inherit
Passionate Peruser of Prose
89748
0
Apr 5, 2024 12:09:43 GMT -8
📚 Dianne 📚
"Never Judge A Book By Its Movie"
10,522
September 2006
cats57
|
Post by 📚 Dianne 📚 on Dec 13, 2018 4:19:23 GMT -8
For me, the question is moot. Wouldn't fall in love with someone back in time; Marian's waiting here for my return. That said, if I went back in time, I wouldn't want to go there to live; rather, I'd go there merely to observe, like a time-travelling voyeur, almost a Prime Directive situation (for all my fellow Star Trek fans!). My degree is in History and just watching would be fun, interesting, enlightening (to find out how much of what we learn is actually what transpired), and personally rewarding. And then, back to Marian! Perhaps I should have asked this question to single people only? If you fell deeply in love with someone back in time then you would have to make the choices I gave. I can see how someone already in love wouldn't feel the need to make this choice.
|
|
inherit
252032
0
Apr 4, 2024 21:43:14 GMT -8
Retread
Tribbial Pursuit.
5,014
January 2018
retread
|
Post by Retread on Dec 13, 2018 6:48:49 GMT -8
Perhaps I should have asked this question to single people only? Shoulda woulda coulda. Ya can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. Oh wait ... maybe you can. We're talking time travel here!
|
|
inherit
252032
0
Apr 4, 2024 21:43:14 GMT -8
Retread
Tribbial Pursuit.
5,014
January 2018
retread
|
Post by Retread on Dec 13, 2018 7:40:04 GMT -8
what if going back in time creates a whole new timeline, rather than you still existing on the current one? that would explain why going back and changing something would create a whole new future: something that wouldn't make sense in the 'current' timeline because you've already seen the future in it. get what i'm saying?
|
|
inherit
PBS Oscars: Best Debater 08 Oscars: Best New Member 2007
86462
0
Apr 24, 2024 6:39:42 GMT -8
HoudiniDerek
Capital Idea!
33,291
August 2006
houdiniderek
|
Post by HoudiniDerek on Dec 13, 2018 8:54:23 GMT -8
I think it would depend. Is this person a major player in history? Would my taking them or my staying ruin history as we know it now? In those cases, I think I would have to return alone. Also, if I'm sent involuntarily, how do I know that I get to stay? How long do I get to stay? Can I take anyone with me? Did I actually go back in time or did I leap like Dr. Beckett?
|
|
inherit
GO NOW Welcome to Pain
145851
0
Nov 2, 2022 12:05:16 GMT -8
Syko Nachoman
let it all go at once, not piece by piece, but like a whole bucket of stars dumped into the universe
14,479
August 2009
sykonachoman
|
Post by Syko Nachoman on Dec 13, 2018 14:21:54 GMT -8
Time travel is a mind bender. If you went back in time, wouldn't time already know you did that? Similarly, what if I go back in time to just before I stepped into the time machine? Wouldn't that create an infinite loop, with time just endlessly replaying the period between then and when I re-enter the time machine?
|
|
#FF6600
Closet Spammer
31801
0
1
Apr 25, 2024 18:38:25 GMT -8
wildmaven
Fear the Flying Flocks of Fiery Fury!!
35,595
October 2004
wildmaven
Wildmaven's Mini-Profile
|
Post by wildmaven on Dec 13, 2018 14:41:18 GMT -8
Time travel is a mind bender. If you went back in time, wouldn't time already know you did that? Similarly, what if I go back in time to just before I stepped into the time machine? Wouldn't that create an infinite loop, with time just endlessly replaying the period between then and when I re-enter the time machine? There's always the chaos theory that would enable one of those times to see you suddenly have to go to the bathroom and have a stroke while straining and therefore never get into the time machine.
|
|
inherit
Passionate Peruser of Prose
89748
0
Apr 5, 2024 12:09:43 GMT -8
📚 Dianne 📚
"Never Judge A Book By Its Movie"
10,522
September 2006
cats57
|
Post by 📚 Dianne 📚 on Dec 14, 2018 5:23:14 GMT -8
I think it would depend. Is this person a major player in history? Would my taking them or my staying ruin history as we know it now? In those cases, I think I would have to return alone. Also, if I'm sent involuntarily, how do I know that I get to stay? How long do I get to stay? Can I take anyone with me? Did I actually go back in time or did I leap like Dr. Beckett? Now here is someone who knows how to ask the correct questions (at least according to this particular author I'm reading). She hasn't written about any 'major players' in history, but her first book was about someone who does show up in the history books (about Scottish Clans), so they the protagonists had to slightly change history but not enough to actually CHANGE history if you know what I mean. Don't forget that this is fiction so the rules are pretty much non-existent, although she does some pretty good research and theorizing. You stay (if you want to go back to the future) as long as it takes to do what you came to do and you don't always know just what that is going to be. But one thing is is that you will find your love here. Arrrgh! Leave it to you smart people to drive me crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
|
|
#FF6600
Closet Spammer
31801
0
1
Apr 25, 2024 18:38:25 GMT -8
wildmaven
Fear the Flying Flocks of Fiery Fury!!
