Ask Lemmy

The Nov 12-13 Leonids meteor shower of 1833, which was said to have been measured in excess of 100,000 meteors viewed per hour (about 27+ per second). This obviously was profound to basically everyone alive at the time who could see it (it wasn’t visible in Europe), and honestly it just sounds cool. I wanna see the insane space fireworks!

Mitch McConnell's death. Just to settle this once and for all.

Oh that's easy - the Zanclean flood.

What is now the Mediterranean sea used to be a land mass full of grass fields. A few million years ago, the Strait of Gibraltar gave way and hundreds of millions of cubic feet of water poured in. It's debated how long it took to fill up the Mediterranean. Could've been weeks, could've been decades. But for whatever period it was, it'd be nuts to sit there and watch it all unfold.

I just want to walk around the city of Ur, go to the market, eat some food, maybe buy some low quality copper

Watching Hitler killing Hitler.

OG Woodstock easily

I just want to see dinosaurs

After watching a video about this last week I would pick man first arriving in Australia. the animals that existed there way back then make the stuff that's in Australia today look tame. I just want to see the faces on these early humans when they realize how fucked they are. Giant Komodo Dragons, Giant Koalas, Giant Snakes, a damn Crocodile that could run on land. It's amazing any of them survived.

Not really historical event but, I'd be really curious to travel back to see my distant relatives, and what they were like, their personalities and quirks, likes and dislikes, their styles of humour. See their faces in 3d. Start with my great great grandparents and skip down the line as far as I can go. Actually, I'd love to see my nan again one more time, can I start there?

If I could do it from a safe spot in space - the Theia impact that formed the Moon.

Blackbeard burying his treasure.

I'm good, I got plenty of historical events at home.

EDIT nevermind I thought of a good one. I want to go to right before the Permian extinction and check out all the wildlife.

The grand opening of the Roman Colosseum.

The Tunguska Event

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1561_celestial_phenomenon_over_Nuremberg?wprov=sfti1

In 1561 a space battle happened in broad daylight (edit: dawn actually) over Nuremberg, so I think I'd like to see that, assuming I could come back just after, 1561 would be a shit time to live

Edit- link, other linked wiki articles in the link are worth reading as well.

is it just viewing? am I safe from harm? is there automatic translation?

This is monstrous, but the first Europeans going to Western Africa to enslave people. It must have been clumsy, awkward, brutal, violent, and coercive. In short, one of humanity's most callous, idiotic moves.

If I could interact (using modern tech), I'd sink every one of those ships with mines and drones. I'd monitor boats from space. I'd send a few of the slavers back knowing — and telling — only that enslavement will destroy them and Africa is not theirs to exploit.

The rest who survive would be taken care of, taught the strengths of diversity, other cultures, and West African ways of living. They would be the welcome wagon for any Europeans to return. Their tasks: stave off invasion, disrupt slaving activity, open negotiations with Europe. Undo the scourge of that institution and the attendant supremacy that followed.

Then, I'd set the same protections for the Americas. Unfortunately, Asia is accessible over land and contact predates my selected moment.

IDGAF if — as consequence — it sets human development back by 400 years of labour, resource exploitation, and "progress". It's worth it.

I'd go back to 5 years before the sacking of the Library of Alexandria so I could check out what's in there before it all goes up in flames. My time travel would also give me the automatic ability to read and understand all of the languages and dialects that were used.

The first “human” artwork. We will never know what it was or what medium it was in (cave painting? sculpture of some kind?¿?) but my personal belief is that moment is when we started being the humans we would eventually become and it would be so interesting to see what the first person came up with to express their thoughts.

It was likely a handprint in a cave but still.

No restrictions? Big bang starting from, say, an hour before.

BMW 1992, to prevent the invention of Xenon HID Headlights. 😈

The Continental Army taking over the airports from the British during the American Revolutionary War in the 1770s.

/s

Boston Molasses Incident.

I'd stop the supreme Court from giving the presidency to W Bush. I try not to think about what a timeline where we actually do something about climate change would look like, it's just too depressing.

Al Gore is an asshole and a neoliberal but I think he actually would've done something about climate change. I also don't think Osama Bin Laden would've gone through with 9/11 without a Republican in the White House.

Edit: upon further inspection, the title says OBSERVE a historical event. Oops.

Giza's construction

It would depend on the kind of time travel machine it is. Am I physically there, like most fiction or is it just a "time telescope" like the film Payday?

If it was just remotely viewing, I'd check out a lot more stuff like the meteor that killed the dinosaurs and other stuff I wouldn't wanna see if it meant putting myself in danger.

Dinosaur's and theirbextinction. Was it a meteorite? Did volcanoes erupt? Etc. from the theory confirmed :)

The day of my birth. I'd like to know what my family was like before I was there. What my brother and sisters said about me. How my dad reacted, etc.

Can I choose the moon landing, but from the moon?

I'd hang out with Leonardo Da Vinci in his studio.

Something smaller. I would like to go with my mom to see Elvis in a high school basketball gym.

the inception of our universe.

with any luck the portal will trigger a causality loop that will rip our entire existence apart so quickly that we won't even have an opportunity to understand that we no longer exist.

quick and painless way to make all the stupid go away.

I'd like to see the earth as it was before the Great Oxidation Event, especially if there were any cool pre-oxygen lifeforms.

Not a historical moment, but I would visit my favourite Author and thank him for the books he wrote.

The Kool Aid event

Children's crusade

The dancing plague

Anything that involves mass psychosis

Literally any White Stripes concert.

jfk behind the fence on the embankment