# If you went back in time, what single thing would you take with you?



## Dave (Sep 29, 2007)

Imagine you have a Time Machine, either you meet The Doctor, or Doc Brown, or a Time Traveller, or maybe you invent one yourself.

If you were about to journey into the past and you had the opportunity to take one thing, one item, gadget, machine, animal, vegetable or mineral, what would it be you would take?

Would you take a sports almanac or a history book? - possibly to make your fortune.

Would you take medicine to cure some illness?

Would you take a modern machine, or maybe a dynamo?

Maybe you would need some kind of weapon?

Think how revered you would be with a clockwork torch or a solar powered calculator?

I'm interested in what would be the ultimate object that could change the past forever.


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## Allegra (Sep 29, 2007)

MP3 player


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## nixie (Sep 29, 2007)

Money from that era and open a bank account. Think of the interest


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## Dave (Sep 29, 2007)

Allegra said:


> MP3 player


You do realise the batteries in those only last a few years don't you?


nixie said:


> Money from that era and open a bank account. Think of the interest


That supposes you are returning again, but I never said that you couldn't.


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## Giovanna Clairval (Sep 29, 2007)

The Handbook of the Perfect Electrician.

I'd light up the Coliseum.


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## nixie (Sep 29, 2007)

Think really I'd take antibiotics


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## Talysia (Sep 29, 2007)

That's a tough question.  I think I'd take a medical textbook of some sort - perhaps a list of different medicines and their component ingredients - and find a forward thinking physician to put them to use (as I wouldn't really know where to start).


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## Giovanna Clairval (Sep 29, 2007)

The problem with medicines is that we wouldn't find laboratories with the right gear to synthetise them. But well, we could go back in force and save someone from the black pest, a village or a town. If they don't burn us at the stake, I mean.


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## Talysia (Sep 29, 2007)

With medicine, I guess it depends on the era you went back to.

Hmm, I may have to think very hard about this.


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## Allegra (Sep 29, 2007)

Dave said:


> You do realise the batteries in those only last a few years don't you?


 
Oh I thought it's only going to take a 'whoosh' to come back recharging the batteries.


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## paranoid marvin (Sep 30, 2007)

Surely it would have to be a camcorder?


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## gully_foyle (Sep 30, 2007)

Dave said:


> You do realise the batteries in those only last a few years don't you?


And they don't last very long at all, if you can't recharge them.

What could you possibly take back with you that would be any use? It depends on where you are going. If you are really going back in time, then you might want to take either a gun, or a bullet proof vest. Or at least a recipe for gunpowder. Do you want to blend in? Or be revered as a god? If you want to be revered then antibiotics would be the same as a gun wouldn't it? One would give you the magic ability to save people, and the other would give you the magic ability to destroy people.

If it was a one way trip then I would probably like to take something to remind me of what I left behind. If it was a return trip, then a camera.


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## mosaix (Sep 30, 2007)

Dave said:


> Imagine you have a Time Machine, either you meet The Doctor, or Doc Brown, or a Time Traveller, or maybe you invent one yourself.
> 
> If you were about to journey into the past and you had the opportunity to take one thing, one item, gadget, machine, animal, vegetable or mineral, what would it be you would take?
> 
> ...



Dave if you 'really wanted to change the past for ever' you don't need to take anything. One single modern human being going back into the past would be enough to change things for ever.


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## daisybee (Sep 30, 2007)

A book-Hutchinson's Chronolgy of World Events. So I could work out when if not where I was.


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## Giovanna Clairval (Sep 30, 2007)

mosaix said:


> Dave if you 'really wanted to change the past for ever' you don't need to take anything. One single modern human being going back into the past would be enough to change things for ever.


 
Hi Mosaix,

Of course, you are right.

Just playing, okay?


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## The Ace (Sep 30, 2007)

Camera kit.


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## Dave (Oct 1, 2007)

mosaix said:


> One single modern human being going back into the past would be enough to change things for ever.


As Giovanna said, just for fun!

It seems like most people want to record the past - cameras and camcorders coming out tops.

Antibiotics - they might cure Bubonic Plague, but they wouldn't cure Influenza or other viruses. They stop infection after surgery, but without anesthetics the patient is likely to die anyhow. And then there is the problem that Giovanna mentioned, of the authorities taking you away as a witch.


