could start over? Hrm…I’m tempted to say about a week before my freshman year of college, as that would give me a chance to alter my course through that particular swath of academia, but considering the way things are currently working out, I don’t think I’d want to mess with it, overly much. I guess I’d mostly go back and re-experience things from there, which I guess would be fun in its own right 🙂 _bamf_ ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-machine-for-sale-how-old-would-you-like-to-be/290678/25 "2005-02-21T09:41:07Z")
> [@pasunejen](#): > > I want to think this is cool, but every time I encounter the premise it just reminds me of “Mork & Mindy”. > > _sigh_ > > I knew there was a reason not to watch all that Nick at Nite when I was young. Realy? I never watched the show (I was living in Europe at the time and missed the 70’s and 80’s in the USA) and had no idea my concept was already used. Will have to catch the show on Nick as Nite sometime… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-machine-for-sale-how-old-would-you-like-to-be/290678.md?page=1)