Time travel applications

Cut from The Time Machine (George Pal, 1960)

We all like to wonder if we’d prefer to visit the future or go back in time to change some events and regrets of our past. But what if I told you time travel actually exists? What would you like to see then: the past or the future? What applications would it have in our society? Would life be better or worse? Therefore, in the present essay I will explain some of the benefits time travelling could provide to improve our lifestyle if it was actually possible.

Firstly, I would start by saying that if travelling back and forwards through time existed, oncologists could go to the future to the moment when humans have found out the cure for cancer as well as the cure for other diseases, and come back with the formulas. The reason being is that we could start developing the cure in the present day and avoid millions of deaths.

On the other hand, if time travel was possible, we could go to the future to see if there is an armed conflict, like for instance World War III, or to see a major catastrophe that causes some transcendental consequences. For example, the disappearance of Australia due to several tsunamis. That way, we could discover the causes that might provoke those events and avoid their beginnings in the present to prevent them from happening in the future.

In conclusion, I would like to end by saying that travelling through time may have some positive consequences in our current life and it could prevent some disasters from happening in the future. That is why it is so important we encourage scientists to figure out the accurate method we need to be able to go backwards and forwards through time.

Carlota G.

Is there anything more curious than trying to know what is going to be next? What would have happened if I had chosen the other option of the text? Our present and probably our future are determined by our actions; what if we could have changed our current situation by going back in time and re-do it in a different way? Time traveling would open us the door to the “second possibilities” and even know if they are useless or not if destiny exists.

First of all, as I have said before, if we could travel in time most of us would decide to change the mistakes in our lives, thinking that this could provoke another ending in many situations, even if we don’t know if that is true.

Also, we could be able to learn with more precision what happened in world history, know everything about millions of years of evolution, or even find the way of how Earth was created. In fact, we could create a bunch of theories that could explain our present, ways to unlock the truths behind the human being.

In conclusion, if we could travel in time we could be able to change our past events, re-create our world and existence or even prove if destiny exists. For the moment we must wait to see if our beliefs are true or wrong.

Clara E.

Time travel simulation through hypohetical wormholes

Time travel is something that everybody in this planet has wished to exist for different reasons. Some of us want to go back in time to change something that happened to us a while ago, and others just would love to travel whenever so they can kill the curiosity of what the ancient times were like or how the world will be destroyed.

Obviously, the possibility of time travel would lead humankind to an era of infinite knowledge and development, or at least that’s what we might think at first. Whenever there is a jump to the past or the future, the original timeline is never modified, but a new reality is created. So, for example, if time travel was publicly allowed, it would be a chaos and millions of new realities would be created.

Also, once the jump was made, there would be no coming back to our original reality. You’d get trapped in the timeline you created. You could keep time travelling and creating new versions of reality, but you wouldn’t be able to go back where you came from.

So, from my perspective, time travelling, if ever created, would be just a useless instrument for humankind, because even though someone could go back in time to discover its mysteries, the impossibility to go back to the original timeline wouldn’t allow the others to know what the past is like. If, on the other hand, it was possible for time travelers to go back, that would make an enormous difference.

In conclusion, there are a lot of factors that turn time travel into a nightmare, instead of a beautiful dream. Nowadays, we should worry about real problems like starvation or global wars and, when better days come, we can keep trying to make everybody’s dream come true.

Jorge S.

Nowadays, the idea of time travel might seem impossible for the vast majority of us. But, if our society had the opportunity to travel through time, it would be kind of beneficial for us. In this text, I will comment the different possible applications of time travel -if it did exist.

First of all, surgery would be a very important measure to use with time travel due to the fact that surgeons would have the chance to prevent the death of a patient if the operation goes wrong the first time, so they would have another opportunity. In addition, the number of dead people due to a bad surgery would decrease if they applied this idea.

Moreover, another intelligent and fascinating use of time travel could be the idea of interfering in extreme events like murders, car accidents, a forest fire, preventing some people´s suicide, etc. If we could have the chance to move back and stop those difficult situations, human misery and disaster would be paralyzed and solved.

In conclusion, if humanity could travel in time, applications such as surgery control, accident prevention and helping people that have to deal with complex situations would be great. That way, everybody could prevent their own death if it was caused by an accident.

Amparo S.

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Beloved

“Beloved” is a 1987 novel regarded as African-American author Toni Morrison’s masterpiece. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award and, on top of that, Morrison won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.

“Beloved” tells the story of an African-American woman, Sethe, who escapes slavery after the American Civil War by moving to Ohio, and it was inspired by the real-life story of Margaret Garner. The book is filled with ghosts. It’s dedicated to the “Sixty million or more” ghosts of black slaves, but there’s also the ghost of Sethe’s baby girl, Beloved, whom she killed, which haunted the house ever since.

