…without that teapot, the madness would reign
Thoughts on Creative History Reconstruction
Lately, I’ve been thinking about time travel in general and changing history in particular. Recent history, to be exact. Say…oh, the last 50 years or so. Not just my personal history, tho that would of necessity change, but world history. I’m assuming that I could travel back to about the mid 1950’s armed with a few laptop computers, all the necessary peripherals, several terabytes worth of information on stuff that has happened in the last 50 years, a bunch of cool spy gear/tech toys and some advanced weaponry (including biological based goodies).
Rather than try to change history via the “kill all the right people” route (although, of course, there would no doubt be some unavoidable wetwork that I would most likely have to contract out), I’d go for both the “long con” method and the “warning in advance/guide the good guys” method.
Let’s face it, running a long term scam on the evil greedheads/racists/religious nuts/warmongers would be dead easy once you convinced them you were in fact from the future bearing valuable information. Once you showed them some photoshopped “news archives”, gave them a couple of great stock tips/Superbowl winners and predicted a few big news events, the greedy powermongers would hang on your every word. Then would come the lying and the false archives and the misguidance. In short order, you would have them doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons. By the time the axe fell on their voluntarily extended necks, they’d be so deluded that there would be a crafty smile on their faces as their heads fell into the basket. That’s how the long con works.
At the same time, you would be feeding all sorts of good info to the people who wore the white hats…and they’d wear those white hats because you made sure they deserved them. There would also be a few tech advancements doled out here and there (alternative power, computers, medicine, etc), just to get things on the right track a bit faster.
Some world events would go on as in the original timeline, some would be expanded and many would never happen. Needless to say, a shitload of new events (some “good”, some “bad”) would need to happen. This is where some of that wetwork would come in, as well as the saving of some lives.
In the end, the world of 2006 v.2.0 would not be perfect (because, after all, there would still be humans in it), but it would be a damned sight better, cleaner and less crowded. And the colonies on the Moon and Mars would be way cool:)
Oh, and in case you were wondering how I’d change my own life….well…here are a few bits.
I’d meet Grace about 20 years earlier
Children
Financial solvency
No dead father
I’d write/publish D&D, but base it on storytelling, not wargaming
No enlisting in the Navy
Better physical health (as in, not fat)
I’d meet most of my good friends earlier
So, feel free to discuss this, ask questions, tell me I’m crazy, whatever.
And now, off to work!
The Dociverse Blog 