Time Has Been Reset

[Ariphaos]

That would be... weird. Here I have ten years of completely and utterly different skills than I was going to college for at the time, and yet I'll have more skills and more resources to actually take advantage of them with. Rebuilding my forums is going to be an interesting endeavor. I'd have minutes to register my domain names.

Two of my three friends who died during the past ten years died of completely preventable causes. One of them, I know I could find (she was active on the Internet under her real name from the 90's), though it's going to be rather awkward, to say the least. The other one... I don't know what would happen. Her name is somewhat common and I don't know how else we'd meet.

Like CaptainChewbacca I know women who will end up dodging their rapist.

How is the economy going to react? So much is 'old hat', a lot of failures are known, a lot of mistakes made that people aren't going to repeat, and an entire class of largely elderly people who are ten years behind the rest of the world. Lobbying is going to be rather weird - a lot of lawmakers are going to be well-aware of the consequences of their decisions ten years hence.

The Million Dollar Homepage came out in 2005. Is someone going to try it nearly half a decade earlier?

[Todeswind]

On the bright side for about ten years nobody would die in an earthquake, flood, tornado, hurricane, or volcano. We'd know exactly where and when they were going to happen.

People will still die, either they are those who died to begin with and won't believe those who come back from the future or will take steps that get them killed. I'm thinking of Tornado chasers here and the short lived disaster tourism. After all if everyone gets to saftey before the mega tornadoes that hit the south you know there are going to be amateurs wanting to go down there to film them. Same thing with the two big tsunamis of the 00's.

It's still a damn sight better than what did happen.

[Simon_Jester]

People will still die, either they are those who died to begin with and won't believe those who come back from the future or will take steps that get them killed. I'm thinking of Tornado chasers here and the short lived disaster tourism. After all if everyone gets to saftey before the mega tornadoes that hit the south you know there are going to be amateurs wanting to go down there to film them. Same thing with the two big tsunamis of the 00's.

Idiots who want to film huge disasters are taking their chances. As for the rest, if the whole world suddenly started telling me they had detailed memories of events like this, I'd play along, especially after they correctly predicted the first natural disaster.

[Xess]

This is weird. I'd be 15 again, and at 15 I was a psychological wreck but I didn't have my migraine problem yet. I've since dealt with my depression that really got bad when I was 18 but I wasn't well at 15 either. I have the mental tools to deal with it but how much will the physical aspects still mess with it? On the bright side I now have that much more time to work on my university education!

NASA should be better able to deal with the whole Columbia/thermal tile thing now as well.

[KrauserKrauser]

Tons of material here. Just going on the economic side of things you have massive implications. Madoff implored instantly as does.Ending and Global Crossing. cHI better be on them fast as they are going to know what incriminating evidence to desroy. Luckily the complicity employees may be less willing to follow.management and will cooperate to save their own skin. Possible.some people's retirement will.get saved by that. A potion at least.

At 2001 Greenspan is still seen as the Oracle of Wall Street as the markets have not hit bottom yet. Steve Jobs may not know what is going to happen to him but his Doctor's will and they should be able.to catch and prevent his cancer well before it.spreads. I would expect a full recovery on his part.

Drug patents will be filed.all.over the place S well as technology patents out the saxophone. Legal battles will be.never ending.

Some of the internet name stocks will not get as damaged.as.others. While garbage like Webvan will instantly go to 0 the proven business models of ebay, amazon, apple and others will be tresor bouyed by the knowledge that they will be able to survive and become very profitable.

The technology would be so far behind it would crazy. The knowledge of what it takes.to produce 2011 products is there but there will likely be some steps.in between that will be lost. We would advace faster than KYLE but t would.still take.time.to.develop the infrastructure required to get to our level of production and advancement.

Hey, this means we can prosecute Geithner on tax evasion and hopefully prevent.him.from getting the NY fed chair and sec free bid. Volcker will be.listened to much.more.closely and hopefully we will enact the regulatory structure that was killed around this.time and prevent a lot of the insanity that occurred in the markets since 2001. Exchange based derivatives trading, lowering of leverage limits, overall the risk averse people will be given a much larger voice with this rest. They would loosely ne unsuccesful and we would repeat to.some.extent but hopefully it would be cushioned to.some extent.

