I wonder sometimes how it could have worked out if I’d had decent guidance. The prospect of living back under my mother’s glare or having to do homework again feels awfully tiring, though. And I’ve forgotten my locker combination! And my schedule. And where the classrooms are. Fuck, I can’t remember what a secant is!
I would have to fight back for my own vision of life rather than my mother’s. Now that I have the life experience to even have one. Back then I was so aware I didn’t know anything about life and the world. Would she fold, or would she go thermonuclear?
Maybe the butterfly’s wing would be a little different and there’d literally be nuclear war.
Maybe I’d be satisfied to see videos of other versions of myself in other universes and see what was possible.
Say you still get your same kids.
I know the usual answer is to buy stocks, but that seems too easy.
If you were a character in a book, you’d try to stop one of the famous disasters. Conveniently, they always remember lots of details about the famous disasters.
I saw a television episode on Youtube once where a guy went back because there was the girl he didn’t get when he was around 17. She had been so built up with the glow of memory, but then seeing her again with adult eyes, she was like a kid to him. Pretty girl, but someone whose memory he could move on from now.
Maybe Back Then would be less of a nebulous, mysterious thing to think over if I had photos or video from back then. No photos or video? Must have been real horse-and-buggy days.
Did you see “Final Cut” with Robin Williams? It’s a movie about having a recording chip implanted in your head so people can watch your life after you die. Most of it focuses on the ethics of it, but there’s a few scenes about seeing how people’s memories of childhood events (it even more recent ones) are distorted with time.
I wouldn’t say it’s the best sci-fi think piece, but it could be right up your alley if you’re thinking of this question.
I haven’t seen it. I usually need a very strong reason to make myself watch something with Robin Williams in it, but I’m more open to it than seeing Jim Carrey, or especially Adam Sandler.
This isn’t a comedy at all. It’s serious sci-fi at a point where Robin Williams wanted to be taken seriously like One Hour Photo. YouTube a trailer for it and see if it sounds interesting. I haven’t seen it in like 15 years, so it’s a little fuzzy in my head.
Like I said, it’s not the best movie ever because it seems like this technology that’s ubiquitous is still incredibly controversial, which seems strange for something that’s clearly been around for a few generations. But it definitely touches on the subject you’re taking about.
I remembered a classic brain implant story: Learning to Be Me, by Greg Egan. Not perfectly on topic, but in case you like stories.
I haven’t heard it, but I’ll check it out. Thanks!