Time-Travel

[Melmoth]

What historical era or discrete moment would you transport yourself to if you could? Past or future, return
guaranteed if things get dodgy. But obviously no interfering, cos that upsets the time-space continuum.
And we wouldn't want that would we?

Most of mine seem to be in Paris: 1789; 1920; 1968 (sigh).

 

[luka]

my dad was in paris in 68. just by coincidence, not becasue he was some mover and shaker in the student revolutionary scene. said he turned round a corner and saw a load of kids chucking cobblestones at the police. he only mentioned it to me once, didn't seem to think it was a big highlight of his life or anything. i should maybe grill him more about it.

 

[robin]

new york in the twenties/thirties-i love photos of the city from that time,it looks incredible
paris around then would have been pretty cool,in fact i'd say most big cities would have been great....
interestingly enough,i'm irish,but there is no time in irish history i would have any interest in seeing..

 

[nick.K]

east london in the 90s, for the real estate
or
new york in the late 70s / early 80s, for disco and punk
or
to time travel back to myself in childhood and discreetly tag along for a few decades, until I get round to the time travel moment, to see what happens. Interesting to watch your own life from another perspective. I'm sure I'd be extremely bored unless I started tampering.. which is more likely the true reason for going back

 

[nick.K]

Most of mine seem to be in Paris: 1789; 1920; 1968 (sigh).

actually I'd settle for any of these. Good call. I might even be tempted to pick 1958 so I could intercept Burroughs and Bryon Gysin, warn them of the dangers of experimenting with time

 

[hamarplazt]

What historical era or discrete moment would you transport yourself to if you could? Past or future, return
guaranteed if things get dodgy. But obviously no interfering, cos that upsets the time-space continuum.
And we wouldn't want that would we?

That's actually exactly what I'd want! However, if that isn't allowed, I'd travel back to the time of the Cambrian (some 550 million years ago) and watch trilobites and other strange creatures.

 

[luka]

i want to see neanderthals

 

[arcaNa]

...being female, i don't know if i would travel further "back" at all,to be honest...!!
i think we're lucky to be in a period of history where most of us have achieved more than just basic human rights...although there's still a long way to go before ALL females around the world will experience and enjoy the same freedom and equality as we do...

-sigh..enough pessimistic rants... all misanthropism aside, i'd loved to be back in Buenos Aires circa 1930's, or NY in the 60's, or spain in the Moorish period, or London or Paris in the 17/1800's... and probably a lot more,but gotta run...!!

 

[carlos]

i'd like to see egyptian pyramids under construction. maybe tour inca/maya/aztec cities- something like that

 

[h-crimm]

i had a run in with someone who had been in paris in 68. he was giving an after dinner speech at a physics conference and the way he talked about it really upset me. it wasnt anything particular just the way he approached it "of course we, as academics, were meant to be on strike! ha! in solidarity with the students! but we just wanted to get back to the lab" "our car broke down and when we came back from the phoning ahead to say we'd be late it had turned into a road block" shucks how inconvenient for you... uhmm this isnt sounding very offensive i kno... then he said something like "after i complained to my supervisor about not being able to do my work he decided to move me out to san francisco... as soon as i left the strike ended in paris and the race riots began in california! oh dear!" i think it was just his -"bloody students/darkies want some respect they should go and get a phd and do something proper like academic research like i'm trying to do"- attitude that pissed me off... added to which his following 'jokes' for want of a better word, which implicitly assumed all comitted scientists are male/straight/having affairs and the free wine that some-one had been making us down and i had to leave the room twice to stop myself having it out with him

so in answer to the question...

i dont want to see the past because all the history i know is just lies and after the event constructions... and the truth doesnt really matter to me that much... i kno what i think it is and i dont really care if for example i went back in time and find tony really did get a report on WMD which was convincing, i dont care, its still bullshit. i'd love to see the future instead, the point of the peak of human civilisation coluld be cool, but maybe a little too clean and sterile and ordered (or am i just thinking of star trek? lol) and then i'd lkike to see the big bursts of creativity that happen after that when mankind is fading out and things are certain on the way to being over but pockets of excitement can still happen and they have the mixed up half remembered influences of all human history. those times might be a little depressing but could be interesting in the way i imagine the cargo cult, the italian futurists, early post war japan, NY/london punk scenes, prague spring would be even tho they probably wouldnt really turn out that way if i went back.

 

[Scientia]

i would
-go to see kiss' first show
-see the beatles' with pete best
-see my parents growing up in the south during their youth. they dont like to discuss those times without some serious emotions. savannah, ga.
-intercept jack the ripper and mary kelly.
-step in for buddy miles and jam with hendrix and a band of gypsies.
-the renaissance period musically
-hide the bottle of absinthe from van gogh
-be in montgomery the day mlk was shot.

just to name a few.

 

[infinite thought]

My Ma too was in Paris in 68, just by coincidence (she probably cowered under an awning with your pa, luka! Or maybe they fought over the last remaining croissant...). She said she'd never been so scared in her life, which makes sense cos she's a pacifist low-level anarchist type and not really into Revolution and all that. What a wasted opportunity! She could have lobbed a molotov cocktail before snogging Godard...

I would also like to see pre-historic man (does time travel cover pre-history?!), especially homo habilis.