Gold and silver skyrockets in price. Major volatility in all markets. People that were made rich in the markets are noone that retired since 2001 w.no longer, that would one that retired since 2001 be quite the interesting twist. So many trades and dealthat the big US banks were able to trick the markets into accepting would be prevented. Pension funds would now.be sitting on a much stronger footing. Gold, oil and property claims that were discovered.since 2001 would go through nasty bidding wars.

Simple.things would also suck. Any

He

[aieeegrunt]

Ha ha ha my wife and I are both still with our first spouses, this could be awkward.

[Simon_Jester]

Krauser, your post looks insightful but almost unreadable. Could you please clean it up and expand on why you expect, for example, huge increases in the price of gold and silver?

[Todeswind]

I think he typed on a cell phone, a lot of them have "double space"= period and after seeing it on both my computer and mobile the paragraph spacing makes sense on a mobile phone.

[phred]

Let's see... While I will save thousands of dollars not buying useless crap, I'll probably wind up wasting it on other useless crap. I can probably manage to keep one of my jobs a little longer than I did the first time by avoiding certain fuckups. I'll never take/get the paper route job(best/worst job I ever had)

One of my friends will probably never have a couple kids, since she will divorce, or never marry, the asshole who has made her life a living hell for the last 4 years.

A couple other friends may be better off financially, disentangling themselves from the asshole that used their business as a front for a ponzi scheme.

One interesting thought is how will Afghanistan go differently after all those people in Guantanamo Bay and other places like it wake up back at home. Also, Obama will need some extra security since you know some nutcase will try to take him out before he gets elected.

[Simon_Jester]

Let's see... While I will save thousands of dollars not buying useless crap, I'll probably wind up wasting it on other useless crap. I can probably manage to keep one of my jobs a little longer than I did the first time by avoiding certain fuckups. I'll never take/get the paper route job(best/worst job I ever had)

Remember, though, all your bosses remember firing you. That's going to be a huge problem for people who 'want their old job back.' I know it'll be a problem for me.

It might actually be better to seek out another job in the same career path just to avoid that problem.

[Ariphaos]

[Remember, though, all your bosses remember firing you. That's going to be a huge problem for people who 'want their old job back.' I know it'll be a problem for me.

It might actually be better to seek out another job in the same career path just to avoid that problem.

This, actually, is a problem for the bosses I did have, ironically.

[aieeegrunt]

One of my friends will probably never have a couple kids, since she will divorce, or never marry, the asshole who has made her life a living hell for the last 4 years.

My wife's in the same boat. Does she stay with abuse asshole first husband for another two years? Abuse asshole will also know that she's going to leave him, is he going to try and kill her like he did in the OT or is he going to try and "win her back". A lot of people are going to remember a spouse or girl/boyfriend or family member or co worker doing something horrible, there might be a rash of preemptive murders.

As far as kids go, how the hell do you make sure that you concieve in exactly the same way you did the first time so that one sperm out of a million is the one that produces the kid(s) you remember having? Is this in effect a sentence of oblivion for anyone under the age of 10?

One interesting thought is how will Afghanistan go differently after all those people in Guantanamo Bay and other places like it wake up back at home. Also, Obama will need some extra security since you know some nutcase will try to take him out before he gets elected.

[/quote]

Will he get elected? It's not like Hillary is going to just shrug and not run.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Ill be hounest, if I had that election to do over, I may vote for hillary over Obama.
I can't imagine her having any less of a Spine then Obama has on certain things, ESPECIALLY since they will know how the GOP are going to act.

Of course that assumes Dubya gets relected, which I doubt.
Shoot If we had a full redo, Howard Dean may get the nod instead of Kerry and run against Bush. Given how close it was with Corpse Kerry, I can see Dean getting elected in 04 which means this round would be his Re-Election.

Hillary and Obama might not even get the chance.

[CaptainChewbacca]

If we're going back to December 2001, George W is 11 months into his 2nd term and doesn't have to worry about re-election.

[Crossroads Inc.]

If we're going back to December 2001, George W is 11 months into his 2nd term and doesn't have to worry about re-election.

Noooo
Bush the less was elected in 2000, when gore lost int the 2000 election.
Sept 11 happened in his first year.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Oh... brain fart.

