If you could travel to the future, when would it be?

[Mr. Anderson]

So this is directly in response to the travel back in time threads, but I figured I go in the opposite direction. I'd like to go 50 years in future and see where we've gotten. I might still be alive and I'd like to hear what I'd have to say to myself. And of course go out and get the newest Apple Mac available to bring home.....

[Choppaface]

5x10^(1/0) years

[Beej]

I'd go to when the G5 is released, of course! :D

Seriously though, I'd have to choose to jump to when we make first contact with another civilisation. That would be a truly mind-blowing time to experience... assuming they are peaceful.

[sparkleytone]

tomorrow.

[macstudent]

I would go into the future by a few months and determine what the stock market would be like, maybe the lotto too. Then retire at the age of 21:)

[eyelikeart]

I know this is gonna sound cheezy...

but I'd go ahead to the future to when my lady & I can finally have a life together....

long distance relationships suck....and the suspense is killing me!!! ;)

[jelloshotsrule]

what if in 50 years the world as we know it is... no more?

that'd be interesting. to see how the environment has developed... ie, continued to deteriorate rapidly or if things have been done to stop the pollution and such..

[teabgs]

I'm not so sure I'd want to go to the future. Maybe to July 16th so I can see what will get released...

But going to the future would really ruin everything. The thrill of life is not knowing what will happen. Sure its also what sucks about life, but without the part that sucks, there is no good.

[AlphaTech]

I would go a few months into the future, get the winning lottery numbers, when it peaks again (over 100 million :D ) like it did not too long ago here in MA. I would then play those numbers. I would then decide what to do after that. If possible, I would travel into the future again, and bring back some cool tech. Nothing too wild, just some things that would make my own life better (like a G6 based PowerBook :D ).

Those are the first things I would do, I'm sure that I could come up with more, depending on how many time trips we are allowed. :D

[jefhatfield]

i would go into the future and then come back and win a heck of a lot of money and help the poor in this country and all others around the world but i would do it as annonymously as humanly possible

wipe out diseases and war, and solve the population explosion

with the knowledge of knowing the outcomes of gambling and stock market trends, one could literally make billions of dollars in a short period of time and have the leverage of a bill gates

i think bill gates realizes how rich he is and on some level, that he won't live forever and knows that only good deeds with his money can live on after he is gone thirty or so years from now

carnegie's giving is still paying off and most people today have no idea when he lived, or how powerful he was, and what a formidable opponent he was in the business world of his time

[eyelikeart]

damn...

am I the only one who's thining about puppy dogs & ice cream?! :eek: :rolleyes:

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by eyelikeart
damn...

am I the only one who's thining about puppy dogs & ice cream?! :eek: :rolleyes:

Puppy dog ice cream??? with or without the fleas??? LMAO

[3rdpath]

maybe i'm taking this thread too literally, but i really see no need in visiting the future.

i like seeing it just a little at a time.:)

[Beej]

So am I the only one who did not have $$$ immediately jump into their head with the suggestion of time travel?

[mac15]

I would go and get the next years worth of lotto numbers
and to macworld 2010

[3rdpath]

Originally posted by Beej
So am I the only one who did not have $$$ immediately jump into their head with the suggestion of time travel?

i'm with you there.

besides, i don't think a person could get the lotto numbers because they are random. just like the future. the door that gets you to the future must be re-entered to get back to the present which creates an event that hasn't happened. therefore the lotto numbers picked would still be entirely random and have no relation to the numbers you saw in the future.

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by jefhatfield
i think bill gates realizes how rich he is and on some level, that he won't live forever and knows that only good deeds with his money can live on after he is gone thirty or so years from now


yeah, i agree. as much as i want to hate him... he seems to be somewhat socially aware... this is something from an online news article around the recent WTO meetings in nyc (recent meaning a few months ago). but i don't have the link anymore, just this excerpt.

"Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates warned that the terms of international
trade were too favorable to the rich world, a disparity that feeds
resentment.

'People who feel the world is tilted against them will spawn the kind of
hatred that is very dangerous for all of us,' Gates said. 'I think it's a
healthy sign that there are demonstrators in the streets. They are raising
the question of "is the rich world giving back enough?'"'"

