View Full Version : Time Travel. Transporting oneself back in time...
My eldest son (science geek/guru) and I had a great conversation last night about this. What fun it was to dream and wonder what it would be like to be able to choose an era of time to live.
Ever thought about it? What era would you transport yourself back to if time travel was possible? Why? What is the appeal of the era related to your time travel vision/dream?
I'm at a crossroads of sorts. One one hand I would love to have experienced life in the late 1800's/early 1900's, but my true love/passion still holds strong and lies with the 60's.
The fashion, the warmth of family and what home-life represented, the plain and simple and uncomplicated lifestyle it afforded, and the ability to obtain most anything for a reasonable amount of work/money.
loosechickens
9-21-11, 2:44pm
Have you seen the new Woody Allen movie, Midnight in Paris? We really enjoyed it, and that is the theme of this whole movie, as the main character dreams of going back in time to what HE considers the perfect period in Paris, and succeeds.......funny, thoughtful, and a good illustration of that longing to somehow go back and find "the perfect time". Of course, hindsight is always full of nostalgia, and we remake the past to suit ourselves, but if you haven't seen it, it may be out in DVD by now, so check it out.......fits right in with what you're thinking.....
Hmmm... as a woman, I can't think of any time period I would want to go back to - I have enough trouble with this one :-)! So I would probably want to go forward in time into what I hope would be a greater time of opportunity for me. I just hope I wouldn't have to wear skin tight lycra in bright orange in the future :-)!
Yeah, Spartana has a great point. I'd be very particular at who I would be back in the other time zone. Ideally, I would love to have the simple life of divided domestic labor, Mom at home and Dad working; but Moms whose spouses could not provide stability or a warm, loving relationship were out of luck big time. My mother was one; so was my MIL. I am happy that I have choices. So frankly, I wouldn't travel back at all. I'm happy here.
That being said, I would like a short trip to the turn of the century ("Ragtime"). I'm a Victorian woman at heart, so I think I'd feel at home there. (I don't like those dark, cluttered rooms, though).
Hmmm... as a woman, I can't think of any time period I would want to go back to - I have enough trouble with this one :-)! So I would probably want to go forward in time into what I hope would be a greater time of opportunity for me. I just hope I wouldn't have to wear skin tight lycra in bright orange in the future :-)!
Everybody wears skin tight lycra in the future! That or those shiny metallic looking jumpsuits. And yes they usually are orange. Sheesh! I thought everyone knew that! ;) :D:D
Id love to go back to the 60s and 70s, but knowing what I know NOW.
Everybody wears skin tight lycra in the future! That or those shiny metallic looking jumpsuits. And yes they usually are orange. Sheesh! I thought everyone knew that! ;) :D:D Don't even have to worry about hair or make up in the future - my kind of place!!
http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=533&d=1316634537
I went back to 1997. The display on my cell phone is hosed so I can't send or receive texts or be notified of voice mails/missed calls.
I would love to visit (operative word) various ancestors in their own times, find out as much as I could about their lives (Who was Aunt Mary Ann's father, and what ever happened to her?) and tell them about all the fascinating developments they missed.
And ditto what KayLRZ said.
I would have trouble going back before modern antibiotics and semi-civilized medicine. So I'd probably pick the late 1940's...knowing what I know now of course. Big band music, a few dirt roads left to explore, indoor plumbing, and cheap gas. I'm not too sure I'd want to go forward. I'm sort of pessimistic abouit the future and would worry I'd end up in a Mad Max, soylent green or blade runner situation. And for sure medicare and social security would be gone;}
Given magical powers to have a few elements of modern medicine, I'd like to have gone along with Marco Polo.
would worry I'd end up in a Mad Max, soylent green or blade runner situation. . That's my dream life of course :-)! maybe a combination of all three - cruising around the post apolyptic desert world in my suped up Mustang Cobra with nothing but my dog, a hunky geneticly engineered to perfection super human male clone, eating people. Sounds like an environmentally correct perfect life of simple living :-)!
Miss Cellane
9-21-11, 5:21pm
I like indoor plumbing too much to go back very far in time.
Truthfully, I'd much rather go forward to see what changes have been made and how far humanity has progressed (or regressed, but I remain ever hopeful).
Okay, honestly, I want to go far enough into the future that I can have my own jetpack and zoom anywhere I want to go. Or transporters. How come we don't have transporters yet?
IshbelRobertson
9-21-11, 5:29pm
I'd love to go back to the time of the Scottish Enlightenment. BUT, with the proviso that I was a rich woman, who held salons in her home - I don't want to be a poor woman in that period!
treehugger
9-21-11, 5:48pm
...I don't want to be a poor woman in that period!
I think this is pretty key for successful time travel. Add that to what others have expressed about issues with being a woman in previous time periods. To say nothing of being non-white in western societies. I love history, reading about it, touring museums and historic sites, but I think I am too much of a realist to romanticize traveling to other time periods (and I don't even mean the technical issue of getting there!).
