Just because you can... Does it mean you should?

K

kimberlyd

Chrono Cadet
If we had the ability to time travel, should we really do so? There are various things in history that many would want to change, but to change even the most minuet things could have consequences of epic proportions... should we take that kind of risk?

Then you run into the God factor, the power to move through time and exact changes in it would open a wide door for abuse.

 
If we had the ability to time travel, should we really do so? There are various things in history that many would want to change, but to change even the most minuet things could have consequences of epic proportions... should we take that kind of risk?Then you run into the God factor, the power to move through time and exact changes in it would open a wide door for abuse.
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Perhaps the path we are presently on was created by time travelers meddling with the past. Since it is apparent that there is an over abundance of abuse by those in power.

 
This is more a fundamental moral problem than specifically a time traveling question. Should one do anything just because they can? As humans we have freewill to make those decisions and will differ from person to person. I believe that time traveling could be beneficial to mankind but at what cost will those rewards come?

 
I think that only the present exists. There is no book where the recent page exist nor the next page. I mean if we're talking about philosophy here, then the future must not be written before we can make our decisions on the time we pass it (Otherwise, we do not have freewill and the will that we exhibit is just an illusion. I mean how can you say you made that decision yourself if it's already foretold that you will make it.) The same can be said to the past. If the past exist, then from its point of view, the present is its future. Therefore, as human beings (nevermind morality first), we need to believe that only the present page exist because if we don't, then that means we are just advanced mechanical clockwork heading towards the inevitability of the next page.

So going back to topic, not only does going back makes consequences, it also destroy the existence of freewill as we make that mistake from the past.

 
All of the philosophic questions about time travel are stupid. This one also. What does it mean if we had the ability to time travel ? We time travel already. Each second we go one second further in time. Shall we stop doing that? If you think so, shoot yourself in the head, stop time traveling into the future.

 
If there is only one dimension, and one timeline, we would never know about individuals changing the past. Say for example, in the "original" run of our timeline, Franz Ferdinand was never shot and WWI never happened. If someone had gone back and altered that event, the people from the future would never know. Its not like the history books would fade away and reappear with new information like that picture in Back to the Future, history would simply change and everyone except for the individual who changed the past would have any idea.

 
My theory is, it depends. If we can time travel without exacting changes, such as being a ghost in the past, then I think we should for plenty of reasons. For one, we can use it to determine guilt or fault in situations. This will allow officers of the law to go back and observe crimes to exact proper justice. It would allow insurance companies to go back to see who was at fault in accidents, which would lower insurance rates. Two it would be great for education and documentation. Students can visit ancient Rome to learn of the Roman empire, historians can visit prehistoric Earth to learn about the dinosaur and plant life during that time. There are so many possibilities with time travel.

If we can not go back as ghostly observers, then no... we should not travel in time. Anything we do can exact change. Important people may not be born because you bumped into someone by mistake. There are an infinite amount of possibilities of a screw up happening that could have dire consequences.

 
I think it would depend on the reason. I brought this up yesterday what if someone had to travel back in time to fix something that went wrong and now threatens the future of man kind. This is always a possiblity, we never know what the things we are doing now could effect tomorrow. I do agree that with time travel comes great responsiblity. Even if it were possible, and a person were to be brought back on a particlular mission they would no doubt told that they had to be careful to only full fill that mission not have any other impact while there. Which isn't easy because sometimes just the littest thing can change the course of time.

 
I can't remember what the name of the movie was but back in the 80's I watched a movie where this guy was trying to change a single event in history. However, every time he achieved to stop it... it caused something else equally or even worse to happen in its place. Then there is H.G. Wells the Time Machine. No matter how hard he tried to stop his beloveds death, fate always found a way to take her life. So here is the even more profound idea. Maybe we should leave the past as is because one it may not be possible to change it anyway because it is preordained to happen and two, if we try to change it, we may think we are doing right (like preventing the holocaust) but it may cause something even more catastrophic to happen (like the destruction of all of Europe). Sometimes it is just best to let sleeping dogs lye.

 
I don't know. If you can change something to happen for the betterment of a lot of people, wouldn't it be a good idea to do just that using your time travelling ability? I don't see what the harm is in going back in time to warn people of a terrorist attack, or to stop someone from enacting a mass shoot spree, or even to stop someone from murdering someone horribly.

 
Here is what I think.

Lets say there is a terrorist attack on a train car. There are 12 people on that train car and they all die.

Lets say that someone goes back in time and stops that from happening... now there are a infinite number of possibilities that can occur, but here is one that I am going to give as an example.

One of the passengers that are now alive because they prevented the terrorist attack, we will call him Joe, meets a young woman, we will call her Jill. Joe and Jill fall in love and get married. They have 6 children... Great everything went well, then comes along Sarah, James, Adam, and Rebecca from this line and they meet people and fall in love and get married. Then Hitler, Manson, Bundy, and Gangus Kung are all reborn and they cause the apocolypse. Now if Joe had died in the terrorist attack like he was suppose to have, then the new Hitler would not have ever been born. I know it is all a bit far fetched, but you get the jest of what I am trying to say.

When you start messing with time, there are so many bad things that can come with the good. You may stop one bad thing but there are a number of horrible things that can come as a result of it.

 
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