Time Travel

It has long been questioned whether time travel is possible. Several people have claimed to have invented a working time machine and others have claimed to have actually travelled through time. Despite several challenges the possibility of time travel has never been eliminated!

We asked Lab respondents what their views are regarding time travel.

Over half of all lab respondents do not believe time travel is possible.

- Even if time travel was possible, a fifth of Lab respondents reported they would prefer to stay in the present.

- Over half of all Lab respondents reported they would like to travel back in time with just under a third who would like to travel into the future.

Below are some of the reasons why some Lab respondents would prefer to stay in the present:

“I am happy with my current state, I do not want to go back in time to change anything at all because I am satisfied with what I have and what I've done” Yns, Morocco

“Altering the past would create the consequence of an altered future” Anon

“I like my life the way it is” Anon

“Because I like to live my life in present and enjoy every good and bad time in it and learn a lot of things from situations I go through in every day and join my family and my all people I love every second in this life” Anon

Below are some of the reasons why some Lab respondents would rather travel forward in time:

“To see what I will become so I will make the necessary changes” Kela, Nigeria

“To forget my past” Khalil, Qatar

“See all the cool new tech. The innovation, the science, the new discoveries that we are going to die before seeing” Raghd, Lebanon

“For fun” T. S. Sudhakar

“To see the future and come back to shape it correctly” Lalit Kumar Prasad, India

“I would like to skip all the details and jump straight to 10 years ahead to see how I have done” Anon, Qatar

“To see if everything is fine in my life. If something is wrong I will start changing it from now on so in future I won’t see any problems”. Aasma, KSA

“I want to see my future and if I am going to end up happy or not” Anon

Some of the reasons why some Lab respondents would rather travel back in time:

“Because I want to see my grandfather again” Naeda, Abu Dhabi

“See my Dad, select different choices and take the right actions” Nano ,Yemen

“I would have loved to see how my ancestors lived” Najeem, Qatar

“To experience a much simpler life” Anon

“If I have the opportunity to travel back in time I can correct the mistakes I have made and create a good future in the present time” Oliver, Philippines

“To stop many events from happening which have led to my current life” Lamiaa, Egypt

“See how things were in centuries past” Amanda, UAE

Lab respondents were asked if they would change anything if it was possible to travel back in time. This is what some Lab respondents had to say:

“I would change the school to which I was admitted for high schooling and many other things” Nan, India

“I'd want to change the discovery of oil” Najeem, Qatar

“Some impolite actions came out from me when I was a teenager!” Mona.A.B

“If I have the chance to travel back in time I would like to change my life as a student in college. I would like to focus more on my studies than other things” Oliver, Philippines

“The destruction caused by wars” Iram, UAE

“I wouldn't change anything even bad things or memories because its will of my god so I accept it good or bad” Anon

“I will change the bad things done by me” Anon

“I will not change anything” Naeda, Abu Dhabi

When Lab respondents were asked if it is ethical to go back in time, results were mixed:

- Almost a third of Lab respondents believe it is ethical to go back in time

- A third of Lab respondents cited it is not ethical

- And just over a third of lab respondents are unsure if time travel is ethical or not.

Lab respondents shared the following comments regarding the ethics of time travel:

“Because changing something in the past will affect the present state of things” Bimbo, Nigeria

“It is ethical as long as you don't try to change anything of major consequences” Najeem, Qatar

“Because by travelling in time a person can change his luck” Anon

“Any small change could balloon into an unimaginable number of side-effects and unintended consequences (butterfly effect). People could cease to exist and many lives could change. For all you know, your meddling might result in the cease of existence of Einstein or Newton or Beethoven, or Thomas Jefferson or Nelson Mandela or Ghandi, or any of the thousands of other important individuals. Or it might affect them in ways that they would no longer achieve the amazing things they did, and all that progress will be lost” Raghd, Lebanon

“If time travel is actually possible and people start travelling back in time and changing things of past then it will create chaos in present” Amnah, Pakistan

“Getting a second chance is not unethical” Anon, Qatar