Would You Live the Rest of Your Life in the Same Place if You Could Travel Back 100 Years?

I've been in the same place for eighty years now. It's an interesting thought experiment to consider what might have happened if I could choose to live somewhere else, possibly an idyllic location like the South Pacific, somewhere with a sandy uncrowded beach and tanned young maidens bringing me pina coladas all day.

At first, it might seem like a dream come true. However, the conveniences and luxuries I have now, such as advanced healthcare and the vast world of technology, would be lost to me. In 1923, women had just won the right to vote, and racial prejudice was even more severe than it is today. As a gay man, I would have to remain in hiding. The life I could live in 1923 would be full of challenges and limitations that would make it far from ideal.

No matter how appealing the idea of living somewhere else might be, staying in the present is a choice that's made for one very important reason: you only live your life once. The good reasons for this are numerous, but one of the most compelling is the understanding that every decision counts. The millions of dumb choices I've made, and the good ones, have all led to the present I live in now. revisiting the past to make better choices would be fraught with complications and would not necessarily lead to a better outcome.

Can Time Jumpers Change the Past?

The concept of time travel is fascinating, and there are many theories and speculations about what might happen if it were possible. According to time jumpers, even with advanced shielding, making a journey into the past is a dangerous proposition. About three or four days after jumping, a person begins to dematerialize, and the self who travels is not the same as the self who remains in the present. Instead, a pseudo you is created, a duplicate of the original self, capable of experiencing the past but not changing it. The real self, the natural version residing in the past, remains unchanged.

If one were to jump back to 1923 and assassinate Hitler, for example, a new branch in the timeline would be created, but the natural timeline would not change. Hitler would still die in his bunker in 1945, and the world as it is now would still exist.

Experiencing the Past: A Curious Alternative?

While the idea of traveling back in time may sound exciting, the reality is that it comes with a high cost. For instance, instead of simply imagining what it would be like to witness a presidential whistle stop train led by President Warren G. Harding at the Washington D.C. Union Station in 1923, it would be possible to visit that place and that time. Experiencing history firsthand would be a different kind of journey altogether, offering new perspectives and insights into the past.

One might even run the length of the whole presidential whistle stop train from the last car to the lead locomotives, witnessing events that shaped the world as we know it today. This kind of experience would be more than a simple thought experiment; it would be a personal journey that could enrich one's understanding of history and human experience.

So, while the idea of living in the past is intriguing, the realities and the costs of such a journey are significant. Whether the benefits of that past life outweigh the risks and losses is a personal decision that must be weighed against the unique value of the present life we have now.