Current Events > One Billion Dollars OR You Can Erase One Tragedy From History

(+) Yeah! (+)

Tax free money or you can undo a single tragic day. Which would you choose CE?

You can't go back in time, so no get rich quick schemes using knowledge you have today. You're simply preventing one day in time from going down the way it did.

Money.
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Money
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History is history. A billion dollars for me and I could have a 20 wives and have 50 kids and make my own history.
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Nobody is erasing the attack on Pearl Harbor? A school shooting? 9/11? :\

Well, I just want to fit in, so... gimme dat money.
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I don't fuck with time travel. Money.
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Money.

Who knows what horrendous shit I'd release when opening Pandora's box.
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Especially given the alternative, the only reason to really use the "erase a tragic event" thing is if someone you knew personally was killed / severely injured / etc in it.
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I keep home improvement from getting canceled
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If I erase the day donald trump was conceived, he ceases to exist right?
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Money, I don't want the Flashpoint Paradox to happen.
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Money. Guess I'm a shitty human, too.
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I'll erase PlanetSide 2

Is there a Youtube/podcast series where a group of historians imagine what the world would be like if a historical event had never happened?

Seems like a good idea.

ThanksUglyGod posted...

Is there a Youtube/podcast series where a group of historians imagine what the world would be like if a historical event had never happened?

Seems like a good idea.

I've seen something like that, but I'm not sure if it was a series or not.
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For the sake of at least addressing it, undoing a tragedy is fine if it's like... 12 hours recent or so. It's when time and consequence brew where legitimate questions start to arise. For the scenarios most people cite, taking the money is within your best interest. Something that occurred not even an hour ago? That's infinitely less problematic.
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Money.

Even if I erase a tragedy, I might only be delaying the inevitable to a future day.

$$
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Metro2 posted...

Even if I erase a tragedy, I might only be delaying the inevitable to a future day.

This is also a really valid point.

"I'll erase 9/11!"
(tomorrow)
"Today we remember the devastating 9/12 terrorist attacks that killed 3000 people."
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Money.
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ThanksUglyGod posted...

Is there a Youtube/podcast series where a group of historians imagine what the world would be like if a historical event had never happened?

Seems like a good idea.

It's hard to really accurately discuss that sort of thing. The "Great Man Theory" works both ways. If you kill baby Hitler, that doesn't mean the nationalistic antisemitic mob wave rising in Germany suddenly disappears. Even if you say "Well I just stop the whole holocaust" then you run into "So what, you have a bunch of angry violent racists that just never do anything?"
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ImTheMacheteGuy posted...

If I erase the day donald trump was conceived, he ceases to exist right?

TC only said you could erase a tragedy, not a blessing.
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erase 9/11 (1973)

Money

What if that avoided tragedy came back in the future and got even worse? History is about learning not to do it again in the future. This tragedy was erased but since it was erased and no one knows about it, it'll come back 10x as bad.
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Omnislasher posted...

erase 9/11

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Money.

Use the money to help prevent future tragedies and be obscenely rich.

You could probably do more good with a billion dollars in a lifetime than you could be erasing the events of a single day from history.

And if doing good isn't your thing? Well now you have a billion dollars.
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I know Red Alert popularized it but the "10x worse" defense is just as weird as believing you can perfectly reconstruct reality to where you stood years from "then".
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Tragedy erased could end up making things worse based on a lesson unlearned.

Money is the correct and ethical choice.
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16-BITTER posted...

EscapeFromHell posted...

Nobody is erasing the attack on Pearl Harbor? A school shooting? 9/11? :\

The Last Jedi? smh

I was gonna say money, but deleting Last Jedi from history is tempting.

People instantly going to 9/11 over the Holocaust?
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DavidWong posted...

People instantly going to 9/11 over the Holocaust?

The Holocaust isn't just a single day. I'm not sure if you can delete a single day from the thirties to prevent the holocaust.

I don't even know if you can delete the date of Adolf Hitler's birth to prevent the rise of fascism in Germany.

But 9/11? We can do that.
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prevent hitler, you prevent a large number of scientific discoveries of the 20th century, particularly our leaps in air travel and rocket science. and the other tragedies would probably have their own, similar knock-on effects. if it's a big enough tragedy to use your one choice on, it's big enough to shape the world as we know it

better to get the money and use it to prevent future/current tragedy
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Money easily.
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peace
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Money should always be the answer here. Butterfly effect.

If youre feeling charitable, put the billion directly towards something that prevents a FUTURE tragedy.
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Garioshi posted...

Money, I don't want the Flashpoint Paradox to happen.

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hollow_shrine posted...

DavidWong posted...

People instantly going to 9/11 over the Holocaust?

The Holocaust isn't just a single day. I'm not sure if you can delete a single day from the thirties to prevent the holocaust.

I don't even know if you can delete the date of Adolf Hitler's birth to prevent the rise of fascism in Germany.

But 9/11? We can do that.

It says one tragedy not one day
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I erase the Chicxulub metor impact

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater
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with that kind of money I wouldn't care what happened in the past
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If 9/11 is erased there's no certain future where Osama Bin Laden is taken down, just saying
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@DavidWong posted...

hollow_shrine posted...

DavidWong posted...

People instantly going to 9/11 over the Holocaust?

The Holocaust isn't just a single day. I'm not sure if you can delete a single day from the thirties to prevent the holocaust.

I don't even know if you can delete the date of Adolf Hitler's birth to prevent the rise of fascism in Germany.

But 9/11? We can do that.

It says one tragedy not one day

Go read the original post again, not just the title.
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I gave it a lot of thought today, and I guess I'm just as awful as the rest of you. I'd take the money and take care of all my loved ones. We already experienced the past, but the future is unwritten and blah-blah-blah, I'd rather be financially set for the rest of my life.

Slow your roll. How does this make someone an "awful" person? Unless you think potentially undoing current lives is virtuous or something. I even outlined a scenario where this could work with the least amount of unforeseeable consequences.
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I'm not surprised by the answer but I at least expected one of you religious individuals to save Jesus from the cross as an atheist I'm disappointed in you.
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The money. I could attempt to prevent future tragedies with that kind of money.

El Mexicano Texano posted...

I'm not surprised by the answer but I at least expected one of you religious individuals to save Jesus from the cross as an atheist I'm disappointed in you.

Wouldn't believers of Jesus allow that to stand by virtue of the "chance" he provided for everyone? I mean, it's the reason they justify similar inspired-by-God deaths if they claim to be consistent.
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Trigger_Volnutt posted...

Slow your roll. How does this make someone an "awful" person? Unless you think potentially undoing current lives is virtuous or something. I even outlined a scenario where this could work with the least amount of unforeseeable consequences.

I was joking about us all being awful. I guess that wasn't as clear as I intended. Like I said, the past was already lived through, the future is uncertain. Money would help me make my loved ones more secure. That's not being an awful person. Nobody is responsible for strangers even if that sounds shitty.