Nope. Sexual and physical abuse that I wouldn’t want to live through ever again, as a very small child. Bullying in school. A couple of suicide attempts, struggles with depression off and on. Forget it.
Seems like you could change most of that knowing what you know now.
I would do it in a heartbeat. What would I do about parents?
more zombie or no
other kids will really pick on you for being a smart ass.
Given that I missed this in its first several animations … count me as a “no, absolutely.”
It was hard enough not fitting in in the childhood I had. Being a complete freak?
Worse, knowing what disasters were to come, from my family level to global ones, and mostly being unable to do anything about them from where I was, a kid, even a freak of one?
No hesitation. I pass.
Yes, with hesitation. My only hesitations are my two youngest siblings and my love. She’s the only one I’d ever see myself being with, but, she’s a few years younger than I am and I’d be pretty upset if I went back and prevented the birth of my brother and sister. But even in doing so, I would prevent the pain they had to go through in my later years that their fathers inflicted on them as much as they did myself. If I were to go back to my first memory, I think I’d be about two. My first memory was of me and my mother. We were in a room, on a couch. It looked rather clean and there was a window with a balcony. Looking back, I assume it was a hotel room. She had Oreos and mint chocolate ice cream. The ice cream was soft and it was easy to dip the Oreos in. I don’t remember anything after that until I turned three. My third birthday, which was a rather scarring memory. My stepfather broke my leg. It wasn’t on purpose, but until I grew older and had a voice of my own, no one knew what really happened. If this ended up being the place in which I start, it would be a good one. The breaking of my leg at this age caused some problems in me. Not only did the mental trauma cause some mental issues, but its always been hard to run. Even to this day, I still get a pain in my leg. Going back, I’d have avoided the things that caused this to happen. I’d be more cautious but be a little more adventurous. The traumatic experiences caused me to be cautious about people, reserved and shy. I made very few friends. Going back I think I’d try harder to make more. I also spent little time trying to get to know my grandfather. We weren’t related by blood, and technically he wasn’t even my grandfather. But he was the only one who played that role in my childhood, and I took it for granted. For many years he was out of reach and eventually died. My last moments with him were on his deathbed. No words were spoken. No ways to atone for time lost. He was gone and I’d never get it back. But its not just the little details that made my life a living hell that I’d change. I’d change the lives of others. Like the bully who went on to end his own life. I’d make friends and try to help him live on. Other people I know who died in tragic accidents, I’d try to prevent them. Most of all, I’d try to help more people I knew were in need.
Of course I would.
I love my girlfriend, I think she’s great. I love my friends and the experiences I’ve had with them. But to be honest, even if it meant jeopardyzing all of it, I would choose to go back in a second. Even if it means losing some friends, or maybe her… I wouldn’t have a doubt.
And here’s why:
From my life experience… things don’t matter much. Not even things we think that matters like love and friendship. Those are great and teach us a lot, but in the end… it just doesn’t matter. At least that’s the way I see it. And I know it might sound harsh but I don’t know, I just feel that way.
Let me explain why I see things this way: Back when I was 17, a decade ago, I met my first girlfriend and I was madly in love with her. But things didn’t work out because I’m a bit of a dickhead and I lost her. At the time, and for the longest time to be completely honest, I was broken inside. I thought there was no way I would ever feel the same way I had felt with her. I dated other people after her, sure, but I didn’t love them… not the way I loved her at least. Then one day, 8 years later, I met my now girlfriend. And suddenly I felt the same way I used to feel about that first girl. I was (am) madly in love with her, and it feels like this is it, like… you know, this is the one.
But I know it isn’t. Or, to be more precise, I know she might not be. And now I know that’s ok, you know? Because if I’ve been able to find the love of my life twice, I know there might be a third one out there. Not that I’m looking forward to losing my girlfriend (I’m not), but I know that if it gets to that point (which seeing the percentage of failed relationships that are out there I think it’s the most likely scenario wether I like it or not) it will not matter. It will affect me, for sure, but it doesn’t matter. Because life doesn’t matter that much.
