Motivation for time travel into the past

AI Thread Summary
The discussion explores the motivations for time travel into the past, particularly the paradox of losing motivation after experiencing the past. A hypothetical scenario is presented where a time traveler visits the age of dinosaurs, but upon returning, the initial desire to travel may diminish. The conversation also touches on the potential for using time travel to gain financial advantages, such as providing past versions of oneself with lottery numbers or stock market insights. Additionally, it notes the theoretical limitations of time travel, emphasizing that a time machine would only allow travel to a point after its creation. Ultimately, the complexities of motivation and the implications of altering the past are central to the discussion.
Mutsi
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Hi,

Today I was sitting in the train and I wondered what the motivation for a time traveler would be if he wanted to go in the past. Say that I live in 2011 and I went back 210 million years ago to see the dinosaurs, that would be my motivation. But when I would travel back to there and satisfy myself from what I have seen and went back. I would no longer have that motivation in the present and thereby I would never want to go back 210 million years in the first place. Or is my way of thinking about this just wrong?
 
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Well one could give an earlier version of oneself the lottery numbers followed by how the stock market will go (and key sports results). Once you've turned yourself into a billionaire tycoon you could transfer back technologies for your companies to patent. You could become the worlds richest person.

Although time travel in this fashion is understood to be impossible, a time machine (it it were possible and CPCs didn't interfere) would only allow travel back to a certain point after the creation of the machine.
 
Mutsi, that would only be true if you returned before you left!
 

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