Reverend Conehead
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I've joked about time travel, but what if they really invented a device that would allow you to look back through time without actually going there? That would be way cool. Many of history's mysteries could be answered. For example, there's much we don't know about Columbus' voyages. We don't know exactly what his ships looked like, though we have a good general idea. We don't even know what Columbus looked like. The existing portraits of him are conjecture done after he lived. No artist actually sat down with him to do his portrait, and, of course, there was no photography yet.
We could lean a huge amount of knowledge from prehistory. For example, we have a good idea what Neanderthals looked like, but we don't know for sure if they communicated with spoken language, what they understood about the world, if they had spiritual beliefs, etc. There's a ton that we just don't know, but that we could find out. How great would it be to witness an actual battle from the American Revolution?
Of course, any technology can be used well, but can also be abused. If anyone who wanted one could buy one of these things, we might see tasteless pictures of things like General Grant picking his nose or Henry VIII taking a dump. Our Internet technology has shown us that there's no limit to bad taste. (Please don't cite examples -- just leave it at that.)
The technology also brings up issues of privacy. It would be possible to peer into people's private homes in the past, but that seems creepy and unethical. It would be possible to verify what has long been suspected, that Hitler was a major perv (and I won't include the details), but would it even be ethical to spy on someone in private like that, even a really bad dude like him?
I'm sorry that I have no earthly clue how technology like this could be created, but it's fascinating to imagine. Since you wouldn't actually go back in time, there would be no danger about accidentally changing history like you see on Star Trek so often.
If you had such a device like this, what would you want to learn about the past? I know for me, I would definitely want to check out the Neanderthals and other ancient humans to see what their lives were like, if they used language, etc. Your turn. What would you use your time viewing portal for?
We could lean a huge amount of knowledge from prehistory. For example, we have a good idea what Neanderthals looked like, but we don't know for sure if they communicated with spoken language, what they understood about the world, if they had spiritual beliefs, etc. There's a ton that we just don't know, but that we could find out. How great would it be to witness an actual battle from the American Revolution?
Of course, any technology can be used well, but can also be abused. If anyone who wanted one could buy one of these things, we might see tasteless pictures of things like General Grant picking his nose or Henry VIII taking a dump. Our Internet technology has shown us that there's no limit to bad taste. (Please don't cite examples -- just leave it at that.)
The technology also brings up issues of privacy. It would be possible to peer into people's private homes in the past, but that seems creepy and unethical. It would be possible to verify what has long been suspected, that Hitler was a major perv (and I won't include the details), but would it even be ethical to spy on someone in private like that, even a really bad dude like him?
I'm sorry that I have no earthly clue how technology like this could be created, but it's fascinating to imagine. Since you wouldn't actually go back in time, there would be no danger about accidentally changing history like you see on Star Trek so often.
If you had such a device like this, what would you want to learn about the past? I know for me, I would definitely want to check out the Neanderthals and other ancient humans to see what their lives were like, if they used language, etc. Your turn. What would you use your time viewing portal for?
