time travel: historian edition

[untonuggan]

so random people often ask me what time period I would like to travel to. often internet-friends and I can get into long conversations about preparation via smallpox vaccines and IUDs and how the past sucked in many ways and time travel's many dangers and pitfalls but who would we like to talk to or where would we like to go, and TARDIS vs. another method of travel, etc.

random acquaintances who are NOT huge geeks seem to think I would just like to...I don't know, live in another time because ??? and are mad when I give my "but I'm queer and they did not make medication then plus germs" talk. because obviously times were better in Ye Olden Days because [something something hipsters] or [nationalistic nostalgia aka That One Candidate's "Make America Great Again"] or [idek].

anyway but I finally have an answer thanks to maramcreates :

I want to live in a Star Trek future (TNG def sounds the most comfy) where there are holodecks, and then I can have replicators and space travel and space-almost-socialism all those things AND I can have holodeck programs to visit pretty much wherever the heck I want. I mean sure maybe Moriarty will take over the Holodeck sometimes and possibly cause me to die but like that's still way better than a lot of the other time travel options IMHO.

(and I would totally travel in the TARDIS just not with the Doctor because that dude has issues and uses people COME AT ME.)

So I offer this to you as an answer if anyone at a party or something starts pestering you for Best Time Period to Live In and you can't just leave because they're your boss's kid or something: holodecks.

Comments

[redsixwing]

>>just not with the Doctor because that dude has issues and uses people

YES

Also I like your thoughts re: holodeck. Sign Me Up Scotty.

DS9 was a heck of a lot of fun to watch but probably wouldn't be overly fun to live through, so: yes please TNG, and preferably in the fun, bubbly exploration-type episodes at that.

[untonuggan]

I mean yes to DS9 with WORMHOLE but honestly TNG seems much calmer as long as you're not an ensign on an away mission with senior staff...

[altamira16]

I think I was reading something else along these lines. It said something like "If you ask a woman what other time in history she would like to live in, she would not have a good answer because the best time for her is right now" due to all the abuses that women experienced in history.

Of course, this is probably looking at long-term history as opposed to short-term history. And it is also looking specifically at Western culture in the Northern Hemisphere. I am pretty sure it was better to live in El Salvador before the complete abortion ban. 1960s Afghanistan was probably better for getting an education than 2001 Afghanistan.

[untonuggan]

I feel like there are times when it was maybe not so bad to be a woman if you had privilege and liked whatever your given role was supposed to be and also could bear a child of the right gender and not die in childbirth and a lot of other things?

There are a lot of crap things people deal with now obviously like debt and police brutality and harassment that can happen on a much larger scale.

So it's kind of a trade off but I'll keep the rights and such I"ve got thanks.

[oursin]

I really wanted to ask that woman whether she had managed to get some manufacturer to produce a special one-off order of arsenic-coloured wallpaper.

[untonuggan]

there are so many things I want to ask them (only not bc I kind of feel like maybe they are just trolling everyone)

arsenic is one of those things

i just

(does she vote??)

[davidgillon]

Hmm, the grass is always greener on the other side of yesterday?

Yeah, right, because wheelchair-using me would have done so much better when the only career openings for the family were miner or soldier!

[untonuggan]

:/

"I would like to time travel to when all of these buildings are accessible and you stop asking me silly questions" is one thing I have considered but yes.

(like "I would literally die without these meds which were patented five years ago" was an answer that was brushed off in the quest for "right but wouldn't you want to meet Shakespeare??")

[davidgillon]

"I would like to time travel to when all of these buildings are accessible and you stop asking me silly questions"

Oh, applauds!

As for 'See Shakespeare and Die'... *headdesk*

[untonuggan]

^_^

[lilysea]

Yes, there's a world of difference between "is there a time you would like to visit for 24-48 hours with a cast-iron guaranteed return trip home"

vs "is there a time you'd like to live in".

[untonuggan]

Right!

(and as a sci-fi/fantasy reader I feel like a lot of those "cast iron guarantees" are invitations for ADVENTURE that would super suck without my meds or various other issues.)

[lilysea]

Yeah, one certainly would want

a) the tech to be as tried and tested as aeroplanes

b) a massive suitcase of meds in one's time travel handluggage.

[lilacsigil]

I can't go back further than 1890 without dropping dead, and would be quite ill from 1890 to 1958. Holodecks is the best answer!

[untonuggan]

Yes!

The other topic that sometimes comes up is "when would you have died if not for modern medicine?"

The answer for me is "during childbirth" most definitely because I was a C-section baby. So, yes.

[shehasathree]

Uh-hunh. Even w caesarians, I probably wouldn't have survived long after that even two or three years earlier. *was one of the first CPAP users in australia, in 1981*

[ironed_orchid]

I love the Star Trek post scarcity, global socialism society. Particularly once they get past the expansionist/exploration phase and settle into a UN peacekeeping role like in DS9.

Are you up to date of Doctor Who? Because I would totally travel with a bunch of the companions and other semi-regular characters.

[untonuggan]

Yes! (Well, except for most recent season.) Martha Jones is I think my favorite recent companion, followed closely by Amelia Pond.

There was some conversation on a Captain Awkward thread about using a TARDIS to travel through space and time to people who are about to get into Darth Vader relationships and offering them a trip on a TARDIS instead. Then the entire thread basically went YES PLEASE. So uh I nominate River Song stealing the TARDIS with some of the companions and going on this mission. Someone write this please. (I mean, I have a folder with writing ideas, and this is one of them. But.)

also why don't I have a River Song icon?

[ironed_orchid]

Travelling with River would so much fun. Occasionally scary, dangerous fun.

I don't want to spoil anything in case you plan to watch it. But one of my favourite things in the latest season was seeing two women borrow the TARDIS for a bit.

If fictional things were possible, a TARDIS would be first in my list of stuff I want. It would solve so many storage issues, and I'd never be late for stuff. Getting to visit my friends all around the world would be excellent. All of space and time are all very well, but a TARDIS woluld solve so many ordinary problems.

[ironed_orchid]

P.S. you are welcome to use this icon if you like. I'm sure there are many others out there, but this is the one I made.

[silveradept]

I like this answer very much! Post scarcity utopia with holodecks, and/or being able to TARDIS about without necessarily having The Doctor along for the ride.