Time Travel conundrums

[Baitball Blogger]

I have a major one. I absolutely would not want to go beyond the date that my husband and I conceived our last child. As much as I would like to go back to my youthful days to bolster my education to prepare for the unexpected events that would mark my life, I would absolutely not want to go further than the date where I could be absolutely assured that my family would be as it is today.

[Tobin S.]

1. I don't want to travel in time

I'd like to stop myself and my wife from aging, though, with the idea that we can re-start it at any time.

My wife, on the other hand, wishes we would have met sooner in life. We didn't meet until we were closing in on 40. We've been unable to have children. My wife has had a miscarriage and we have since stopped trying. She wishes that we would have met when we were younger so that we would have more likely had children. The problem with that is that I was bat shit crazy back then and I doubt she would have found me a suitable mate at the time.

[TeamPooka]

4. One of the best time travel stories I ever read was a script about guy who dies and his ghost winds

up back in time where he tries to convince his younger self to get in the car and drive across country to meet his wife/soul mate, who he isn't going to meet until in their 40's, so he can have more time with her.
Called BORROWED TIME written by legendary comic book writer J.M. DeMatteis and it was great.
And had a philosophy similar to what you said. Things happen when they are supposed to.

[MrScorpio]

2. I'd rather be bloody rich

I'm already a relatively happy person, so having a shitload of money would pretty much mean that I wouldn't need it to try and make me happy.

The things I'd do the most would be to travel and do things for my family.

[TeamPooka]

3. If you go back in time, don't boink anyone and you should be fine. nt

[Baitball Blogger]

6. But when it comes down one sperm out millions...

Even if you can recreate all the moments that helped you fall in love with the right person, it has to come to repeating EVERYTHING that lands the right swimmer.

[TeamPooka]

7. What part of DON'T boink anyone did you not get? :)

[Baitball Blogger]

8. I think you miss the point.

You still have to boink in order to repeat the conception. But there's no guarantee that the most minute variable will favor the exact sperm that produced the original individual child.

[A HERETIC I AM]

11. I would submit that ANY result from such a union would be just as dear to you as "the original" n/t

[Baitball Blogger]

12. I'm going on a limb here, but,

I'm guessing you don't have children?

[Fearless]

14. And this is true of every conception that has happened ever

Last edited Sat Jan 24, 2015, 04:22 AM - Edit history (2)

Imagine the odds that everyone in the world today exist, say 7 billion people all are descendent of a single sperm cell (and egg) each. In terms of sperm cells, one of say 250 million from that particular ejaculation, one of say a thousand in the life of a male (to make things simple and to account for re-absorption which occurs approximately every two months). A woman carries an estimated 2 million eggs through her lifetime. And how many generations of people led from primitive humanity to today to complete the biological line descendent down to your child? (Child>parent>grandparent>etc.) Let's say humanity began 2.1 million years ago and that the average lifespan during the full amount of time was 30 years.

Since now I'm curious I'll attempt to do the math for the odds of everyone being alive today exactly as they are (purely due to genetic reproduction factors).

7 billion people born * 250 million sperm at a time * 1000 ejaculations per person per lifetime * 2 million eggs = 3.5e27

That's just the chances for all the people being alive today from the previous generation.

1 in 3,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Then encompassing past generations...


(1 person * 250 million sperm * 1000 ejaculations * 2 million eggs) ^ (2.1 million years / 30 year lifespan)= 1 in 7.95e101238927

Which for the record is a number so large I can't even think of a comparison to make it clearer to understand.

The number itself would be 795 with about 36000 PAGES of zeros after it at 12pt font.

[Baitball Blogger]

15. That was the point I was trying to make...without having to

use math. heh.

[Fearless]

16. Makes you think about the value of life.

[Baitball Blogger]

17. That is absolutely true.

Though I fear the day that chromosomes can be mapped out so well that certain genetic markers can be destroyed to give others an advantage.

[GeorgeGist]

5. No worry.

Humans never made it that far.

[Mac1949]

9. Have you seen the movie "About Time"?

If not, you should, it was very good. They make that exact point- that you might be changing enough minor variables to change your family or even eliminate certain members.

[fizzgig]

19. i was just about to post about that movie

that was such a sweet movie.

[Raine1967]

10. I would go back in time to rectify that one time

at band camp….

[Fearless]

13. There are no time travel paradoxes

Everything that has happened did and always would happen. Sometimes effect and precede cause in space-time.

At least that's the theory that makes the most scientific sense.

Take time in a frame of reference beyond a linear model.

[frogmarch]

18. That's how I see it too.

Everything that has happened did and always would happen. Here's a Twilight Zone episode about it.

[kentauros]

20. That depends on your method of time-travel.

With technology, you have cause to worry.

With magic, all you have to do is set the present time so that nothing changes, no matter what you do in the past.