# Would you go into the future **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 14, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756 "2008-11-14T19:38:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/21 "2008-11-14T23:45:55Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > (Assume, however, there is no risk of popping out into a bustling future world, but right in front of a supersonic hovercraft) So you’re saying I will be getting a flying car? Hmmmmmm. I’ll get back to you. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/22 "2008-11-14T23:47:53Z")
No. MrWhatsit would never be able to find his cell phone charger again. And the little Whatsits would miss out on Friday ice cream lunches. Not worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/23 "2008-11-15T00:00:21Z")
I fully intend to do this, but I’m planning on doing it the old fashioned way. I figure I’m maybe possibly just young enough and healthy enough to be able to catch the wave of geriatrics advances, and see not only the future 300 or 3000 years from now, but all the years in between as well. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/24 "2008-11-15T00:24:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I fully intend to do this, but I’m planning on doing it the old fashioned way. I figure I’m maybe possibly just young enough and healthy enough to be able to catch the wave of geriatrics advances, and see not only the future 300 or 3000 years from now, but all the years in between as well. To paraphrase Woody Allen: I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/25 "2008-11-15T00:50:49Z")
I suppose you could always get a job in a museum. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/26 "2008-11-15T01:01:20Z")
Nope. The things I would want from the future are 50-150 years away, not 3000: virtual reality, brain-computer interface, genetic surgery, brain transplants, moon colonies, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/27 "2008-11-15T01:09:15Z")
Yes, absolutely. How could you NOT? Joe ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/28 "2008-11-15T01:35:29Z")
No way in hell. Imagine being someone from Ancient Egypt appearing in modern day. You’d be nothing more than a zoo animal for the rest of your life. You’re never going to adapt to modern life, so you’d be immensely unhappy. Your whole period of time in the future would either be a slow downhill to suicide or death within a week from a virus or walking down the wrong alleyway, or who knows what. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/29 "2008-11-15T02:03:39Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > No way in hell. > > Imagine being someone from Ancient Egypt appearing in modern day. You’d be nothing more than a zoo animal for the rest of your life. You’re never going to adapt to modern life, so you’d be immensely unhappy. > > Your whole period of time in the future would either be a slow downhill to suicide or death within a week from a virus or walking down the wrong alleyway, or who knows what. Aww, I don’t know. The egyptian is different, he is in no way prepared for the kinds of changes to expect. It’s not even till fairly recently that anyone could really understand the direction technology can go in. I think someone from today may be shocked at how how far technology can advance in 3000 years, but he would be armed with a lot more of an open mind about the possibilities. If you’re not inclined to embrace culture shock, than you’d probably say no in the first place, but adventurous types would handle it pretty well. Especially if they like attention. You would be famous, and its hard to imagine a society lasting 3000 years by becoming more assholish than we are today, so i think you would generally be admired, treated like royalty, and not thrown to the wolves to fend for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/30 "2008-11-15T02:10:05Z")
If my ‘present’ was going south, with little expectation of a decent future, then checking out the real future would be very tempting, and I probably would do it. Though I’d prefer something more along 300 years, so I can actively relate it to how good or bad it would be. 3000 years may as well be a completely new planet and an alternative dimension, it would be so different. I probably wouldn’t be able to communicate, the languages will have changed so much. ETA: I see that others have already expressed the same issues I have. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/31 "2008-11-15T02:15:07Z")
Yes, I would go into the future. The beginning of the 2000s will be remembered for our economic problems; however, I believe that the technology on earth - as of now - will bring rapid changes to society that will make these problems a footnote in Wikipedia or whatever information system is current. Would I ever want to get beyond these problems on earth today! It feels like it’s year one. At some point, though, we could create “virtual earths” that could be stored in a database or a customizable virtual earth. That’s the future of time travel. 🆒 You’d be able to go back to the virtual earth of the 1990s and “re-live” your childhood, and there would be no paradoxes because it’s, of course, virtual. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/32 "2008-11-15T02:28:37Z")
Sure, why not? Maybe it’ll be like Idiocracy, and maybe I won’t be the smartest person on earth, but I might just be the person with the most common sense on earth. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/33 "2008-11-15T03:42:25Z")
Things that would be cool: reading “Classic” literature from the year 4800, listening to 3000 years of music in its order of progression. Seeing how much detail from our times is common knowledge to future society, who are the people that are still remembered? And discovering what its like to have a culture with 3000 years of history that is meticulously documented. It would be really fun catching up on 3000 years of history. Tracking my family, see how the house of Bootis fared. I think I could be happy just living alone in a room with a food replicator and an internet connection, or as it might be called in 5008, “inter-nette” ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/34 "2008-11-15T03:49:57Z")
Actually maybe a better question would be, how much would you be willing to pay for an internet connection from the year 5000, filled with as much information as the net would have if stayed in tact. No profiting from it allowed, and you are approved for any loan it would take. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/35 "2008-11-15T04:18:30Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Nope. The things I would want from the future are 50-150 years away, not 3000: virtual reality, brain-computer interface, genetic surgery, brain transplants, moon colonies, etc. According to a thread on the topic here recently, moon colonies are alot further away than 50-150 years. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/36 "2008-11-15T04:20:04Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > Nope. I am just imagining what someone from 1708 would think if they suddenly popped up in the middle of Times Square and how they would be percieved by the people around them and that is enough to make me not want to be that person. > > However, if I were given the option of getting all 52 weekly papers from the year 2308 so that I could learn all about that time I would take that in a heartbeat. The poster asked 3 Thousand, Not 3 Hundred. An educated person, speaking english of 1708, who found himself in Times Square of 2008 would have something of a chance of assimilating. 3 Thousand would be transporting someone from the late bronze age to times square. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/37 "2008-11-15T07:25:35Z")
I would do it, regardless of the distance. My curiosity would definitely get the best of me. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2008, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/38 "2008-11-15T08:55:43Z")
Are you kidding?! Of course. Do you realize how famous, nay, legendary you’d be when you arrived. The whole world, and other colonized planets would be waiting with incredible anticipation as the first and only time-traveler will emerge from November 15th, 2008, into Nov 15th, 5008. Some might consider it a fairy tale, others are certain it will happen, most will doubt it and dismiss it as nothing more than an old legend or quackery, but keep one eye on the moment as the hour arrives, nonetheless. The entry-point will become sacred over time. Almost biblical. Held and up-kept by generation after generation until that fateful day arrives. Billions (trillions?) across our solar system will watch in person, virtually, or by some other proxy as I come stepping through, arriving in the future to the greatest fanfare, pomp and circumstance humanity, AI and inter-species hybrids have ever known. The arena they will have constructed around the spot will erupt with renewed joy that will infuse the human population spread across the planetary systems with hope again by baring witness to such an historic, and important epoch for our species. I will be treated as royalty and live a life of immense pleasure and leisure and knowledge fulfillment for all the days of my indefinitely extended lifetime. Either that or I’ll freeze to death in the current Ice Age. Either-way, my bags are packed… ---
**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:** [November 15, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/39 "2008-11-15T17:53:47Z")
I’m thinking a thousand year old relic might have a hard time get’ dates; so no. This despite the fact that “what the future will be like” is one of the biggest curiousities of my life. And it always has been for as long as I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756/40 "2008-11-15T17:56:16Z")
Hell no. Even if I do get to say goodbye, I’m not leaving my husband behind no way no how. Besides, I’m willing to bet there won’t be any WoW in the future. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-into-the-future/472756.md?page=3)