35,595
October 2004
wildmaven
Wildmaven's Mini-Profile
|
Post by wildmaven on Dec 14, 2018 8:28:03 GMT -8
If I didn't have anything to hold me back in my original time, I would probably seriously consider it to stay with my love. However, Medieval times are not kind to women, so I'd probably not be happy.
|
|
inherit
29252
0
Sept 6, 2012 15:46:49 GMT -8
Derek‽
28,655
August 2004
kajiaisu
|
Post by Derek‽ on Dec 16, 2018 21:22:47 GMT -8
If I suddenly found myself thrust centuries into the past to “medieval times,” I suppose I would expect to still be here, geographically, and thus would likely encounter Tecumseh’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents. There would be a bit of a language barrier. I don’t think I’d have time to fall in love with anyone before I made a wrong move and found myself coming down with a severe case of death. History shows that people don’t do well with outsiders and are quick to indulge their most reactionary impulses with little provocation—and I would be quite the outsider. Nothing to trade to establish good will, no way to effectively communicate, and no personal safety in numbers. I’d make a wrong move or violate some misunderstood cultural taboo, be painted as malicious, and find myself one dead pale-face.
But let’s assume I’d instead find myself in medieval England, where this fantasy scenario most often takes place and where I might be able to communicate with people long enough to avoid being impaled by instruments of war. Time to fall in love!
Wait, shredded expectations alert! Linguists have determined the general, non-rhotic British accent we all associate with the soggy isles of the past and present is more present than past, having cropped up around the year 1800. Prior to this, they sounded like... us... Americans. More specifically, the “rust belt” (Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati) accent is the closest surviving accent to the pre-imperialism one from before the Brits “adopted” their current affectations (posers).
Buuuuuut “medieval times” encompasses a significant stretch of time—up to a thousand years—and language is very fluid. If I arrived in the later Middle Ages (post-1000 CE) I could verbally communicate rather well with everyone speaking Middle English, possibly even the French-speaking upper classes that wouldn’t be caught dead speaking the peasants’ English without significant provocation. The writing would differ just enough that I wouldn’t want to have to try to pen a letter to anyone,, lest they brand me as illiterate, but spoken language should suffice. The further back one travels, the more the Germanic roots would affect the accents and the more grating it would be to have to listen to anyone speak. Am I really supposed to fall in love with a woman who sounds like Heidi Klum trying to read Shakespeare with a mouth full of marbles?
If I ended up even earlier, say pre-1000 CE, I’d be screwed like a royal pooch. Beowulfette would speak Old English, and despite what Hollywood might have you believe, that language is nothing like what we speak today (Middle English is usually used in place of Ye Olde English in most productions, no matter when the story takes place). Marble-mouthed Heidi would have to have her tongue cut out to sound like an early medieval damsel, and just... no, thank you.
So let’s say I end up in the later Middle Ages, I meet a girl, and we can communicate very well. I’m the exotic foreigner out of my own time (which, frankly, she couldn’t even begin to comprehend with her limited worldview), and she’s a Celtic-descended cutie (defying the odds for a time period in which beauty was a myth; a medieval ten would be a 2018 six, at best, and how many people are even tens to begin with?) with just a very slight hint of an exotic accent. Now we’re really cooking! What could possibly go wrong?
How about the fact that she smells like a barnyard animal and still looks like an un-sheared sheep? Am I supposed to just forget the hygiene standards I’ve come to covet in the modern world? That’s not gonna happen. I’m sure I could build a working shower and maybe find something to serve as a hair removal agent, but keeping us at an acceptable standard of hygiene seems like it would be a full-time job in a world perfectly suited to ensure failure of such endeavors. I haven’t even begun to address oral hygiene yet.
Even if all of that gets squared away to satisfactory levels, I’m not sticking around. Life was just awful back then. I don’t think I could even pretend to be Catholic and let the church dictate my life, and frankly, I’m not willing to try. As awful as going to the doctor may be today, going to a doctor with a plague mask and a jar full of leeches is surely magnitudes worse.
If my beloved wanted to come with me, aces. Otherwise, sayonara.
It may seem to her like a no-brainer for me to stay, because jumping in and making the big commitment is what people did back then. I come from a more enlightened age and simply know better. We’ve all heard the stories of people who get married too soon or move in together too soon and things go horribly for them. This is especially true when one party has to give up much of their life and relocate for the other. Resentment creeps in and poisons the well, which is exactly what I would expect to happen if I had to stay in medieval Europe. No matter how much affection I felt for her, it wouldn’t be enough to overshadow how much I hated daily life.
She, too, would have to make a similar choice, albeit a less informed one. She would have only my word (and maybe the contents of my phone?) to form an idea of what my time is like. She might not have as many initial reservations to joining me as I would have for staying, but the chance of her becoming overwhelmed and resentful could possibly be much higher. She wouldn’t exactly be prepared to support herself, so she’d almost certainly remain dependent on me, which might not sit well with either one of us after awhile. The cheesy novel love plot would fall to the wayside as greater-than-usual stresses would surely surface from time to time.