The story starts with Sethe and her daughter Denver living in 124 Bluestone Road in Cincinatti, Ohio. The grandmother, Baby Suggs, had died a couple of months after Sethe’s sons had fled, scared by Beloved.

One night, Sethe encounters Paul D, a man she knew from their days at the plantation called “Sweet Home”. They seem really pleased to see each other and start having relations, making Denver feel sad and lonely. They start building a life together until one day an ill-looking young woman shows up. Her name: Beloved. Sethe lets her stay in her house but something feels off. After a while, Beloved starts acting as she owns the place and everyone in it, making Sethe feel small and powerless, and making Paul D so uncomfortable that he leaves the house. Denver decides to take action, so she goes out to the town, talks to a bunch of black men and they go kick Beloved out. After this, Paul D acts as if nothing had happened and he returns to live at 124.

No one knows who Beloved is, there’s actually plenty of theories surrounding her. Nevertheless, she seems to be a symbol rather than an actual person, because of what she means to each of the characters. In general, she represents the hardships black people had to deal with, specially the memories of pain, death and torture. When Beloved shows up at 124 she brings back all the buried horrors of Paul D and Sethe’s time at Sweet Home. She makes Paul D feel like a rag doll when she has sex with her, and she makes Sethe feel chained again. Sethe had become so full of hatred for the racist slave owners and so full of love and regret for killing her daughter that she starts acting as if she wasn’t good enough for forgiveness.

In conclusion, “Beloved” is a beautifully written, raw depiction of the reality black people have had to face, and who live with the scars of a chained past. Stories like this should be more present in society and the media, especially in today’s world, with all the conversations about race that have been coming up.

Silvia F.

 

Back to birth

Phylogenetic tree of life

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel in time? Have you ever fantasized about a certain historical period you’d like to visit?  I have and while I thought about it I came up with some questions. Firstly, would I like to travel to the past or to the future? Taking into account there are not historical periods in the future (yet) and the fact that it would most likely change the present, I discarded that option. Now, if I were to go back in time, what period would I like to visit? I finally came up with an answer: I wouldn’t go to a historical period as we know them. I’d go watch the origin of life.

As fascinated as this would be, I’d obviously have to be protected from the environment and I would plan on staying. Once there I would finally be able to answer what’s arguably science greatest question: how did life originate? Did it start spontaneously with the primordial soup, as the current official theory claims? Or rather, did it come to Earth from outer space? If so, did it happen naturally, or was it sent here? By whom? Maybe it was something else we can’t even imagine? Being able to know this would change our present and future forever in ways we can’t even conceive.

In conclusion, I think the most interesting moment in history, besides the Big Bang, would be the origin of life on planet Earth, as we humans would finally be able to understand where we came from. Or would we?

Silvia F.

The crazy years between the wars

Aftershow party in Paris, 1920s

After World War I, I mean, in the 1920s came what we call the “The Crazy Years”. A historical period where people had different thoughts about life, where people wanted to think about something else than the War. During this period I would like to be in Paris, where “The Crazy Years” or “Les Années Folles” mainly took place.

What happened in those years? Well, everything that has a connection with happiness and freedom. In that period, people did not want to waste their life anymore, which means that they wanted to have fun, to enjoy. Because of the thousands of men that died in the war, women had to learn to become more independent. So after World War I their independence increased even more, they started to wear short skirts, something that they couldn’t do before. Those years had a huge impact on the fashion world: new ideas came out, all related with freedom, colors and fun. Many cabarets opened and women started to smoke as a new style and a sign of independence too.

We could say that those years were like a break, a moment of happiness and creativity between both wars. A period where people could regenerate and forget all the horrors they had seen during this war that France had won.

So it would be from 1920 to 1929 the historical period that has always fascinated me, because of the way they handled the situation and the way they celebrated their victory.

Rose-Hanna Ch.

Times Square in New York city, 1920s

Nowadays we see on TV or books characters that travel back in time. And this made me ask this question to myself: ‘when’ would I go to if time travels were real?

If I could travel to one historical period or event I would choose New York in the 20´s, the period in which `The Great Gatsby´ is set. I would travel there because I love that period, the people went partying every day, they spent large amounts of money in all they did and they were always dressed fashionably. In that period the USA was on top of the world and NY city was the first city in the country. I would like to live there, with no economic problems, being rich in a period of extravaganza.

Probably if a lived there I would make the best parties in the world. I would spend incredible amounts of money in those parties and all I would do to earn money is to buy and sell bonds in Wall Street.