Sorta OT, but related: I'm a native Californian and grew up studying about and visiting our string of 18th century missions. Even today, missions are some of my favorite historic sites to visit (Santa Barbara is my #1 pick), though the record of the missions' treatment of Native Americans is brutal and there's nothing to idealize about that period of our history. But what I love about visiting the missions is that they truly help me feel like I am going back in time, and I love experiencing that, even if some of what I learn there makes me uncomfortable.
So, I do enjoy virtual time travel even if I can say for certain I wouldn't be interested in the real thing.
Kara
That's my dream life of course :-)! maybe a combination of all three - cruising around the post apolyptic desert world in my suped up Mustang Cobra with nothing but my dog, a hunky geneticly engineered to perfection super human male clone, eating people. Sounds like an environmentally correct perfect life of simple living :-)!
I am smiling as I picture a new futuristic graphic novel series featuring "Spartana".
There is an "alternate future" series of sci-fi books by S.M. Sterling based on a scientific quirk that renders all rapid combustion/high energy devices non-functioning...firearms, internal combustion engines, electricity,computers, etc. The remnants of society, located on the west coast, revert to medieval tools and weapons. A few clans of the good guys are matriarchal societies lead by expert female archers and warriors. Fortunately, there is a revival of primative microbreweries. They are fun reads. The first in the series is named, "Dies the Fire".
I am currently more interested in Renaissance times than in Victorian times, so I'd like to go back to 1500 and be a gardener at James IV's palace of Falkland in Scotland.
I really need to know what they grew there and why, which plants were new and rare for them, etc.
I like Elizabethan design and so, would like to sort of hang out at the fringes of the Royal Court in a minor role during Eliz I's reign, but not get too close--everything is so political.
Also, it would have to be in a time and place where The Plague wasn't on.
I would have to take on a sex change for that time travel because no women would have been gardeners at the time.
Simplemind
9-21-11, 9:35pm
Iris Lilly +1
Loosechickens. Thanks for the movie watch recommendation! P.S. Right about hindsight always being full of nostalgia. Nostalgia always has a way of tricking me off the beaten path. I'm butter when it comes to all things nostalgic.
Spartana. Going forward in time would be interesting, although I've never been much for modern per se. P.S. Re: skin tight Lycra suits in orange, just stay away from all of the funky planets where saucer-like vehicles are the main mode of transportation and you should be safe! :)
Catherine. I will gladly accompany you back to the days of Ragtime, if and when time travel ever becomes reality. Re: Victorian times, I too fancy the era, as I do Tutor.
Peggy. Given the choice I'd opt for option #2 on your list, i.e., the one-piece shiny metallic jumpsuit! Those are my favourite!
KayLRZ. Yes, yes, yes! Me too!!! I think that would be the perfect combination!
Anne Lee. 1997 is good, just not far enough back for me! :) But hey, it's a good start...
JaneV2.0. Yes indeed, that would be interesting wouldn't it. Just think of the camping trips one could go on, sitting around the fire with the Cro-Magnon people and eating mammoth. Forget the bright orange Lycra suits, were talking real leopard skin bras and panties!
Rogar. I'm not much for the future either. Somehow, I was lost in time when I was born, meant to exist before my birth date. Decades before my birth date. Ditto on the Marco Polo travel idea! P.S. Get a hold of me when everything is settled and in place, I want to join you! Re: Spartana, and a futuristic graphic novel series, I was thinking a comic series!
Originally posted by Miss Cellane.
How come we don't have transporters yet?My question exactly. :laff:
IshbelRobertson. I'll take any era related to Tutor, Baroque, Renaissance times, just so long as I marry (young) into royal wealth.
Treehugger. Virtual time travel is, and remains one of my favourite things!!! I can get lost in no time at all. So much to cover and explore.
Originally posted by Iris Lily.
so I'd like to go back to 1500 and be a gardener at James IV's palace of Falkland in Scotland.You're talking my kind of language!
Lots of fun everybody!
I am smiling as I picture a new futuristic graphic novel series featuring "Spartana".
There is an "alternate future" series of sci-fi books by S.M. Sterling based on a scientific quirk that renders all rapid combustion/high energy devices non-functioning...firearms, internal combustion engines, electricity,computers, etc. The remnants of society, located on the west coast, revert to medieval tools and weapons. A few clans of the good guys are matriarchal societies lead by expert female archers and warriors. Fortunately, there is a revival of primative microbreweries. They are fun reads. The first in the series is named, "Dies the Fire".
