Image of prehistoric times with dinosaurs and futuristic times with flying cars

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Would You Rather Travel to the Past or the Future?

The idea of being able to travel through time has fascinated people for centuries. It’s been explored in popular books like The Time Machine by H.G. Wells and in movies like Back to the Future. According to a 2021 poll by CBS News, 4 out of 10 Americans think time travel could one day be possible. But which would be better: going back in time or visiting the future?

Some people say they’d love to come face-to-face with a dinosaur or a famous person from history, like King Tut or Amelia Earhart. Others would want to go back in time to relive—or even change—the events in their own lives. That test you didn’t do so well on? You could rewind to the day before and study harder. 

But other people point out that we already know what happened in the past, so traveling to an unknown future would be more exciting. You would get to see if futuristic ideas like flying cars and human colonies on Mars become a reality. Travelers to the future might also help improve our lives in the present. For example, they might learn about lifesaving cures for diseases. 

Here’s what two of our readers think.

I’d want to travel to the past so I could bring scientists information and technology they didn’t have yet. Then they could stop things like global warming before they affect the planet.

Traveling to the past would also allow people to relive their favorite memories. I’d go back to our 2019 family vacation to Canada so I could visit Niagara Falls again! 

Plus, I’d love to get to meet my parents when they were my age to find out what they were like.

If I could visit the future, I’d get to find out everything that will happen ahead of time and prepare myself.

I love animals, so I’d travel to a time when scientists have figured out how to stop species from becoming extinct. I’d take their ideas back to the present.

I’d also return with new technology to make our lives easier today. For instance, we might one day be able to just think of words and see them appear on-screen instead of typing them. 

What does your class think?

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