[cb911]

i would go forward in time until there were really good race tracks and motorbikes that could reach 600KM/H. that would be awesome!! racing that is extreme-G and Wipeout style!!!:D :D :D

[britboy]

I'd travel forward to the weekend, so i can sleep in late :rolleyes:

Really though, life is just too much fun to want to miss out on any of it. I'd much rather have to work towards something, than be able to take shortcuts whenever things are a little tough.

Yeah, i'm into the self-punishment thing :D

[iGav]

The year 2525, just to see if what the song says, will come true......!!

Maybe somewhere really far off in the future...... 3535 will do...... the world, humans everything will be really different by then.....

[vitruvius]

-hey where do you get that Chromiun G7 PowerBook with that holographic Display???
-not "where" my friend... but "when"....:eek:

[mymemory]

I would like to go some time so far in to the future when no one remember anything about this years. May be 2000 in to the future.

[Mr. Anderson]

I'm really surprise on how many people want to jump ahead, get the winning lotto numbers and then come back so they could win.

Anyone see Vanilla Sky with Tom and Penelope Cruz? What if it were a oneway trip....now that might make things a little different. Its sort of what all the cryo-people are going to have to deal with if they ever figure out how to unfreeze them and be able to repair all the celluar damage done by ice chrystals.

[Beej]

There's a whole lot of fun stuff we could discuss here...

Does freewill exist? If you do go into the future, can you actually do anything about getting back to the 'present'? Or are your actions in the future predetermined?

Why have we not seen time travelers? Is it because when they get back in time, they have no control over what they do - their actions have already been determined?

And can you alter something in the past without altering the future? Can you go back in time, before you were born, and shoot your grandfather? If you can, perhaps it will not change the future because of the distinction between cause and effect. Or perhaps you can't shoot your grandfather because you do not have freewill.

What if it is ever proven that freewill does not exist? What effect would it have on humanity? Would people give up trying to make the world a better place because they cannot control it? And what of the justice system? It would surely fall apart. How can it be right to jail someone who has no control over their actions?

...I'll leave you to it. I'm off to bed!

(As a great man once said, "My brain hurts!")

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by Beej
There's a whole lot of fun stuff we could discuss here...

Does freewill exist? If you do go into the future, can you actually do anything about getting back to the 'present'? Or are your actions in the future predetermined?

Temporal paradox is what you're basically talking about. It has been explained away by using the multi-verse theory which basically states that there are an infinite number of universes, a different one for every choice that possible, down to the atomic level. Its a huge concept to grasp and for me the best way to imagine exactly how big infinity is. If you think about all the protons,electrons etc. in our universe and then allow them to spin, move, combine in any number of ways and each time there is a choice, its a different universe.

So when you make a choice to cross the street now or wait till the car in the road passes, that's another universe, running parallel to ours. So if you did travel back in time, you could kill your father or even yourself and still exsist because you did it in a different universe.

Pretty crazy huh?

[Beej]

Originally posted by dukestreet
Temporal paradox is what you're basically talking about. It has been explained away by using the multi-verse theory which basically states that there are an infinite number of universes, a different one for every choice that possible, down to the atomic level.Well, that's one of the theories. :)

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by Beej
Well, that's one of the theories. :)

Thought you were going to bed? Well, you probably were out there making a few more universes.

Yeah, one theory, the others don't handle the paradox very well, or not at all and have the whole free will issue. That's why I like the multi-verse one, even if it is harder to visualize.

[Beej]

Originally posted by dukestreet
Thought you were going to bed? Well, you probably were out there making a few more universes.I was going to go to bed... but then I had a brilliant idea for an assignment I'm working on (an interesting one, believe it or not!) So I decided to implement my idea while it was fresh in my mind. then I checked here one last time. Then I did something else. And then I just checked this thread one more time.

Man, I can't have freewill, if I had freewill I'd be in bed now! :)

I swear, I'm posting this message, sleeping my machine, then going to bed. I swear!

...unless I find something else to do in the meantime... ;)

[Beej]

Everything is the way it is because if anything was any different, we wouldn't be here to ask why things are the way they are.

I'm not a subscriber to this theory, but it sure sounds good. :D

[mcrain]

Originally posted by eyelikeart
I know this is gonna sound cheezy...

but I'd go ahead to the future to when my lady & I can finally have a life together....

long distance relationships suck....and the suspense is killing me!!! ;)

Hey, not cheesy at all. My wife and I lived apart for 3 years. We saw each other on weekends, and at the time, I would have chosen a chance to get to today.