I think I've read those (am pretty much a sci-fi junkie). Although I also always wonder were those sci-fi heros and heroines get access to endless ammo and fuel (hey, those big block armour-clad vehicles aren't exactly fuel efficent - and for some reason I don't think we;ll ever see a Prius or Smart Car tricked out Mad Max style :-)!). In reality, even though I would dream I would be some sort of "Xena of the Future" warrior queen in the post-apocalyptic world, I know in that in reality, most women would probably end up as some sort of subsurvient sex slave or servant. If that's the case then I want to go to one of those very enlightened futures wear everyone spends their days in quiet contemplation and intellectual research of the arts and sciences. Where flowing robes of glistening white abound and gentle music wafts thru the hallowed halls of learning and I'd be driven slowly insane and in desperate need of an Uzi or Mac 10 :-).
But, if I had to choose a time period in the past that I'm interested in (plaques and death and a miserable existance be damned) it would be pre-Roman Britain - or actually the onset of the Roman invasion of Britain. I'm obsessed with the history of that time period, which even had it's fair share of Warrior Queens (Boadicea/Boudica for one), and so that's where I'm going (for a visit) in my time machine.
Re: Spartana, and a futuristic graphic novel series, I was thinking a comic series!
Yeap - Like Tank Girl. Riding a Rhino takes car of the "armour clad vehicle" and fuel problems of the future :-)
http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=536&d=1316718324
I like that Tank Girl pic so much I think I'll change it to my avatar :-)!
Spartana. Your new avatar is perfect! It's you to-a-t! I like!!! Lots of fun.
Tank Girl is awesome, though if we're talking about future I'd much rather go to Star Trek. Maybe Firefly universe, since that sort of combines the Old West sort of thing with some improvements such as more equality of the sexes. For the past, I've always had a soft spot for the frontier days, probably from reading Little House on the Prairie. All the open land, making stuff from scratch. The big negative would be no birth control and no antibiotics. Or showers. I love camping but... A visit would be interesting. Also, for some reason, the Middle Ages. If I could go with some antibiotics to plague, of course. For some reason, I'm sort of drawn to the crisis times in history so other periods that would be interesting to visit would be just post the US Revolutionary War, the Great Depression, the Black Plague of Europe, that sort of thing. Maybe I'm just fascinated with the feeling of living through history and seeing how society deals with huge upheavals. It's not clear to me (or probably anyone else) if we're in such a period now because the media constantly make mountains out of molehills. Probably not as interesting/fun to live through as to visit later, if that were possible. Lots of grasping at straws until it becomes clear much later which were worth holding onto.
Maybe Firefly universe,
yeah me too - especially if Nathan Fillion is there :-)! Actually alot of places - dream futures and real pasts I'd love to visit, just don't wanna live there. Can't think of any place in the past I'd rather be then in this time period. If it doesn't have washing machines or frappacinos I don't wanna go :-)! And of course the newer Star Trek would be cool too but I don't wanna wear Uhura's little mini dress - what's up with that? Why do all the women in "future" worlds dress like street walkers :laff:
IshbelRobertson
9-23-11, 5:34pm
Because the directors/producers are MCPs?!!!
RosieTR. Although I'm not much for anything modern or futuristic, I'm all for being able to speed ahead and visit an extension of the Star Trek realm. We watched Star Trek as kids, so do my kids, and there is definitely something about it that never fails to draw me in whenever I sit down to catch a few minutes with the kids. However, like yourself, I too have a soft spot for the frontier days. Covered wagons and all! So interesting reading your post.
Spartana. Courtesy of this thread and your ideas on body image and attire related to time warp travel, I've finally come to a decision as to my choice in wear. Here it is. (Hood-less version/style). P.S. Will have a little toning to do beforehand. Not much although! :laff:
http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/mp/coSHlzWz7CIl.jpg
Ishbel. Trying oh so desperately to decipher and decode your acronym! :)
Funny Mrs M!! I think pretty much anyone but a 13 year old girl would need much more then toning to wear one of those :-)!
no question about it, i would enter starfleet and ideally go be part of jean-luc picard's crew. we could play poker, explore new worlds, and battle the borg -- good times.
How true Spartana!
Madgeylou. I knew it! Had you pegged (in the back of my mind) as being the futuristic type.
The 1920s or the 1960s. Both eras just look like so much FUN to me. The liquor, the drugs, the music the big social changes happening in America...
Hi DonkaDoo. I'm a sixties girl through and through! I love the simplicity of that era. Everyone lived within their means, homes (common working folk) were plain and simple, and few were in competition with one another. Jobs were a dime a dozen, all things related to wage/purchase power was more even and realistic and constant, and you could actually get ahead!
Fashion was stylish and classic, and careers and titles related to positions and holdings was completely obtainable and at the very reach and grasp of anyone with motivation, drive, and ambition!
Products were plain and simple and utilitarian. No frill or thrills. The things people used back then actually meant something, and the level of throwaway consistent with society today, didn't exist back then. Reusability was it! Power!
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