Even worse, she probably would never be able to return to her own time if things didn’t work out here. I’m not talking about the literal impossibility, which might still be doable, I’m referring to the fact that she might not have a life to return to. She might stay with me a few years and suddenly find herself too old to establish a family or just find a husband, or whatever she wanted out of life. She might get used to luxuries and decide she isn’t suited for her old world anymore, no matter how much she wants to return. Worse still, she might not realize any of this until she gets sent back, and that would be a real tragedy.
Still, I’d invite her. It would be her choice to make. I’m not responsible for that or the timeline at large.
And yet, even though I have no plans to stay, I don’t know that I’d return to the present day, either. After all, if I can harness time travel, why not, you know, travel through time? Specifically, the future. History is history; we already know about it. We might not know everything and might be well served to fact check some misconceptions, but we know enough that it would be a waste of time (not a pun) and an absolutely tragic waste of an opportunity to doddle around in the past when we could instead learn far more than our pitiful lifespans would otherwise allow. Given the choice, I care far less about where we came from than I do where we’re going (we don’t need roads).
|
|
inherit
165908
0
Aug 12, 2020 19:54:47 GMT -8
mmhmm
The only people who don't make mistakes are those who aren't doing anything.
5,506
April 2011
mmhmm
|
Post by mmhmm on Dec 16, 2018 22:37:38 GMT -8
... And yet, even though I have no plans to stay, I don’t know that I’d return to the present day, either. After all, if I can harness time travel, why not, you know, travel through time? Specifically, the future. History is history; we already know about it. We might not know everything and might be well served to fact check some misconceptions, but we know enough that it would be a waste of time (not a pun) and an absolutely tragic waste of an opportunity to doddle around in the past when we could instead learn far more than our pitiful lifespans would otherwise allow. Given the choice, I care far less about where we came from than I do where we’re going (we don’t need roads). My sentiments, exactly. If I could travel in time, I'd have no interest in returning to the past. Take me to the future!
|
|
inherit
252032
0
Apr 4, 2024 21:43:14 GMT -8
Retread
Tribbial Pursuit.
5,014
January 2018
retread
|
Post by Retread on Dec 17, 2018 7:21:05 GMT -8
My sentiments, exactly. If I could travel in time, I'd have no interest in returning to the past. Take me to the future! The future can be somewhat frightening even at times when it isn't actually dangerous.
|
|
inherit
PBS Oscars: Best Debater 08 Oscars: Best New Member 2007
86462
0
Apr 24, 2024 6:39:42 GMT -8
HoudiniDerek
Capital Idea!
33,291
August 2006
houdiniderek
|
Post by HoudiniDerek on Dec 17, 2018 8:49:34 GMT -8
... And yet, even though I have no plans to stay, I don’t know that I’d return to the present day, either. After all, if I can harness time travel, why not, you know, travel through time? Specifically, the future. History is history; we already know about it. We might not know everything and might be well served to fact check some misconceptions, but we know enough that it would be a waste of time (not a pun) and an absolutely tragic waste of an opportunity to doddle around in the past when we could instead learn far more than our pitiful lifespans would otherwise allow. Given the choice, I care far less about where we came from than I do where we’re going (we don’t need roads). My sentiments, exactly. If I could travel in time, I'd have no interest in returning to the past. Take me to the future! Based on the original post though, it doesn't seem like you get to choose.
|
|
inherit
165908
0
Aug 12, 2020 19:54:47 GMT -8
mmhmm
The only people who don't make mistakes are those who aren't doing anything.
5,506
April 2011
mmhmm
|
Post by mmhmm on Dec 17, 2018 14:12:33 GMT -8
My sentiments, exactly. If I could travel in time, I'd have no interest in returning to the past. Take me to the future! Based on the original post though, it doesn't seem like you get to choose. LOL! Yeah, there's that. However, I don't scare easily and ... well, I sometimes choose anyway, even if I'm not given the option.Just call me the oldest, living rebellious teen!
|
|
inherit
More Than Meets The Eye
3241
0
Apr 25, 2024 8:57:45 GMT -8
Bones
40 years of the Transformers franchise.
8,001
March 2002
bones2
|
Post by Bones on Dec 20, 2018 1:12:40 GMT -8
The future can be somewhat frightening even at times when it isn't actually dangerous. "Shark still looks fake!!"
|
|
inherit
Passionate Peruser of Prose
89748
0
Apr 5, 2024 12:09:43 GMT -8
📚 Dianne 📚
"Never Judge A Book By Its Movie"
10,522
September 2006
cats57
|
Post by 📚 Dianne 📚 on Dec 20, 2018 5:02:16 GMT -8
My sentiments, exactly. If I could travel in time, I'd have no interest in returning to the past. Take me to the future! Based on the original post though, it doesn't seem like you get to choose. And therein lies the rub. You don't get to choose when you end up.
|
|