Time Travel, Would You if You Could ?

[00:00:00] If you had one chance to travel back in time and change one thing in your life, I have two questions for you on this episode of Wyce Thoughts. It's time for a virtual campfire sit-down with Terry Wyce. Welcome to Wyce Thoughts.

[00:00:28] Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the program. Welcome to another episode of Wyce Thoughts. I am Terry Wyce, your humbled host, and I am still got a little bit of that post-nasal drip stuff. But, hey, who cares? You don't care, right? I don't care. We're going to muddle through and do this episode because this is something, this is a topic I've kind of wanted to do for quite a while. And we're going to get into it here in just a bit.

[00:00:55] But first, before we do that, hey, if you like the program, if you like Wyce Thoughts and you want to listen to more episodes of the podcast, won't you mosey on over to the website? Wycethoughts.com. W-Y-C-E-T-H-O-U-G-H-T-S. Wycethoughts.com. There you can listen to each and every episode of this podcast. And while you're there, would you do us a small favor? Would you leave us a positive rating and review and share us with your friends?

[00:01:25] We'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much. And also, you can check me out on Twitter, at Terry Weiss. We also have the Purple Pit Studios main website you can go to as well. And it's at the Purple Pit on Twitter as well. Not Twitter. It's X now. I keep wanting to say Twitter. I don't know. It just was in my mind as Twitter for so long. And I know it's been X now for a couple years or so, but I don't know.

[00:01:53] I still fall back into that rut, that groove of calling it Twitter. So forgive me for that. But anyhow, it's on X, at Terry Weiss. Also, Purple Pit Studios is on X as well. And I am also on YouTube. Just look for Weiss Thoughts on YouTube. There I do a bunch of different stuff, mostly music lessons and guitar and bass snippets and things like that.

[00:02:18] But once in a while, I'll throw in a video of some other kind of interesting stuff for you to have a visual feast on. Okay? So, yeah, that's that. So we took care of that. And before we get into today's episode, some of you had reached out to me and said, Hey, Terry, on the last episode of Weiss Thoughts, you never did the wordsmith word of the episode. And I'm like, you know what? You are absolutely right. It's that time again.

[00:02:49] It's time for the wordsmith word of the episode. Ah, yes. All right. And generative AI female voice. What is this week's wordsmith word of the episode? What is it? Come on, tell me. Hurry up. I want to know. Anthropogenic. Say it again. Anthropogenic. Anthropogenic. A-N-T-H-R-O-P-O-G-E-N-I-C.

[00:03:19] And the definition, it's an adjective. It is chiefly pollution or environmental change that originates in human activity. Let's hear it used in a sentence, shall we? The research scientist designed a method to avoid recording anthropogenic noise, such as boats, in order to better listen to whales. How about another way we can use it?

[00:03:45] Urban planners need to consider both natural and anthropogenic factors when designing new development. Excellent. And is there another way we can use the word anthropogenic? Is there? Is there? The archaeological team found layers of anthropogenic soil, which indicated long-term human settlement. So there you go. There's this week's wordsmith word of the episode. Now you can tell people how smart you are and show them by using this word. Anthropogenic.

[00:04:16] Anthropogenic. That's this week's wordsmith word of the episode, brought to you by absolutely no one and nothing. Okay? I have to take a little sip of water here. The pipes are still a little dry here. It is wintertime here in the northeastern half of the United States. It's from whence the program cometh to you. And it's a little windy today, too, which is really odd.

[00:04:45] It's one of those odd days that, I don't know. Anyway, I know. Shut up, Terry. Let's get into the meat and potatoes of the episode, shall we? All right. So what are we going to be speaking about on the virtual campfire this time on Weiss Thoughts About? Well, as I talked about in the opening, if you could go, if you had one chance, one chance to go back in time, there's two questions that I want to ask you.

[00:05:15] First of all, would you? That's the first question. Would you do it? And second of all, what event would you change in your life that you would think that would most directly benefit you today? Think about that. Would you go if you had a chance to travel back in time to affect your future? Would you do it? And what event?

[00:05:43] When would you want to go back to what event? If you had one shot to do it. What event would you go to that you'd think would most greatly benefit you by changing your past? Now, there's lots of movies out about time travel and, you know, I mean, there's been just so many. H.G. Wells back in the day with, you know, the time machine.

