If you were locked in a time machine set for a single one-way trip to the past or future and had 10 minutes to dial in the time and place, when and where would you go? Why? What if it were to be a round trip that would include any family and friends you wanted to bring along and safely return everyone in a week?

What kind of time travel are we talking about? Is it Back to the Future time travel where the space/time continuum is fluid and subject to change? Or is it like Avengers: Endgame where changes cause alternate timelines/realities to emerge?

Always complicated, time travel. I guess I’d want to go to some point in the future. Maybe 20 years ahead… 30? I don’t know. I’d want to see what the world becomes following our present. Is there a light at the end of this seemingly dark tunnel? Or is it like the cynic in me believes it will be? Does it just keep getting worse?

Is it any wonder that there are so many stories that take place in dystopic futures? How often do we have a story set in the future that provides hope for humanity? Star Trek used to have a generally optimistic view of the future, but even that franchise has grown darker in recent years.

Anyway, I’d choose the future, but probably only if it turned out to be round trip. If it was one way, I think I’d just go back to the ’80s. That could be fun. I’m sure I’d miss smartphones and the internet, but I got by without those things the first time I lived through that decade. I bet I could do it again. Except this time I’d be an adult.

What about you? Would you travel to the past or future if given the chance? Let me know down in the comments!

*The Question of the Week can be found in The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock, Ph.D.