Timetravel

[EvilNed]

Alright, let's say you're from the future, in a post-apocalyptic war. China, Russia are fighting against the US and EU over some really trivial bull****. You have one chance to go back in time to warn the goverments about this and make it stop. YOU can make it happen. You've all seen the films where they try that. But if you do this, and you end up in Brussels (or whatever) and go infront of the EU parliament and tell them to knock off. Would you really tell them you're from the future? I mean, any time traveler has to realize that actually saying "I'm from the future!" would get you instantly locked up.

[rightwing401]

That's a very confusing and hard to guess question. Your first primary problem would be convincing the people of the past that you're really from the future. If you went to one side or the other, suspicions would probably skyrocket because they would believe you a spy or agent provocator. Second, if you could convince them that you are indeed a future person with a warning, you would have to get both sides to sit down and find a solution that has mutual benefits for both sides. You would also have to explain to them what the catalyst was that started the war, and how they must all avoid it. The problem would most likely be that one side would see complete legitimacy for starting the fight, and it would be a pain to make them overcome that. And your final problem would be if they listened to reason now, will the next generation of leaders fifty years down the road do the same? Will the war still happen, just several decades later? This is the fundamental problem with time travel and histroical change. There's just no telling what would happen if one event were changed. And it never is quite as clear cut as some would see. I'm sure most people would immediately jump at the chance to go back in time and kill Hitler before he ever became known, but no one really takes into consideration the counter action of what that would cause. If the facists hadn't have come to power, it is almost a 100% guarantee that the communists would have. Odds are, France most likely would have gone communist as well. The Spanish civil war might have ended with another communist regime as well. I don't see how Poland couldn't have become communist being wedged between a red Germany and Russia. Odds are, this alternative time line most likely would have seen a communist dominated Europe, and the world would have been a much more dangerous place than the one we know of. I think the quote from Doc in Back to the Future summed it up nicely, "You mustn't do anything that would distrubt the space time continum. Even if you're intentions are good, they could backfire with disaterous consequences."

[fartpants]

the whole of europe run by communists, that would be Neds idea of heaven...

[DeadJonas190]

All I have to say about this is John Titor. Look him up. Funny stuff.

[Eyebiter]

If we assume that time travel will be developed at some future point in human history, then it stands to reason that Anthropologists from another time period are already here observing our society. So you don't really have to do anything except give someone from the future a legal invitation to meet with you. Bebe Williams has developed this method to meet someone from the future. http://www.artcomic.com/timetravel/intro.html

[EvilNed]

the whole of europe run by communists, that would be Neds idea of heaven... No. This is heaven!