Now, I'm just another money hungry lawyer! Ha, no, I'm only kidding.

If I could go into the future, I think I'd have to go forward and find a way to get lots of money! No, wait, fight the urges... I'd go forward and help mankind and get lots of money. NO, I can be good... yes, I'll go forward and get rich, no wait, I'll save the whales so I can get rich... no, damn, I'd do something really good and go forward and find a way to sue M$ and get rich in the process.

Damn those legal insticts...

Show me the money!

SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!

(Letter from good mcrain's management: The previous comments are not endorsed by, nor representative of good mcrain's management. All comments are the sole opinion of the evil mcrain and should not be taken seriously)

(Response from evil mcrain's dictator: Blah, blah, blah... where's the cash? Hey, do you hear an ambulance?)

[britboy]

A lawyer with a sense of humour? What is this world coming to? ;)

Beej: it sounds to me like you really need to get some sleep. Those brain cells are working overtime!

[Geert]

Originally posted by AlphaTech
800MHz PowerBook G4, 768MB RAM, 40GB HD...

Congrats AlphaTech on your newly accuired PB!

[Mr. Anderson]

Why not go ahead to the future, find a cure for cancer, aids, etc. and bring it back. No one even bothered to think of this one. You'd be an immediate hero, lots of money (if you're smart and don't do something stupid and let it get away from you) and you'd be doing something that would save millions of lives.

That would be a good cause, and of course you'd bring back all that infomation on the newest G9 PowerBook......:D

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by Geert


Congrats AlphaTech on your newly accuired PB!

Thanks... I picked it up on Friday and have been enjoying it all weekend, and this week so far. Everything about the new revision is better then the previous one. Even the keyboard sits better (no more slop by the arrow keys). If you have been thinking about getting a PowerBook, now is the time to do it. It seems like Apple has the supply to meet the demand (I only had to wait a couple of days to get my new one, and that was from a not from an Apple Store). I called one Apple retail store, and they had plenty of the 800MHz models in stock. Fly, don't run, don't walk, to the one closest to you and get yours. :D

[mcrain]

Originally posted by dukestreet
Why not go ahead to the future, find a cure for cancer, aids, etc. and bring it back. No one even bothered to think of this one. You'd be an immediate hero, lots of money (if you're smart and don't do something stupid and let it get away from you) and you'd be doing something that would save millions of lives.


I'll leave the health mumbo jumbo to my wife. In addition, we're all to old anyway. The human race wasn't intended to live as old as we are anyway.

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by mcrain


I'll leave the health mumbo jumbo to my wife. In addition, we're all to old anyway. The human race wasn't intended to live as old as we are anyway.

Well look at the cockroach or shark, 100s of millions of years of history on the planet. I say if they can do it, so should we!

Besides, so many people share so much in common with them, if that's a survival traite, we all set....

[mcrain]

Originally posted by dukestreet
Well look at the cockroach or shark, 100s of millions of years of history on the planet. I say if they can do it, so should we!

Besides, so many people share so much in common with them, if that's a survival traite, we all set....

I'm not referring to the human species being too old, I'm referring to the amazing steps we take to increase our personal average longevity.

When Social security and medicare were created, they were designed for the less than 1% of the population that happened to live past the age of 65. Now, it's unusual to live less than 65, thus part of the reason SS and medicare/medicaid are in financial trouble.

As a race, we're living longer. All I'm saying is that I wonder how prudent it would be to jump into the future and find ways of making us all live even longer than we already do without first figuring out population control.

[mcrain]

Originally posted by mcrain
All I'm saying is that I wonder how prudent it would be to jump into the future and find ways of making us all live even longer than we already do without first figuring out population control.

Speaking of which... that would be a good reason to jump forward in time. Not population control, but resource management and food production/water management for areas of drought and famine.

Feed the world. Save the starving children.

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by mcrain

I'm not referring to the human species being too old, I'm referring to the amazing steps we take to increase our personal average longevity.


This is a HUGE issue. Scientist are arleady making progress on preventing aging altogether. They're treating it as a disease that can be cured. If we end up being able to live indefinitely (not immortal, cause you could still die) the population would strangle the planet.

Well, if that does happen, there won't be any trouble finding volunteer colonists for Mars....