To conclude, if I could choose one period in history to visit, I would really like to travel back to New York in the 20´s, to be a rich and popular man like Gatsby.

Lucas G.

Magic at Wembley Stadium

Queen’s performance at the Live Aid Concert in 1985

For what I know about time travelling machines, and it’s not so much more than an image of an old Delorian, is that out of fiction books and movies, it hasn’t been created yet. For the moment scientists haven’t found the way to travel in time, but I keep the hope that one day before I die I can travel to the past, even only once, to the Live Aid Concert at the Wembley Stadium.

Some would have preferred other historical events, but this concert is one of the most important and famous of the last years of the 20^th Century. It was held for humanitarian reasons, and one of the things I appreciate the most is solidarity, which united millions of people through music, so I’d like to feel the emotion it generated.

On the other hand, the most important reason for me to go to that specific Wembley Stadium concert is that it was the last remarkable show that Freddie Mercury -the vocalist of the music band Queen- performed before his death. He knew he had AIDS and that he was going to die sooner or later, so he gave his soul in this concert. I’d like to feel that emotion too because Queen is one of my favorite music bands and Freddie Mercury was their spirit. He is one of the artists I wish was still alive (besides Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and The Beatles) so it would be a dream come true.

And the last fact that makes this event the one that I’d want to travel to is that other artists that I like so much such as Elton John were also acting at the Live Aid Concert. That makes the perfect combination for me to choose that event, just to see how good music and good causes unite people, and the magic they can create.

Patricia M.

Somehow, music has always been part of our lives in one way or another. There is always a song, a band or a producer that we remember for ever. In my case Queen and Dire Straits are some of those. I’ve been listening to them since I was 2 years old, and that is why I would like to witness the Live Aid concert, one of the main landmarks in modern music history.

I can say this thanks to my father, who is as much a fan of those groups as I am, and that is why I was raised next to all the songs that he listened to. In fact, one of the first songs I remember listening to was “Bohemian Rhapsody”. And apart from the feelings that I have for that music, I think that the Live Aid Concert means a lot for modern culture, having one of the most powerful and emotional performances of Freddie Mercury and one of Mark Knopfler’s legendary guitar solos.

So, in conclusion, this concert means a lot to me and to history, and that is why everyone that regards themselves as a 70’s – 80’s rock fan needs to witness it, at least on video.

Ismael C.

Back to the Viking times

Arrival of the Vikings in America (Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 1816-1868)

Imagine waking up at 7:00 AM taking a sword and a helmet and getting on a boat with all your tribe members to conquer the kingdom of Wessex. That is what a Viking’s normal day would look like. If I could travel back in time, I would travel to the Viking era because of the following reasons.

First of all, in my opinion, the Vikings were one of the most powerful tribes because of their strength and their capacity to avoid the fear of death, and that’s one of the main reasons why I chose them. In the second place, most of their traditions were really interesting, like going hunting alone for years, burning their dead tribe members and leaving them on a boat until they sank, sacrificing animals and humans for their gods in amazing ceremonies… In the third place, learning all the history of the Viking gods narrated by the tribe’s shaman must have been an exciting experience. Finally, I would  have liked to experiment a Viking conquest against the English Kingdom, but of course watching and not fighting!

In conclusion, the Viking era is one of the greatest periods in history and we should try to find out how time traveling works just to visit periods like this and revive their amazing experiences.

Pablo M.

Back to Ancient Rome

The Intervention of the Sabine Women (Jacques-Louis David, 1799)

If there was the possibility of traveling back in time, the historical moment I would like to visit is the Roman Empire. Since I was young I always enjoyed the Roman culture, and when I travelled to the capital of Italy with my class, my desire to go there -but two thousand years ago- was increasingly higher.

First of all, the main things I would like to visit are the monuments. For example, I’ve always wanted to watch a gladiators fight in the colosseum or be the spectator of chariot racing at the Circum Maximum. It must have been awesome and great.

On the other hand, now that I know a little bit of Latin, one of the reasons I would like to get back to that era is to improve my competence in this language by speaking and listening to the people.

Even though my possibilities of surviving would have been a million to one, an important moment I would have been interested in witnessing is the eruption of the Vesuvius. When this volcano buried Pompeii under stone and dust most people didn’t survive, but others could escape in small boats, so they became the witnesses of that natural disaster. I would have liked to be one of those people.

But in fact, the main reason of this time travel is because of the Roman army. Since I started learning about the Romans, I always showed my interest in becoming a member of the Roman legion. I would’ve wanted to fight against the enemies of the empire marching with a large army all over Europe, Asia or even Africa.

Never mind, this is never going to happen, but I wish the Romans had never disappeared and we were ruled by them nowadays.

Beatus ille.

Santiago P.