And I could give the same example for friends, honestly. How many people have you met that, at some point in your lives, where the closest to you, just to, you know, be appart some years later? And it’s not necessarily because one of you two fucked your friendship up, I mean… that’s just life. I was close to some people that I stopped being closed to when they moved to work/study and started their lives elswhere. Sure I still love them because they were close to me at some point, but we don’t talk much or see each other much so we’re not close. And again, it’s no one’s fault, it’s just what happens. Life is that way.
My point is… would I time travel if given the chance? OF FUCKING COURSE. Because… for sure, I might lose everyone I love… but as harsh as this might sound… I will find other people. Or maybe I don’t, maybe I’ll just find the same people I already love, who knows, but it won’t matter. Because as much as I love the people I love now… nothing really matters.
Oh, and btw (I don’t know how to edit my previous comment) if I went back in time I wouldn’t do it to become rich and famous. So no lottery tickets, no stocks, no being a boy genious…
If I went back in time I will just put my life in order. I fucked up my life years ago and the choices I’ve made feel, for the most part, totally wrong. If given the chance to right those wrongs, that’s exactly what I will do. I wouldn’t be the best student ever, but I would definetly be better than what I was. I’d try to get to college. I’d try to exploit the life opportunities I’ve had and didn’t exploit (like that place I was working on, that place where I studied etc). In the end I’d try to become the best version of myself I can think of and not the screwed up version I’m now. Because now… even if I fix everything wrong with my life… I still wouldn’t get there, you know? I always try to improve but some wrongs matter way too much.
And for everyone saying that “a huge part of who you are is the people you know”… sure, it is, but you’re sending yourself, as you are right now, back in time. You’ll still have the memories of what you’ve lived, so even if you don’t meet the same people or live the same experiences… you still have those. It’s not like your life suddenly gets erased. It’s like you start a new game+ in a game. Everything you lived matters to the only person that’s really important in your life, yourself. And this second chance shouldn’t be seen by what you will miss (seriously, do you really want to relive everything the way it was? Do you really want your life to be like a movie) but what new experiences you’d get from it.
It’s like playing a roleplaying game, maybe in your first playthrough you decided to be a mage… and you enjoyed it and all… but when starting your second playthrough you decide to be an archer and join different factions just to see how different the world feels. That second playthrough can’t erase your memories of being a mage in that world, it’s just “new experiences and memories”.
You mean like this thread?
No way. I’m nearly 80, and I couldn’t have asked for a better life. I did just about all the things I might have ever wanted to do, and did them in interesting times. I have no regrets, no bucket list, few things left undone. Some amazing adventures that people nowadays can’t even imagine. I never had much wealth, but wasted little of my life chasing it.
If I had a do-over I’d probably screw it up somehow. I was very lucky to get away with a lot of stupid things.
I had a tough enough time being a radical children’s libber the first time around. Would I like to see what it’s like to have my fully adult consciousness (which has been fully “spoiled” by being fundamentally free to do as I see fit for decades now) inserted into a four-year-old body and see what it’s like to be treated with all the respect and recognition of personal authority that is accorded to nursery-school students??? Are you fucking crazy?!
I know this is an old thread but it really did make me stop and think. Of course, I instantly thought of all the mistakes I’d made in life (lots) and how I could do things differently. How I might be a whole other (better) person, with a better life. But then I realized I’d lose my daughter. Because without those mistakes, she’d never be born. And I can’t do that. As much as I hate where I am in my life right now, and my past decisions, she’s ultimately the result of all of that.
Zombie thread, yeah. But fascinating question!
These were some of my favorite STAR TREK (TOS) episodes, travelling back in time. Could I effect local, near changes and change outcomes? Yes. But they might also change global outcomes.
As Spock said to Captain Kirk about his new love interest, “Jim, Edith Keeler must die.”
If you get the ST:TOS reference, fine, but if not then don’t worry too much about it – essentially a seemingly trivial romance in the episode impacts whether or not the Nazis win WWII.