[mcrain]

Originally posted by dukestreet
This is a HUGE issue. Scientist are arleady making progress on preventing aging altogether. They're treating it as a disease that can be cured. If we end up being able to live indefinitely (not immortal, cause you could still die) the population would strangle the planet.

Well, if that does happen, there won't be any trouble finding volunteer colonists for Mars....

Man, if we all start living in excess of 100+ years, I'm investing in Viagra (Glaxowelcome?). Can you imagine how that stock will do when there are millions of horny senior citizens running around.

[mcrain]

Oh, yeah, and the people who make KY jelly... I wonder if that's the same company??!! If it is, they've got a great combo of products... It's sort of like what good is a firewire port without a firewire drive? If you have both, things just SCREAM!!!

Oh yeah!

[cornelius]

ill go to rome, when the empire was at its peak. hmmm,the 60's, definetly woodstock 69, and go to san francisco or london during the 60's. to experience peace and freedom, and smoke a lot, while listening to the greates music ever created.

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by cornelius
ill go to rome, when the empire was at its peak. hmmm,the 60's, definetly woodstock 69, and go to san francisco or london during the 60's. to experience peace and freedom, and smoke a lot, while listening to the greates music ever created.

ummm Bubba, you got the wrong thread there... this one is about going to the FUTURE, not the past (see the other thread for that one).

Guy doesn't know if he is coming or going :D

[cornelius]

take me out to the field and just shoot me. sorry. yeah to the future, i want to go to Japan, 200 years from now. i think itll be the best, cleanest, advanced and organized country.

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by mcrain


Man, if we all start living in excess of 100+ years, I'm investing in Viagra (Glaxowelcome?). Can you imagine how that stock will do when there are millions of horny senior citizens running around.

That actually might help the population problem. Even with life extension measures in effect, it won't cure heart disease and things like that. You'll die from a heart attack at 110 with a big smile on your face and look like a 30 year old!

Imagine going to a bar and trying to pick up women/men and there is no way to tell if they could be the same age as you or someone who knew your great grand parents? Such things would change the world in ways we don't even realize.

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by cornelius
take me out to the field and just shoot me. sorry. yeah to the future, i want to go to Japan, 200 years from now. i think itll be the best, cleanest, advanced and organized country.

Tempting, but I will make allowances since you are in Florida/Hell. I lived there (if you can call it that) for about 10 years (about 9 too many). I am very glad to be back in MA, where we have four seasons, not just the two in FL. There you have hot and wet, and not as hot. Of course, you also need to watch out of hurricanes, tornados and water spouts. Forget about being dry during the rainy season...

I think that Japan will collapse in the next 200 +/- years, and either become more like the US (I know, scary thought), or become more like it was several hundred years ago. I see some aspects of Japan being too rigid, with other aspects wanting to break completely from those parts...

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by AlphaTech
I think that Japan will collapse in the next 200 +/- years, and either become more like the US (I know, scary thought), or become more like it was several hundred years ago. I see some aspects of Japan being too rigid, with other aspects wanting to break completely from those parts...

America, as we know it, will be lucky to be around in 200 +/- years. So much change is going to happen in the next century that we'll be unable to recognize much of what we know now.

Imagine someone from 1902 showing up today. Sure, they'd see people and buildings and such, but cars, plains, computers, radio, tv, modern medicine and all the hi tech stuff we do would be beyond the average person to grasp at first. Put yourself in 2102 - assuming of course that we don't kill ourselves, or endure and ice age or something like that - the things taken for granted by everyday people will be wonders to us. And I imagine that the development of technologies will be even faster in the 21st century than it was in the 20th.

And what of the global warming and melting of the ice sheets? If the water levels rise 3-4 feet (which is currently predicted) many countries are going to have serious problems. All of Amerca's coastal cities will need seawalls, Florida and the Eastern Shore of Maryland will loose a lot of land.

Given all this change we couldn't even begin to guess how it would shape world politics and society in general. I'll be happy to see the change come for as long as I live, I just hope its all things we can deal with and not have to endure unnecessary suffering.

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by AlphaTech



I think that Japan will collapse in the next 200 +/- years, and either become more like the US (I know, scary thought), or become more like it was several hundred years ago. I see some aspects of Japan being too rigid, with other aspects wanting to break completely from those parts...

many of my relatives live there and japan is becoming more like the us right now...maybe it's not in the press as much, but they have to deal with crime, too...but they are very good about hiding it from the outside world