If you had a Time Machine...

[John Crichton]

There are some good ones above. Here is my quick list:

- Star Wars opening day in '77. I was one month old.
- See the Doors playing in New Haven - the show where Morrison flipped.
- Any Nirvana show shortly after Nevermind came out and the band was touring like mad.
- Be in the crowd for Bobby Thompson's Shot Heard Round the World.
- Watch any full day of gladitorial combat at the Roman Colosseum.
- A week to hang out with Samuel Clemmons just to hear him talk about random stuff and his latest writing project.

 

[DaveMage]

I'd go back to around 33 AD to see what really happened...

 

[sniffles]

I would prefer a time machine that allowed you to view everything but didn't allow you to affect anything. With it I would:

1. See how the pyramids were constructed and how the ancient Egyptians lived;
2. See if the ruins in Turkey really are the ruins of Troy, and whether or not the Trojan war really occurred in any way resembling Homer's epic;
3. Go to the Cretaceous and Triassic periods and see what dinosaurs were really like;
4. Go to see what early hominids and early homo sapiens were really like;
5. Watch the construction of Stonehenge.

If I had a time machine that allowed me to change things, I'd go back to 1980 and prevent myself from eloping with a schizophrenic man I hardly knew. I'd also go to the 1960s and ask my dad lots more questions about himself and his life history. If I could really alter things I might try to find a way to treat his leukemia so he wouldn't die in 1972, but then that would totally alter my life and probably create an abominable paradox.

 

[Chaldfont]

Cool! A lot of good ones. I think the trip to see the dinosaurs is going to be booked solid. Of course, we have a time machine, so anybody from any time can all just meet up for brontosaurus BBQ before hand.

Count me in to see the Doors, I forgot about them.

How about:

* Witness the Gettysburg Address--I'd love to hear Lincoln speak.
* Go back and see if Neanderthals and Modern Humans really did co-exist and if they did, how we outcompeted them
* Check out the mound-building civilizations of the Illinois and Ohio river valleys
* Someone already said the Hanging Gardens of Babylon--why not check out all of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World?
* Find out what the Nazca Lines in Peru are all about

 

[devilbat]

Sentimentally speaking, I would go back to the early eighties and visit my great grandmother while she was healthy and alive. Then I would head to Vegas, and start placing bets on big sporting events that I know the results of.

 

[Lobo Lurker]

I'd go back and give myself some advice. Then I'd go and try to follow Jesus... but I don't think he'd have me.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

I'd go back to around 33 AD to see what really happened...

I'm certainly not a devout Christian or anything, but that's where I'd go. I'd probably visit every major religion founders, just to see what happened.

After that, Led Zeppelin at the Madison Square Garden, circa 1974

AR

 

[Templetroll]

I was 14 in 1969 and a friend asked me if I wanted to go a concert. I said sure, where is it? thinking it would be downtown or in another part of the city... He said New York. I told him he was nuts. If I had a time machine I would so be at Woodstock first thing. After that, I'd kick back to think of where to go next.

 

[Ambrus]

I'd indulge my nostalgia. I've always been curious to see what my hometown was like in the past. I'd be curious to see what it was like when my parents were young children or when my great-grandparents were children. I'd be curious to see what Montreal would look like from the top of Mount Royal before any of the europeans ever showed up. I'd be curious to be the first white person a native american ever met just to see how it would go. I'd be curious to witness the key moments of Jesus' life just to see if he really was everything he's cracked up to be or whether he was just a charismatic guy. I'd likewise be curious to meet Buddha. I'd visit england in the sixth century and try to locate camelot and king Arthur if they did exist. All the while I'd be taking little trinkets and hiding them in isolated places just to see if they're where I left them centuries later; roman coins, first issue comic books, bottles of wine, swords, ect. Sometimes I'd like to stand out as future person just to see how people would react and sometimes I'd just want to blend in and observe daily life in various times and places.

 

[Zappo]

Well. First thing, I'd go way back and kill all the dinosaurs to make sure that mankind can evolve in reasonable safety. Then I'd go to about late roman empire and set myself up as a religious figure, trying to get people to live together peacefully. If that fails, I'd go to early 20th century, get elected in Germany, and make sure that World War II started before atomic weapons. If this still doesn't prevent the eventual nuclear holocaust, I'd give up, accept the inevitability of history, and quietly live the last few years of human prosperity, mostly playing D&D and surfing the internet, to take my mind off the impending doom.

...what?