I think the OP’s question comes down to, Are you happy with your life as it is, or not? If you’re happy, then choose No. If unhappy, then you might consider choosing Yes. But consider very, very carefully.
Because if you choose Yes, why sure you can remember to invest in stocks or make wagers where you know what the outcome was (in this life, and not necessarily in your second life, because an ‘Edith Keeler thing’ might change the outcome!), and you’d likely come out way ahead financially.
But because you’d bring with you your knowledge and experiences from Life No. 1, you would end up making different personal choices about love or career or friendships or schooling, and you would end up in ever increasingly more divergent situations than in Life No. 1. Your Life No. 2 would end up so wildly different.
I am married to a great gal and I would love to meet her sooner, instead of meeting her when she was in her 30s. We could start dating sooner, and we could start our lives together sooner. So I could seek her out sooner. I know where she attended high school and college. I’d know where to find her. I could make that happen.
But the key question is, would she be interested in me at that sooner time? Maybe. But maybe not. I’d be a different me at that moment in Life No. 2. And she would be a different she at that time. I would have decades more experience. She would have less. That would affect how we converse, how we act toward each other. Our interactions would be so wildly different than from how we met in Life No. 1, how we started dating, how we fell in love.
By now I am pretty much convinced we wouldn’t fall in love in Life No. 2. It wouldn’t happen! She’d probably think I was some kind of stalker. In a sense, I would be.
But would it be fun to travel back in time and see different things? You bet! I’d do some different things! I’d find a way to travel to Cape Canaveral as a grade school kid to watch an Apollo mission launch in person. I’d travel at 12 years old to see Secretariat win the Triple Crown in 1973. I’d be at the NW corner of Candlestick Park to be there when Montana hits Clark for The Catch in 1981.
But it wouldn’t be that exciting because I’d know the outcomes already. And because I’d know the outcomes for things that interested me in Life No. 1, those things would be a tedious chore in Life No. 2. I couldn’t pretend to be thrilled.
So I would choose a very different Life No. 2 for me. Very different!
I am 55 now and, God willing, I have a few more decades in Life No. 1. I’ll keep this life, thank you. I am a happy man.
But, hey now, if God were to say to me, Bullitt, you will live to be 90. One day before you are to die, do you want another life? Start again? Keep your memories and experiences and carry those with you as - POOF! - you will become a toddler?
Hey now, that is intriguing! And I might say Yes, sign me up! But then again, as a teenager in Life No. 2 having 90+ years of life experience, I might find myself saying, over and over and over…
“I’m too old for this shit.” (sigh)
My take on the scenario in the OP:
:eek::eek::eek::smack::smack::eek:
I would love to go back and still have the knowledge I have now but I wouldn’t memorize names or phone numbers I would memorize things to help me through school and instead of being held back possibly Skip a few grades graduate highschool at age 16years old and go to college right out of highschool and get myself a good well paid career instead of McDonald’s where do I sign up
Three years later, every word of that is more true than ever. (Except for the part about me being 60, and the Firebug having just turned 7. Add three years to both of those. :))
An alternative scenario, for those of us who are really happy with their lives as they are (or even if you’re not): suppose you have the option of getting sent back to the time of your first memory, not from the present, but from your eventual deathbed?
Would you want a second trip through this life from that point, or would you rather just go on to whatever’s next, be it heaven, hell, some other aprés vie, or nothingness? (And not having anything more than faith, skepticism, or whatever to inform your expectations of what ‘whatever’s next’ is.)
I’ve thought about this one, and I’m leaning towards ‘no.’ When I think about the ups and downs of my adult life, my gut reaction is, I’ve already done this. And one trip through, for better or worse, is enough. I’ve probably got another 30-35 years ahead of me. That’s enough. Whatever’s next, it’ll be time to go there after that.
Many have considered it mainly in terms of not having to learn things the hard way and avoid big mistakes.