[Solauren]

From my personal perspective, there wouldn't be alot of major changes really.

My wife was my girlfriend back then.
I believe I hadn't moved out from my parents yet.
My dogs no longer exist. That's okay, I know where and when to get them back.

I would talk with my wife/girlfriend, and tell her I'm not going to move out right away now, and Instead I'm going to save for the downpayment on a house.

I will tell my parents the same, and apologize to my father to derailing his trainlayout he built in the basement (Pun intended).

I won't buy nearly as many D&D books, cause I know I'll be able to get them online for free (or should be able too). So instead, I'll collect miniatures right off the bat.

I have a government job (then and now), so I'm good for that. I can imagine the freaking backlash at work, but ultimately, I don't think it will matter, cause I'll simply say to the higher ups: "I know how things were going to go, and I'm okay with that. Just let me do my job as it currently stands, unless the Feds want to hire me over now, and we'll go from there."

[phred]

Let's see... While I will save thousands of dollars not buying useless crap, I'll probably wind up wasting it on other useless crap. I can probably manage to keep one of my jobs a little longer than I did the first time by avoiding certain fuckups. I'll never take/get the paper route job(best/worst job I ever had)

Remember, though, all your bosses remember firing you. That's going to be a huge problem for people who 'want their old job back.' I know it'll be a problem for me.

It might actually be better to seek out another job in the same career path just to avoid that problem.

True. That will probably be a huge problem for alot of people, sorting out the whole current/future job thing.

Also, Obama will need some extra security since you know some nutcase will try to take him out before he gets elected.

Will he get elected? It's not like Hillary is going to just shrug and not run.

Won't matter. Some nutjob will remember and try to 'fix' it. As a matter of fact Bush and Cheney and probably anyone with power around the world will need more security for similar reasons.

Edit: fixed tags

[Scorpion]

My father would still be alive. My grandparents would still be alive. I'd know not to waste my time doing fuck all and just finish college. But my girlfriend would be just 11 years old. Oh well, the good FAR outweighs the bad. I would welcome such fate.

[phred]

Another thing just occurred to me. The movie industry will be really messed up when people don't bother going to see movies that they hated (or at least didn't love) the first time, and instead go watch other movies they didn't get a chance to when it was in theatres.

[Oni Koneko Damien]

Why does everyone assume that everyone's memory of the past ten-years will be picture-perfect? Any number of studies show that memory of things happening yesterday can be unreliable in any number of circumstances, happening last month are vague at best, and it just gets worse from there.

The people worrying about getting jobs back at places they were fired? More often than not your employers won't even remember who the fuck you are... sure you remember them as the assholes that fired you, but for them, you're just downsizee #215. The people worrying about movies? I doubt any of the same movies will be made again, it's not like people have access to the scripts, payments, and tech they used at the time, just vague memories of how things turned out.

Most likely what will happen is a few important historical events change, perhaps a few spats of violence and miraculous rescues occur as people act on their most important memories and loved-ones over the last decade, technology makes a few rapid jumps forward in certain areas as people rush to remember exactly how the advances came about last time... and then life goes on. It will be a huge interruption, with positives and negatives, but things will eventually even out again, the world's not going to end.

[Simon_Jester]

Why does everyone assume that everyone's memory of the past ten-years will be picture-perfect? Any number of studies show that memory of things happening yesterday can be unreliable in any number of circumstances, happening last month are vague at best, and it just gets worse from there.

The people worrying about getting jobs back at places they were fired? More often than not your employers won't even remember who the fuck you are... sure you remember them as the assholes that fired you, but for them, you're just downsizee #215. It depends on the job. The last job I got fired from was part of a research group of about 10-15 people, who only hire about one person (on average) a year. And I'd been working there for a while. If I show up there ten years from now, the people who work there will remember who I am well enough to know what they thought of me today. So getting a job with that group again would be rather difficult, should I choose to do so again, which actually I probably wouldn't.

The people worrying about movies? I doubt any of the same movies will be made again, it's not like people have access to the scripts, payments, and tech they used at the time, just vague memories of how things turned out.

Yes, though some of the movies will be strikingly similar, reusing fondly-remembered jokes and gags. And some projects will get approved more readily

It would be, for example, very easy for James Cameron to get approval for a CGI extravaganza picture set on the world of Pandora... even if it takes years for the technology to catch up. Superhero movies will get green lights quickly too, for the same reason- people will know that such movies sell, in a way that historically they weren't so sure of in 2001 when even Spider-Man hadn't come out yet as I recall.

