Fantasy, Speculation, Time Travel and Cloning

[Elspeth]

I read the piece someone posted about time travel a few hours ago, and wound up, as I was doing laundry, thinking about whether I would ever consider, if it were possible, going back in time to try to convince my parents to accept me as a girl at age 3, and to give them a road map for transitioning me before the onset of puberty, which, from a certain point of view would be my ultimate selfish dream.

As I was coming back from another load and picking over some things in my basement, I came across an old copy of New Scientist that contained an article on resurrecting extinct species and thought to myself, why stop there? Why not clone myself in the present, when such an approach might be even better in some ways, given more widespread awareness and acceptance, at least by some, and more and more cases where transgirls are accepted and socialized as girls from earlier and earlier ages, giving these girls much more of their lives simply to express their gifts in the open, and press on with becoming productive individuals.

What would be your dream or your amendment to one of these approaches?

Would you rather have transitioned back in sync with the time when you grew up in this lifetime?

Or would you prefer to be cloned in the present, or in a few more years, and get a do over?

Or are  you stubborn and happy to just have the life you've had?

[Devlyn]

I've always said that if I had a chance to come back, I'd come back as me.

[EmmaMcAllister]

I'd be happy to have my brain transferred into a 19-year-old body and carry on. I have no desire to relive childhood and I wouldn't wish to lose the experiences that have made me who I am.

[Wild Flower]

I don't think cloning will make me another me, but just be an identical twin.

I would go back in time. I don't think it'll change the "me" that much if I redid things, except being a more happier person in general. I would go back to when I was 8 years old, and make it clear to them what I am. But I lived in an oppressive environment and in poverty, and I couldn't expect much back then.

[peky]

I've always said that if I had a chance to come back, I'd come back as me.

This ^^^ is a sign of having achieved wisdom, joy, and emotional maturity. A beacon and a good example for us all

[Shawn Sunshine]

I would actually travel to the future and have them transfer me to a 8 year old girl version of my dna, (an altered clone) and experience growing up as a teenager and a young child, I think anything younger than 8 would not be able to really grasp what is going on. I don't recall much before age 8.

I am glad I got you thinking about time travel 

[Anatta]

Kia Ora Elspeth,

If time travel was a fact/possible, death 'as we know it' would be no longer...Food for thought....

Metta Zenda

[Elspeth]

I don't think cloning will make me another me, but just be an identical twin.

I would go back in time. I don't think it'll change the "me" that much if I redid things, except being a more happier person in general. I would go back to when I was 8 years old, and make it clear to them what I am. But I lived in an oppressive environment and in poverty, and I couldn't expect much back then.

Perhaps I should have added a different option, to travel in time and age to any era or culture of your choice, with the one thing being, of course that you would, as we all seem to assume, be essentially the same person inside. I suppose another part of the question is, if you wanted to start out at a particular age, what age would it be. Interesting responses so far; very stimulating and thoughtful.

[Shawn Sunshine]

I would go back to when I was 8 years old

8 seems to be the magic number

[Ms. OBrien CVT]

Hmmm.  At first thought, I would clone myself and then raise the clone as my own child.  And if GD is truly a condition of genes then my 'child' would be allowed to transition, just as Momma did. 

If GD is because of the hormone flush then I would raise the child as their gender (mental) would dictate.  Without the flush, I might have another son.

[Kelly J. P.]

 I think I'd pass on living life anew. As much as I would like to live my life again, I absolutely don't want to lose the memories I've made. I haven't had the best life ever, but it certainly hasn't been bad, and I really value everything that has happened so far.

If I lost these memories, I wouldn't be me any more. I might not like 'me' a lot of the time, but being 'me' is better than being 'not-me'.

Besides, it might not even be the greatest trade-off. I don't look half-bad as it is, and I actually might end up prettier than I'd've been if I had been born female. I'm also taller - if I were born female, I may not have even made it to 5'! Sure, I'd be able to have kids if I was reborn somehow, but I frankly don't even like most kids, and I don't really miss my fertility. Also, being trans means I don't have to put up with periods. Pretty big plus right there.

Overall, I'm okay with my life. Being trans isn't half bad, once you get past the relentless self-hatred and the fear of others and their thoughts.

[Felix]

I'd go back in time and clad my teenaged self in unbreakable armor from about the chest down. No shattered bones, no pregnancies, no chronic pain and no poverty. Pure win.

[Shawn Sunshine]

Also, being trans means I don't have to put up with periods.

Women who have AIS, also do not experience this.

[Ani]

If time travel was a fact/possible, death 'as we know it' would be no longer...Food for thought....

Time travel would not affect the age of the traveler.   It just moves you, as is, to a new time.  So death would come once your candle burns out, whatever time-when you happen to be in. 

No?

-Ani

[Anatta]

Time travel would not affect the age of the traveler.   It just moves you, as is, to a new time.  So death would come once your candle burns out, whatever time-when you happen to be in. 

No?

-Ani

Kia Ora Ani,

Many people/things you see in the past will be already dead in the future time you left from... When travelling back, one would in a sense be bringing them back to life...So in theory there would be no death as we 'presently' know it....Even for ourselves !

Metta Zenda

[Ani]

-Ani

Kia Ora Ani,

Many people/things you see in the past will be already dead in the future time you left from... When travelling back, one would in a sense be bringing them back to life...So in theory there would be no death as we 'presently' know it....Even for ourselves !

Metta Zenda

Sorry, I don't see it!   An individual's life clock is always moving forward regardless of which when they are in.  In their time frame, each person moves from non-existence, to life, to non-existence.  If you visit another's time frame you are not changing that.

-Ani

[Anatta]

-Ani
Sorry, I don't see it!   An individual's life clock is always moving forward regardless of which when they are in.  In their time frame, each person moves from non-existence, to life, to non-existence.  If you visit another's time frame you are not changing that.

-Ani

Kia Ora Ani,

So what is 'it' that actually visits another time frame ?

Metta Zenda

[Ani]

Kia Ora Ani,

So what is 'it' that actually visits another time frame ?

Metta Zenda

Hmmm, getting sent rolling eyes...being led down some path here...

Perhaps I'm reading too much into your statement that time travel 'changes death as we presently know it'.  Given time travel, we can see the dead 'live' again.  If we ourselves have died someone from some other time can visit us, and we 'live' on for them, but in that when we aren't dead - nothing has changed for us. There's some Gibson book where the characters speak with a dead person whose consciousness has been stored in some construct.  Is that person dead, or does that construct change death as we know it?

-Ani

[Kelly J. P.]

 Well, there are two ways to look at time-travel in the past. I think Zenda is speaking of time-travel into the past in the way that it may rewind time. Therefore, you would be younger again, and all time would be renewed.

The other, of course, is to go back in time as your present self. This method is shakier as a hypothesis because it allows all kinds of paradoxes to happen. Time doesn't slow down for you, of course, but you do get to experience the past as if it were alive again.

[Biscuit_Stix]

When I was a kid I always thought, 'hmm, I wonder if I've met myself already" because I thought if I was ever going to come back in time, I'd want to meet myself as a little kid. Ya know, impart some kind of 'secret knowledge' or something. Yes, back then, I thought we'd have time travel by now But at the time I was always looking to meet myself as a chick, because I thought I'd be trapped forever. I didn't know what transition was, I didn't know I could fix my body.

Now, I can't help but wonder if I went back and mentored myself as a man, never giving away who I was I wonder if I'll meet 'me' someday.

Hopeful thinking