But to me as some others the much bigger factors are:
- gteed mega-wealth if you want it. Hint, it’s a lot easier to memorize the names and periods particular stocks made meteor rises than lottery numbers.
In fact it’s probably not even plausible for that reason (even besides the supernatural part). Maybe even with that people are imagining ‘buying’ Apple at some low price, but not considering you could leverage that bet enormously with options; likewise you don’t go short the market the day before the '87 crash, you go 10’s of times short with out-of-the-money puts. You could amass more than anyone has ever had, and probably fundamentally change the system, with a little instruction what the key things are to memorize and how specifically to use that knowledge. Consider the actual politico-economic effect if some ‘smart trader’ was so correct she amassed 10’s or 100’s of times what already despised ‘hedge fund gurus’ do, and those people are right fairly slightly more than 1/2 the time, this person would always be right as far as her memory served or to the degree she camouflaged her knowledge with deliberate wrong bets now and then.
- You can’t actually replicate your kids, obviously, or really your married relationship either, not really. That makes it ‘no’ for me.
That sounds immensely frustrating, especially if I were a kid knowing all I know now. There are absolutely some things I’d like to change, and some opportunities I’ve missed, but ew. No.
Absolutely. The smartest thing would have been to skip college, get a job pumping gas at a small country store, sleeping in the back room if necessary, and put every spare penny into cheap local land ($50 - 100 an acre back then).
After about 10 years of that, go on to college or whatever. Fast forward to today, my net worth would be ~$100 million. No lottery needed.
I’m currently 19yo, and I would do it. The past year was the worst year of my life and considering how bad where the previous years that’s saying something - My depression got out of control and I considered suicide daily, I had drop out of college, worked shitty jobs, lost contact with my best friend, and I also had broke with my boyfriend. While there would be some inconvenience related to this, it wouldn’t be much worse than the first time around for me. Growing up, I didn’t had real friends, so there is no negative impact on relationships. In school, I was considered, well as weird and I didn’t connect with my peers. So going second time around I’d use the same attitude I started using later in life - cold and detached, goal oriented, cynical, manipulative; speaking less, and to the point. And besides, I still love cartoons so if I had to talk about something with peers there is always scooby doo and ducktales.
So with this I could set my life on a good path:
- I’d not do some stupid things I did, when I was younger.
- I’d do things I regret not doing - i.e. harry potter themed summer camp set in a real medieval castle, not going to other high schools, not learning how to swim etc.
- I could watch Doctor Who from an earlier age.
- I’d study things I should have ( english, spanish, biology, chemistry, math, drawing ).
- I’d invest in bitcoin to have a lot of money.
So where can I sign up ?
Childhood would be a little boring, but my God, the possibilities.
Lottery numbers, shlottery numbers. Simply knowing the general trends of the stock market - something that will in general NOT be changed by the butterfly effect - could make you a gazillionaire. I’d know about the tech boom and bust; you could start with a little money and end with millions by riding the wave up and then shorting the market in late 1999. Then you turn that fortune into an even more colossal fortune in the real estate bubble. then I invest in Bitcoin if I even need more money. At that point I’d likely just be doing it so I could give it all away to people who need it.
But how do I get that initial investment,you ask? Shit - I could finish university by the age of 12. They’d have to skip multiple grades for me; if I know everything I know now at the age of four (that’s 1975, to give you a sense of chronology) I would be, far and away, the most brilliant child prodigy in human history, and now I get to add to that with my developing brain. I’d be done my Ph.D before I could legally drive a car (that was 1987.) I’d have a sweet salary long before the tech bubble of 1999. I’d have already advised my parents how to invest - Microsoft alone will make them ludicrously wealthy. Of course I know who wins every World Series and it’s unlikely the butterfly effect will get that far, so I can tell Dad to bet on the Tigers before the 1984 season starts.
Yeah, my loved ones will be different. But I’ll still have loved ones, and I can be a better father to the children I will have than I have been to the one I have now. It’s a different universe.
This is actually my favourite fantasy. I’m so regretful about this life.