Hypothetical: Time Machine

[SnikPlosskin]

Originally Posted by ApexOversteer

I thought about that and it is indeed the 365 day requirement that really makes visiting the Mesozoic problematic. You just can't fit the required gear for a year long stay in a phonebooth.

You could phonebooth into the Cretaceous for a 90 day stay if you were an Army Ranger, or a Navy SEAL, or maybe an intelligent Bear Grylls. But that would be about it for a "safe" trip, using the booth.

The main problem would be food, followed by fuel for the chainsaw, the flame throwers and the drones. The sonic cannon would have to be assembled onsite.

If the phonebooth must be used, the OP doesn't say the booth can't return, only that YOU can't return. I'd send ahead some booth loads of gear, and supplies, before making the jump myself.

I think western Montana, or Southwestern Alberta would be the right place. Stay away from water, it is dangerous enough on land.

The idea being to witness the variety of wildlife, you'd want to find a prey species, preferably something that masses in enormous herds. If Tyrannosaurs are a priority species for you, my money would be on following the Edmontosaurus herds. The two species are often found together as fossils, and we have definitive evidence of their predator/prey relationship.

But, T. Rex isn't the one you need to worry about, safety-wise. You're much more at risk from the raptors, especially Dienonychus and Utahraptor. Even the tiny Velociraptor would be like meeting a school of land Piranaha. And I'm betting the raptors can climb trees.

I'd say find a lake island with nothing bigger than mouse on it, but we're staying away from the water.

You'd want a shallow cave, with at least two entrances, one of which you can barricade shut, openable from the inside. Something like what Marshall, Will and Holly had on Land Of The Lost would be perfect. Some place where you only need to watch one entrance, where you would have your fire.

Of course you could go whole-hog and make a mobile compound complete with power generation, wildlife mitigation features and a 30-foot-tall electrified fence. Turn that into a time machine and go full Dinosafari.

Just stay away from the water.

We need to get you and my son together. You guys could talk dinosaurs for weeks.

[DukeAllen]

Originally Posted by Cybercowboy

time machine had not been invented and the world was in chaos, and all that money and stuff you stashed away was simply nowhere to be found.

So your saying someone has already made the trip and screwed us?

[ApexOversteer]

Originally Posted by TxAg

Assuming you COULD change history.

Indeed, go back and kill Hitler's mother, so he is never born and you still end up with a deeply angry, miserable Germany in the 1920's, ripe to be forged into a Europe conquering monster. What if the men that made Hitler, find a different charismatic psycho to lead them, one that actually has some concept of military strategy?

Thanks for killing Hitler, you've doomed us all.

[LisaJohn]

Originally Posted by C5Nate

Ouch, sorry to hear about the wreck.

But...what does the swimsuit have to do with it?

I was wearing it. The glass fragments were stuck in the swimsuit material. Nurses picked lots of glass off of me for a long time in the er before they could put me in a hospital gown.

[kingpin]

Originally Posted by LisaJohn

I was wearing it. The glass fragments were stuck in the swimsuit material. Nurses picked lots of glass off of me for a long time in the er before they could put me in a hospital gown.

I'm glad you're okay.

[Nemesis]

I'd go back to the 80's and just stay there. I hear that was an awesome time period.

I'd invent the internet, and call it Drewgle. Then I'd start a band called Motley Drew, just for laughs but we'd kick some ass. I'd be the king of the world.

[Jeff '79]

Originally Posted by Drew M

I'd go back to the 80's and just stay there. I hear that was an awesome time period.

I'd invent the internet, and call it Drewgle. Then I'd start a band called Motley Drew, just for laughs but we'd kick some ass. I'd be the king of the world.

[ApexOversteer]

Take the screenplays to Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi and copyright them... in 1969. Return to present day and contact George Lucas' lawyers... tell them to bring Disney with them to the bank.

[FasterTraffic]

I put this hypothetical to Mrs. FasterTraffic and she also said 1775 in order to see the events that put in motion our freedom and independence.

Originally Posted by FasterTraffic

I was pondering this after reading our favorite dinosaur book with my daughter. Since I was knee high to a grasshopper, I've thought it would be amazing to actually see the dinosaurs from my books in person. Of course, I imagine the drawback is the late Cretaceous would be an awfully tough place to survive for a year.

The other strong contender is Concord, MA, on April 17, 1775. It's a much easier time to survive (no Tyrannosaurs!) and it would be amazing to witness the birth of this country.

[MrPeabody]

[twentysomething]What's a phone booth?[twentysomething]

[VatorMan]

I read Apex's posts and have a hard time believing he's a short order cook. Are you sure you and Stephen Hawking haven't had beers ?

[kylebuck]

it reminds me of the stephen king book 11/22/63 where a man goes back in time to stop the jfk assassination. In the book.... history does not like to be changed.

[Nemesis]

I'd go back and find younger me at the arcade and give myself some life advice. Then I'd put a quarter in the arcade horse and ride off into the sunset like a boss.

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by TxAg

Assuming you COULD change history.

Of course you could change history. You'd start a new timeline from that point, essentially spawning a parallel universe. This is very simple basic grade school time travel stuff.

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by joebuck

it reminds me of the stephen king book 11/22/63 where a man goes back in time to stop the jfk assassination. In the book.... history does not like to be changed.

And of course in HG Wells' classic "The Time Traveler" the Time Traveler found that he could not go back in time to save his wife. Each time he tried, she managed to get killed some other bizarre way. That's why he decided to go forward in time instead, to find out if in the future the secret to changing the past had been found. Then there were Eloi chicks and Morlock dudes and AI museum guides...

At any rate, if time travel into the past is at all possible, our intrepid time travelers would be forever leaving their universe. There would be no way for them to return to their original universe. When they did return, the new universe would be their original universe split at the point they traveled back in time, with all the changes (minute or otherwise) incorporated in the timeline. The best they could do would be to go back to just before they first arrived in the past, and kill themselves just as the first version of them materialized, grab any evidence, and immediately return to their future. That would get them back into yet another parallel universe but it would be very much more like their original.

Maybe.

[Grey Ghost]

This was a great TV series yrs. ago. It plays in reruns on one of the cable channels.

Quantum Leap: Yet another show about fixing mistakes in history, but this series made the episodes a bit more personal, as Dr. Sam Beckett could only travel through time within his own lifespan. With his holographic pal Al from the future, he had to figure out what was wrong and fix it so Sam could "leap" out into his next adventure. One of the more emotional moments had Sam leaping into Vietnam to try to stop his brother from dying.