I saw this theoretical question posed recently and it is one of the more interesting ones that I have read. Here it goes: “You are given a time machine and can go to any point in human history. However, wherever you choose to go you must stay within a five mile radius of that location for the next five years. You will be given food, shelter, medical care and everything that you need to be comfortable and not have to work. Where and when will you travel to?”
What an awesome question. It takes away some of the easy time machine answers like wanting to be on the grassy knoll in Dallas when JFK is assassinated to see if there was a second gunman because you would be stuck in Dallas for five years. Not being able to travel (or even guarantee you will be in the exact spot where history occurs) will make things interesting. Here are some of my thoughts…
1) Elizabethan London centering around 1600: Being in the center of London would put me near both the Tower of London and the Globe Theater. I can be a part of the glory of the Elizabethan era, which is probably my favorite part of British history, while getting to see all of Shakespeare’s plays in their original form. Hell, I’d be able to seek him out and have a few beers with him. The food might not be the best at times but it would be a wonderful view of history.
2) London (Picaddilly Circus) from 1968 to 1972: I would like to know what the sixties were actually like having only experienced them through the nostalgic lens of baby boomers. A few reasons why I choose London again for this experience. 1) I never really liked the San Francisco hippy scene and London seemed cooler. 2) London is such a dense city that a five mile radius would give me an immense amount of experiences. 3) Austin Powers era bachelor pad. And most importantly 4) this is when Monty Python was first broadcast and I could conceivably hang out with the guys and feed them all of the lines for when they make Holy Grail. Food would still suck though.
3) Rome at the end of the Republic and the start of the Empire: One of the things I’ve always wondered about the ancient world is how did everything actually look. All we see are these ancient statues where weathering has taken away all of the coloring. I’d like a sense of how day to day life actually progressed. Capturing the end of Julius Cesar’s reign, the start of Augustus’, and if I time it right, a glimpse of Cleopatra would make for a fun five years. Plus, what would be better than bread and circuses.
4) Prague (anytime in the 1700s): We all wonder about our family history but no one really knows what it was truly like back then. Part of me thinks it would be amazing for me to go back in time and meet my relatives and see how they lived and if any of their traits survived in what I see as myself. I’m not sure of the exact date offhand but I know that I can trace my family’s history to when we purchased a plot of land around Prague that is still in the family. That is what I want to see. Not sure what that would mean for five years but it is a piece of family history that you would otherwise never get to find.
Thoughts from the blogosphere?
Wednesday Night Music Club: You have to love Garfunkel and Oates. Not only do they have the best name ever but they consist of a) the girl from Scrubs who played the ukulele and b) the girl from the McGriddles commercial who almost inspired me to start eating McGriddles because of a mistaken belief that by eating McGriddles that would somehow make her magically start dating me. The male mind is a wonderful thing.
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