If you could time travel, where would you go?

Wouldn't change anything, and would travel as an observer to 25-50 AD, to Rome and Judea, I think it was called (current Israel). What happened during the birth of Christianity, and who exactly was Jesus. I think that's the greatest mystery that doesn't have to be supernatural because regardless the consequences are still felt today, but who knows.

Oh this is always a fun question:

1. I would time travel 10 years from now and see who the top tech companies are. I would then come back and wait for those startups to appear and you know what I am doing next :)

2. I would travel back to somewhere around 1993ish when no one knew Jeff Bezos ?? and convince him that I would like to back his startup idea of selling books. I become a lead investor in Amazon and then come back to 2020 :)

3. I would go back to the times when religion was invented and then try to uninvent it (controversial I know). Nothing against faith in general but most religions have caused misery and pain over the years in the name of God.

4. Time travel to the first time fire was invented and watch the reactions just to get a kick out of it. Time travel to the first time when the first light bulb was invented and tell the guy he changed the world :)

5. Go back to the time when my dad was healthy AND try to convince him to eat better and exercise so he could hopefully live beyond 70 (he didn't) and spend time with his grandchildren.

Confirm or reject the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis. While I'm at it, stop by Göbekli Tepe just to check out what they were using the site for.

Check out the construction of the pyramids at Giza. There's still so many mysteries surrounding them and they're just overall fascinating.

Then pay a visit to the Library of Alexandria. I always wondered how much civilization was set back by it being burned down.

To India before the Mugals arrived, to live on one of those sexual temples

2008 and buy a ton of Google and Amazon. Instead I bought Intel and Ford. Jeebus wtf. Also tell that girl I love her and that I want to spend the rest of my life with her. Unfortunately, I did neither... and while my life is great and I'm not complaining... there's still a sense of feeling incomplete because of it.

Iterate through all collapsed(-ish) civilizations, if unknown figure out why they collapsed, and if altering history try to avert the collapse and see how far they'd get.

(Top of the list: Aztec, Maya, Rome, Ancient China)

If the future is included: figure out the next collapse and avert it ;)

I see a problem with points 2 and 3 of the question premise.

The moment you become visible, where you can be seen by others, you will have altered history....unless you were already there and are trapped in a paradoxical loop, which is an even bigger problem.

1.5 years ago, before the damn pandemic. I did not realize how good we had it.

Stop 1 - the person who designed USB plug

I would make some seed investments/form a cult then travel far into the future and attempt to leverage my investments and future technology to achieve immortality and live the life of a god king.

If I can alter history I guess I'd just do this in the past and start living the god king life right now.

If this seems too boring I'd go 5 billion years forward so I can watch our galaxy collide with Andromeda, but the immortality path is probably a better way to accomplish this since the Earth may not be around still.

I would live in the 1960s through 1980s, traveling internationally.

I never understand those kinds of questions. What do people expect?

Let's take the example of Jesus: I've been teleported to Judea, around the time of crucifixion. Who expects me to be able to just stroll up on Calvary and have a look at how it happened?

Who expects me to just visit the pyramids of Gizeh? And if someone asks me what I'm doing at the construction site for the pharaoh's grave, I simply say "just having a look, I thought it's interesting"?

Let's change the question a bit: If someone from a thousand years from now could choose to visit our time, what would he see and experience?

Simple, approximate answer: what I'm seeing and experiencing.

And I have to say that I cannot give a definitive account of Bin Laden's death. Or Trump's shady deals. Or what exactly happened to Nawalny. Or how the German government party decided to just introduce gay marriage (virtually without any forewarning, just like that).

Living at the same time as some historic event (even if it's not recognized at such until later) isn't really the same as having access to it.

(I admit that I first overlooked the invisibility option, but even then, it's still hard to enter the Oval Office, I suppose.)

i would find eve tell her to ignore the serpent and tell adam to drop the damn apple.

To take a different tack, I wouldn't go to 'famous' dates and places.

What I'd do is to spend some time with my parents when they were younger.

I'm surprised that there's only one commenter that said they'd like to go back to change something personal to their own lives.

I would go to the time just before you hit enter on your question and shout, "BOOO".

First few weeks of bitcoin ;)

I want to see the dinosaurs

I will add an additional stipulation that I won’t age - the period of time I want to go back and witness is slightly longer than 2 human lifespans.

PS: I don’t know how accurate these dates are, don’t cite these dates. I didn’t perform even a cursory sanity check on these dates.

I’d travel back to 1453 and witness the fall of constantinople.

Then, I’d make my way to Europe to watch the start of the protestant reformation, the rise of the Tudors and maybe go to Uzbekistan and join the 11 year old Babur in 1494.

I’d love to stay and follow him till he becomes the first Mughal emperor in India later, but there’s a lot more to see.

I’d make my way over to Lisbon and hitch a ride with Vasco da Gama in 1497 as he starts on his historic voyage that will take him to the Indian Malabar coast in 1498. (I’m a One Piece fan btw, I am imagining sailing with Vasco da Gama would be as fun as the manga, but reality will probably be more brutally medieval).

I’d then make my way over to the court of the Vijayanagar empire and watch Krishnadevaraya ascend to the throne in 1509.

I wouldn’t mind staying in Hampi for the entire duration of Krishnadevaraya’s reign - but in 1526, I’d want to go watch Babur (whom I’d have last seen around 1494) defeat Ibrahim Lodi and become the first Mughal emperor. From there I’d go to the court of Suleiman the Magnificent and watch the Ottoman-Saffavid wars.

I’d try my best to go back to Europe to watch Michelangelo in Florence and later Rome. I’d probably take a short trip back to England to watch Henry VIII finally marry Anne Boleyn in 1532.

Around 1539, I’d travel to Copernicus and probably stay and watch him finalize his book where he proposed the heliocentric model of the universe.

I’d then hike around a bit, watch the Renaissance unfold, go back and watch Suleiman make his way till Vienna and make my way back to India to watch the Mughal empire firmly settle in.

I want to witness the 1565 battle of Talikota. Somehow, that’s important to me.

Not sure what I’d do most of next decade. In 1572 I’d watch the supernova with Tyco Brahe. Then follow him around for a while watching the science and religion in Europe forever change civilization. Along the way, I’d stop by in England to watch Shakespeare plays as they come about. In 1600, I’d want to witness the incorporation of the British East India Company.

Then I’d go to watch Kepler work on Tyco Brahe’s data and compile it into his laws of planetary motion (published 1609). I’d also be there to watch Galileo build his telescope in 1608 and between these two, define our understanding of earth and sky.

I could go on, but I’ll stop typing now. You get the picture. Eventually, I’d return after watching the Taj Mahal be completed in 1648 I guess, though I’d love to stay behind and watch Newton do his thing.