Most likely what will happen is a few important historical events change, perhaps a few spats of violence and miraculous rescues occur as people act on their most important memories and loved-ones over the last decade, technology makes a few rapid jumps forward in certain areas as people rush to remember exactly how the advances came about last time... and then life goes on. It will be a huge interruption, with positives and negatives, but things will eventually even out again, the world's not going to end.

To be sure the world will not end. Life will go on. What's interesting is to speculate how life and politics and history will change- like the Iraq War. Bush will show up in the White House, and assuming his legitimacy is accepted, he will know that the Iraq War will not boost his presidency's reputation in the eyes of history. At best he might be able to make it look like a draw; more likely it will be an embarrassment for him no matter what he does. He'd be wiser not to invade Iraq at all, and maybe he won't, especially when most of the public knows damn well there are no weapons of mass destruction and that invading Iraq would get us stuck in eight years of bloody quicksand.

[hongi]

I am now 11 years old.

No Facebook. Oh crap. How will I meet my friends? I don't know how I'll meet a lot of them, I don't know what they were doing 10 years ago.

Well, this gives me the opportunity to get into Judo and rock climbing in a really big way since I was only introduced to them years later. Fuck yeah.

Otherwise, I learn from my mistakes. My life is generally a better one.

[Duckie]

Ten years ago? There's pretty much no downsides to me here, considering I don't even have memories that stretch back further than a few years... except that I lose all my stuff from the past few years and everything I've ever done or worked on, since it's all on computers in the future. Probably my favorite games are never made (or remade but just aren't the same) and I never finish watching some shows that stop existing and my favorite band's albums all vanish and whatnot and stuff like that. Not big deals comparatively compared to the ridiculous divine fortune granted here. (Ugh, though I have to grow my hair out all over again. Just when I got finished!)

Like pretty much everybody else, I'd drop out of whatever type of school I was in 10 years ago (Primary?) and go get my degree, because I already know everything I need even if I'm physically prepubescent. Assuming they don't even start handing out degrees to people for stuff they already did with quick examinations, since the entire world just lost a tonne of qualifications people deserve due to losing all its records of colleges in the past few years. If this phenomena is widely experienced, for example, my girlfriend won't stop being a masters' candidate in mathematics, she'd just now be just some kind of creepy statistician loli. Making everyone on their masters or even PhDs sit back through undergrad or revoking PhDs due to publications and records vanishing or whatnot would make the academic world implode, so they'd probably just have to set some kind of fast-track test or examination to let these people not have to waste 6 years regetting a degree in everything they already know.

Assuming I manage to escape where I was 10 years ago again and get back to my girlfriend and her family again and whatnot. Not that hard to find her, though, considering the entire world will be having a 'have you met this person' thing put up, and if you know their name, there's, you know, phonebooks (who knew those would be useful). And that they'd be in the same spot in this case.

Net result? I lose everything I've ever done and all my stuff (not much, but admittedly annoying) but live 10 years longer and totally do over those 10 years far better while losing none of my knowledge, assuming I manage the initial few days and the psychic shock of being back in an era that I literally remember nothing about. I imagine the dilemma would be more interesting for other people than me.

[Sriad]

My father would still be alive. My grandparents would still be alive. I'd know not to waste my time doing fuck all and just finish college. But my girlfriend would be just 11 years old. Oh well, the good FAR outweighs the bad. I would welcome such fate.

I can see NAMBLA etc getting a huge shot in the arm as formerly-consenting-adults turn into 7-17 year olds... Maybe renaissance in child-pornography? There is no single emoticon that expresses my state of mind, so forgive the spam please:









I mean, as everyone tries to figure out whether to go back to their jobs de-aged or return to school the porn industry is going to find itself in a veeeeerrrrryyyy gray place.

More broadly/less squickilly: age of consent laws, driving, drinking, military service, voting, child labor, mandatory education, personal independence...

These aren't things people will be able to ignore. Say we have a 17-year-old who just came out to his bigoted family, huge fight, moved out. Now he's 7... and forced to live with them again? Or what?