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## manephelien (Oct 1, 2007)

I guess it would depend on when you went. I'd like to go to a prehistoric era, although then the problem would be an inability to speak the local language. I'm not the least interested in the dark ages of Europe, where the Catholic Church, possibly the organization that has done the most to impede human progress in the last 1000+ years, ruled unchallenged.


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## chrispenycate (Oct 1, 2007)

A good, not too modern encyclopedia (Brittanica by choice) Whatever era I ende in, there would be something I could use.
Mind you, if I was enslaved instantly I appeared (the most likely situation through most of history) it might be some time before I could learn enough of the language to communicate what I knew.


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## Jon George (Oct 2, 2007)

I'm tempted to say that I couldn't make up my mind, so I just came here to observe.
But, off the top of my head, if we're talking about changing the world, I'd show Al Gore the eividence that he had won the election _before_ he conceded.


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## Ursa major (Oct 2, 2007)

Given what one might meet, a spare set of underwear might be required.


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## Giovanna Clairval (Oct 2, 2007)

Your suggestion is valid in _any _occasion, Arctica Stella.

Let's say we'll add this set to our rucksacks, as a basic survival requirement.


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## Fake Vencar (Oct 2, 2007)

A gun and LOTS of ammo. That'll stop the Roman's invading Britain


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## paranoid marvin (Oct 2, 2007)

Fake Vencar said:


> A gun and LOTS of ammo. That'll stop the Roman's invading Britain


 
Hey , you can't stop Abramovic that easily..


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## dustinzgirl (Oct 2, 2007)

My boomstick.


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## The Ace (Oct 2, 2007)

If it were to change history, I'd give Mr and Mrs Hitler a condom.

Come to think of it, this could be quite profitable.


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## matt-browne-sfw (Oct 11, 2007)

I like the scene from Back to the Future III with Doc wishing to have taken pain killers to the Wild West. So, painkillers certainly are a good idea for time travel backwards...


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## Harpo (Oct 11, 2007)

If it's a one-way trip I'd take lots of gold, that way I'd be able to set myself up a nice life in whatever time I ended up.  If it's a return trip I'd take Paris Hilton and return without her


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## Dave (Oct 11, 2007)

Harpo said:


> If it's a one-way trip I'd take lots of gold, that way I'd be able to set myself up a nice life in whatever time I ended up.


Or you could take just a little Gold, claim that you found it, and then sell shovels to the Rush that followed.


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## Harpo (Oct 11, 2007)

Ah yes - My ideal lifestyle choice, selling shovels


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## CaptainCatfish (Oct 12, 2007)

A polaroid camera with a suitcase full of film!  (remember that movie Time Bandits?)  

of course, if we have any control over the time we are being transported to...perhaps a trip to Middle Earth with a mood ring...see if it makes any difference!


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## Dave (Oct 12, 2007)

Harpo said:


> Ah yes - My ideal lifestyle choice, selling shovels


You hire staff to do all the selling!

You buy up the land and sell off the mineral rights in small lots, and then you call your new town Harpoville.

Actually, you don't need to take anything back, just find a historically undiscovered goldfield.


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## Harpo (Oct 12, 2007)

That would depend on where in the world (and when obviously) you end up.  You'd need something like a "history of gold prospecting" book.


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## vervain_ashe (Oct 14, 2007)

This is a hard choice.  Regardless of the era.  I'm a big fan of my Leatherman Multitool though... think of the proceeds and practicality.  If I could have one additional, everyday item, it would have to be a disposable lighter.  There is something to be said for the ability to create fire when one needs one.  With the multitool you can create the means to hunt and survive, and with the lighter, you don't have to eat your meat raw.


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## Omphalos (Oct 24, 2007)

A plasma rifle with a 40 megawatt range.  

Oh!  Im sorry, you said that past.  In that case, a towel.


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## Flavia (Oct 24, 2007)

Automatic umbrellas.

Two or three. Because I misplace them.

A lot.


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## ironvelvet (Oct 31, 2007)

While I appreciate that the objectification of any person is offensive I'd have to say that my single _thing_ would be a plumber.


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## TK-421 (Nov 1, 2007)

Lube :0


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