[00:06:11] You know, the most famous thing that I think of that comes to mind, there's two movies that come to my mind when I think of time, well, three of them. The first one that pops into my head is The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, the book and the theatrical versions, both the older version with Rod, I think it was, was it Rod Sterling or Rod Serling? Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Producer Extraordinaire starred in that.

[00:06:32] And then the updated version back in the, what was it, the 1990s or early 2000s with Guy Pearce, which was a pretty nice remake, actually, as remakes go. So there's that one. Then the second one that comes to my mind when I'm thinking about movies that have to do with time travel is going to be a movie with, it didn't, it came, it became a cult classic.

[00:06:58] It was made in the mid to late 70s, early 80s. I think it was the late 70s. It was with Malcolm McDowell, Mary Steenburgen, and I believe it was the actor's name who played the villain in it. He played Jack the Ripper. David, I don't want to, the name that's popping into my head is David Niven, but it wasn't. It was David something.

[00:07:22] But it was called Time After Time, and it's about what would happen if H.G. Wells built the time machine and used it, you know, to chase Jack the Ripper because he used his machine to escape a prosecution back in those days into the modern era. Really a cool concept for a movie and kind of a cool movie. I remember being enthralled with that as a younger person.

[00:07:46] But my favorite, my favorite all-time time travel movie slash under trilogies has to be the Back to the Future series with Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd amongst others, you know. Just, those movies just captivated me, and there was just something about them when I saw the first one.

[00:08:09] And I think out of all three of them, all three of them in the series, my favorite of the Back to the Future trilogy has to be part two. Now I know what some people are like, what? Yeah, part two has to be my favorite because I love how they tied it into the first movie, went back into the first movie. And so you had kind of all these paradoxes happening and what happened when, you know, when you can mess, if you mess up time travel on the timeline and how it can alter the future.

[00:08:36] But anyway, that's what I think of, you know, as far as time travel movies. But the thing is, is if you had the opportunity, you know, let's say the technology was here and it was available and they said, yep, it can be. Everybody, you know, if you, I don't know, you win a contest or something or you pay so much money, you have one shot to go back in time for a day or whatever, X amount of hours. And you can change one event in your life. First of all, would you go?

[00:09:06] And second of all, what event would you go to? Now I know there's also some of you out there sitting there thinking, yeah, but Terry, if you went back in time, changed one event in your life, you know, it's the ripple effect, like throwing that pebble into a pond. It would also affect people around you and their futures, et cetera. And see though, that's the, that's the conundrum, isn't it? Ooh, let me use some of the college vocabulary. That's the conundrum. If you don't know what that means, look it up.

[00:09:32] That's the conundrum with time travel because not only would you be wanting to change your own life, but we affect everyone and many, many people around us. And then the people around us, we affect, they affect the people around them and sort of like that old Doubleman commercial and so on and so on and so on. So that's the big thing there. But let's just say for the sake of simplicity's sake, you could go back in time.

[00:10:02] You have one shot to do it. You have 48 hours. Let's say they give you 48 hours and then you're brought back to the present. Would you do it? So I guess that falls under the auspices of how happy are you with your life right now? So would you do it? And second of all, what event would you visit to try and alter the outcome of? Now for myself, would I do it?

[00:10:33] I know this is going to sound like the coward's answer, the coward's way out. I am really unsure because all the choices that we make, all the experiences that we have, both good, bad and indifferent, they are the culmination of events of the past that make up who we are today. And those experiences, those failures, those triumphs, so on and so forth. But let's say I did it. I think what I would do is I would go back.

[00:11:02] And the thing that I would do is I would go back and I would tell, you know, if I could tell myself, disguise myself, I would encourage myself to not take to heart other people's opinions of yourself. Now, I know that sounds kind of maybe a cheap way out, you know. Well, Terry, we were looking for something a little more concrete like, oh, that day that you sledded and you went left instead of right.

[00:11:33] No, I would give myself some advice to say, hey, don't worry about what others think of you. Follow your heart. Follow your intuition and soul. I would give myself that advice at an earlier age and try and think of some way to make sure I reinforce that to do that. And I think that would ultimately then put me further along on the path of my life than I am now.

