Time Machine

**alarson** · 01-30-2012, 11:36 PM

I need to watch those movies again now.

**alarson** · 01-30-2012, 11:41 PM

Originally Posted by cyhiphopp

Just thinking about the downstream effects of these actions is crazy.

Would the USSR have become so powerfull without WWII as the catalyst?
Same question for the US. WWII really led to the rebirth of our industry and brough us out of the Great Depression.
It was only after WWII that the US was seen as a superpower. If we had stayed in isolation without WWII, what would have happened?

Without WWII, the entire world may have been mired in the Great Depression for even longer. Europe was a powder keg waiting to blow, even without Hitler. Who knows what would have happened even without the Nazi party.

Assuming some other leader didnt step up and take the same role as hitler (the reparations from WW1 primed it for a nationalist leader like hitler to take control), Stalin wouldve still been in power and maybe they wouldve rolled over europe instead of the nazis. Its not like stalin was any better than hitler.

The other side is we may still be drug into war by Japan launching an attack on us. They were on that track regardless of what happened in europe.

Its a lot to think about when you really get down to it. Alternate history can be a fun read sometimes.

**andybernard** · 01-31-2012, 01:49 AM

Originally Posted by NickTheGreat

I think this is a fascinating topic

Personally, I'd go back and drink a beer with my parents at ISU. Just to see what they were like then.

Maybe go back and give 15yr old Nick some advice. Nothing in particular, just some lessons I've learned in the past 15 years . . .

I also have always wanted to see my parents back then..roam the halls of their high school and see how they acted.

But if I had one round trip I think I'd take with me a copy of the Harry Potter books and say I wrote them a year before what's her nuts. No work necessary for a lot of money.

**cyclones500** · 01-31-2012, 02:18 AM

Originally Posted by mksmith2

awww...now I want to watch Primer....

**Naughtius** · 01-31-2012, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by FarminCy

I am going to break the rules a bit. I wouldn't go back in time, instead I would go ahead 50-100 years and find a way to get access to every stock quote and commodity prices from today on until whatever date I land in the future. When I get back from the future I would pull all money out of savings, retirement accounts, etc and start day trading 2 days a week. By using the "history" from the future I could find out who the big gainers for each week were and buy on Mondays and sell on Fridays. It is a simple approach that would make you tons of money in no time and the "history" from the future could also be handed down to my kids to help them make tons of money. It's a long term approach for making money going forward instead of a one time cash grab from the past. Heck I may even want to find out the next lottery numbers just so I have a good chunk to start with.

I'm sure it would end up being a little more complex than buying on Monday and selling on Friday but you get the picture. I may even have to buy a couple losing stocks along the way just to make it look like I am not doing something illegal.

That's my plan now somebody go build me a time machine.

If you could do this, why go to all the effort of trading stocks?

**Naughtius** · 01-31-2012, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by NickTheGreat

I think this is a fascinating topic

Personally, I'd go back and drink a beer with my parents at ISU. Just to see what they were like then.

Maybe go back and give 15yr old Nick some advice. Nothing in particular, just some lessons I've learned in the past 15 years . . .

What if your mom came on to you, Back to the Future style? Are you prepared for that possibility?

**NickTheGreat** · 01-31-2012, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by Naughtius

What if your mom came on to you, Back to the Future style? Are you prepared for that possibility?

I've considered this. I think this the reason I've never gone back in time and done this.

**acgclone** · 01-31-2012, 01:03 PM

For purely selfish reasons, I would go back to say 2001 with all of the daily futures market data and hand it to myself. Then I would return back to today, where I'd be the richest man on the planet.

By now my financial support for ISU would make Nike and T-Boone look like a joke.

**cyhiphopp** · 01-31-2012, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by alarson

Assuming some other leader didnt step up and take the same role as hitler (the reparations from WW1 primed it for a nationalist leader like hitler to take control), Stalin wouldve still been in power and maybe they wouldve rolled over europe instead of the nazis. Its not like stalin was any better than hitler.

The other side is we may still be drug into war by Japan launching an attack on us. They were on that track regardless of what happened in europe.

Its a lot to think about when you really get down to it. Alternate history can be a fun read sometimes.

Yeah, who knows if japan would have been so bold without Europe already being enflamed by war.

Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the state of the USSR pre WWII. I had assumed that the military industiral base that ramped up because of WWII really catapulted the USSR into their superpower status. Also, I believe the instability of eastern europe after WWII was a big part of the USSRs growth and influence.