# Uh.. oh another hypothetical question. (time travel) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 14, 2001, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170 "2001-08-14T07:41:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/1 "2001-08-14T07:41:33Z")
How far into the future would you be willing to travel, knowing you couldn’t come back once you got there? Also, what items would you take with you? Myself I think I would be afraid to go any more than threehundred years or so. and the only things I would take with me would be my money and my car which I’m _sure_ would be worth a fortune in threehundred years from now. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/2 "2001-08-14T10:02:47Z")
And won’t _you_ look silly when you find out the People’s Revolutionary Environmental Protection Council made possession of a petroleum-burning vehicle a capital offense back in 2287? Me? No point messing around… set the dial for as far forward as it’ll go. And no point bringing anything with me - whatever happens in the intervening aeons, it’ll be something I wouldn’t expect. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/3 "2001-08-14T10:09:52Z")
I’d flip a coin between doing what Steve Wright has chosen, or merely travelling forward ten years or so and claiming I spent the last decade trapped on a desert island… and then I’d pick up a sweet book deal. ---
**Author:** ![Cumber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@Cumber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumber)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/4 "2001-08-14T10:10:06Z")
Simple. I wouldn’t travel at all if I couldn’t come back. Same deal for travelling into the past. I like my modern creature comforts too much to cope with the past, and I don’t trust the future to be any better than the present enough to risk losing out. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/5 "2001-08-14T14:25:21Z")
I’d go to next Sunday, so I can be done working and back at school. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/6 "2001-08-14T14:34:54Z")
I already have a machine that moves me irrevocably into the future, and furthermore, it’s lightweight and fits snugly onto my wrist. I travel forward at a rate of roughly one second per second and… Wait a minute – that’s my watch. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![DeathLlama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DeathLlama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeathLlama)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/7 "2001-08-14T16:22:11Z")
I’m with Cumber on this one. I’m staying put until you figure out how to get me back. (Besides, if traveling to the past, I’d want to come back to the present to see all the havoc I’ve created.) ---
**Author:** ![Sengkelat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Sengkelat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sengkelat)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/8 "2001-08-14T17:09:44Z")
I’d bring my wife, her three cats (okay, one of them I’d actually like to leave behind) my money and most importantly, stock certificates. I figure I’d go forward twenty or thirty years. That’s short enough that I could probably still get by in society, long enough that my stocks might actually be worth something. Although, knowing my luck, they’d crash and I’d be destitute. (And unemployable, since technology jobs require you to be up to date) It’d actually be nice to leave the money in an interest-bearing account while I was away, but after a certain number of years of inactivity the account would be closed. And given the way things are going, I’d probably step out of the time portal and immediately keel over from an asthma attack due to air pollution. In truth, I’d like to go forward 500 to 1000 years, and just see what progress has been made. What diseases have been cured? Has man gone to the stars? How powerful are computers? Is there other life in the universe? Can I get a personal jetpack? But after all that, I’d want to come home. I’d miss friends and family. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/9 "2001-08-14T21:37:46Z")
I think I’d set the dial for my retirement party. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/10 "2001-08-14T22:40:18Z")
About an hour into the future. So that I can catch The Simpsons. ---
**Author:** ![Evno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Evno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evno)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/11 "2001-08-15T01:04:19Z")
I think an **even better question** would be: Would you rather travel into a futuristic Earth to see the amazing things man would have created and discovered, or Would you rather travel BACK in time about 30 years with almanacs (like BTF2) and become much wealthy and famous, or Would you rather travel about 300 years back, packing as many technical books as you like, and wow the civilizations with 20th/21st century knowledge, changing some crazy things, giving mankind a jumpstart on advancement? Each has their own drawbacks, of course. ---
**Author:** ![upperdeckfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/65b543/32.png) [@upperdeckfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/upperdeckfan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/12 "2001-08-15T02:50:17Z")
Just for grins, I’d show up in front of a large crowd with my glove and baseball. 1. Throw the ball. 2. Time travel 5 seconds into the future. 3. Catch the ball I just threw. 4. Book my appearance on the Tonight Show. Of course with my luck, I’d drop the ball. ---
**Author:** ![night](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@night](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/night)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/13 "2001-08-15T02:55:27Z")
As long as I could come back to today… I’d want to go like 5 years in the future after my five year HS reunion and see the decision I had made and how my life had turned out after I got my 4 year degree from college. I’d also like to see how my life has progressed, if I’m still the same person or if I would become less shy. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2001, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/14 "2001-08-15T03:58:37Z")
I’d travel 75 years into the future, and I’d bring some sort of proof of who I was. Since I’d have no money (I don’t have any money NOW, I don’t see how I’d have any money THEN), I’d probably be forced to leech off of my relatives. I’d be younger than my godson, so I’d reverse roles and make him take care of me. I’d go to school (looking for that ever-elusive third degree), and try to figure out what the hell happened since I was gone. ---
**Author:** ![kylen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@kylen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kylen)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-another-hypothetical-question-time-travel/76170/15 "2001-08-15T04:14:59Z")
I’m with Steve Wright on this one. Brush up on my Esperanto and turn the dial past 10. I’d bring bumper stickers that said “My other car is in the 21st Century” and “Sorry ‘W’, but I had enough”.