[00:12:02] Because at times I kind of feel like I'm playing catch up, you know. And I'm not talking about catch up you put on your hamburger or hot dog or what have you or your eggs in the morning. I'm talking about playing catch up with the time that I had wasted. A little sip of water there, folks. The time that I, at least I feel, that I had wasted worrying about what other people think of me or thought of me or, you know, the indecision. Should I really do this?

[00:12:30] Should I, do I really want to, if I do this, then this person or these sets of people might not think I'm cool or too cool or whatever. I would just go back and give myself that advice and say, hey man, you do you. As long as you ain't hurting somebody or yourself, follow your heart, follow your dream. If it works, great. If it doesn't, great.

[00:12:53] But at least less regrets, I guess, is what, I guess what is the point I'm trying to make. Now, who knows? I mean, are we ever going to fundamentally have the ability to go back in time? Who knows? Have we been visited by time travelers? Some people say we have been. Some people say we are. Some people say they're here influencing events.

[00:13:16] If you believe that sort of thing, there's lots of things you can look up on YouTube and, you know, odd things. And there's some crackpot stuff. People are just trying to, you know, get views for stuff. However, there's some pretty decent documentaries out there. If you look up on YouTube or search the internet for time travelers, have they visited us or are they visiting us? Or do we have the ability to travel through time? Maybe someday we will.

[00:13:46] But, you know, who knows? Maybe, you know, way off in the future. Because time is kind of a, you know, it's a string. You know, they have what's called string theory. Look that up. String theory says, you know, if you, you know, go to a point in the past, you know, one little thing you can do can affect. And, you know, like I said, that pebble into a pond, a clear, tranquil pond can affect so many other things.

[00:14:13] And the running scientific theory and, of course, entertainment theory is that when things change, we wouldn't even know. Because things in the past that change, that affect now, it would be instantaneous to us. So we wouldn't even know that, you know, things are being changed. You know, to us common folk here, I guess, is the easiest way to say it. But it's always fascinated me, the idea of time travel.

[00:14:39] You know, some people say, well, what if you could time travel, go back in time and, you know, kill Adolf Hitler when he was a baby or a child, and then you could have prevented the world war, well, what is to say that that wouldn't have had something worse happen? Let's say, you know, Stalin or something or Mao decides to start a nuclear war down the road or something. You know, so, I mean, it could really mess with your head. You know, it really can.

[00:15:06] But it's, I guess it's nice to sometimes think about, boy, if I could go back and change one thing. Now, psychologists, however, you know, there's a lot of self-help talk and self-improvement talk out there in the world, especially nowadays, of, you know what, don't live in the past. Don't ruminate about the past. Yes, acknowledge your past and learn from it so you don't, you know, maybe make some of those same errors in judgment

[00:15:32] or, you know, it can help propel you forward, which is what I try to do. And sometimes I still fall short, like we all do. I mean, we all do. You know, he's like, oh, man, I wish I could change that or this or that. You tend to, and we, you, I, me, we tend to ruminate on the past. And sometimes to the detriment of the happiness of the present and our future. So, you know, those are things just to think about. And that's kind of what I wanted to get out there and get the discussion going on for us on this episode of Voice Thoughts.

[00:16:02] And something you can think about until the next episode. Maybe discuss with your friends. If you want to hit me up and email me, it's terry at weisethoughts.com. If you want to email me or you can email me through the website at weisethoughts.com. You know, would you? Would you time travel? I'm going to probably put up a survey with this podcast episode as well. You know, I think we're going to title this episode, Time Travel, Would You If You Could?

[00:16:28] And so that's something to think about until next time on Weis Thoughts. So, you guys take care and Mr. Producer, stop pressing the wrong buttons, will you? Hey, thanks for listening to the program today. I truly appreciate each and every one of you out there. And remember, to see a change in the world, you have to be the change in the world you want to see. It all starts with you.

[00:16:58] The person looking back at you in the mirror every morning. Remember to be kind to yourself. Be kind to others. If you want to tweet at me on Twitter, it's at Terry Weiss. Stop by the website, weisethoughts.com. Just to make sure you spell my name right, W-Y-C-E. Weisethoughts.com. And hey, leave us a positive rating and review on your favorite podcast provider, won't you?

[00:17:25] Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your pets about Weis Thoughts. And I look forward to gathering yet again around the virtual campfire with you real soon. Take care.