2080s or 3080s ? Why everyone tries to go back in time if you can go to the future and realize that modern times are not so bad.
this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2026
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you realize the quality of the food back then was much worse, right? way more treated/process/packaged up the wazoo crap. Whole foods type stuff didn't really exist yet in any broadly available way.
that's also why it was so cheap. I grew up in the 80s/90s. The food was disgusting and we started getting massive increases in quality in the late 90s/early 2000s. if you ate a 1985 tomato you'd probably spit it out because it tasted like water and fiber and had zero flavor. it probably also had lead and other neurotoxins because of the lack of environmental regulations.
In the 80s my family still got most of our vegetables from cans. It was bad.
or frozen ones that turned into mush once you cooked them. that was my mom's specialty, serving flavorless nutritionless slop and telling me what an asshole i was for not wanting to eat it. i had no issue eating veggies during holidays... because we actually used fresh ones....
my nephews eat vegetables no problem. because they taste good and are fresh and actually have vitamins.
I want to go back in time and kill Ronny Reygun in the 60s.
Fuck grocery shopping, buy a house.
Better time would have been like 2012.
In the 40s, after you kill Hitler
In the 2016 show 11.22.63, Jake Epping, a recently divorced English teacher from Maine discovers that his friend's diner had a portal that allows him to travel back to 1963.
Jake uses this portal to travel back in time to try to save Kenedy from being assassinated. His friend had done the same, though it was stated in passing that he also used it to by meat on the cheap for his burgers at the diner.
This is to say that the diner owner had it right. Fuck Kennedy, I'm getting those 1963 groceries with the good fats.
Amazing book. I could read it again and again
He actually goes back to about 1957 I believe. So he had to wait it out until 1963
Good show. Great book
Keep in mind that people made a lot less back then, so the groceries weren’t as affordable as they appear 40 years later. and you can’t tap your smartphone to pay, so you might run into some trouble. Even modern cash wouldn’t work back then, unless you play all in one dollar bills. Fives, tens, 20s, 50s, and 100s have all changed. People in the 1980s would think you’re playing with monopoly money.
Bring a fake checkbook, fraud was a lot easier back in the '80s.
Ah, a good ol hot check scam. The good days.
Not that easy. Even back in the 80s, they frequently wrote your drivers license number down on the back, especially at chain businesses like supermarkets
Oh no, not my drivers license from the future
Your drivers license number never changes. Those records are also permanent. So, yeah, that would be a problem for you in the future.
It was easy to fake an identity back then. Nothing was computerized or tracked. Just get a birth certificate from a baby who died around the time of your birth, and you could get a Social Security card, a Driver's License, and a whole new identity.
Nothing about that was easy. It may not have been as difficult as it is now, but it still wasn’t “easy”.
It wasn't that hard. Spend a couple hours in the children's section of a cemetery in some midsize Midwest city, and you'd have a list of names of babies, who most likely died right in that very county. Request a copy of a birth certificate from the local county offices. Use that to apply for a Social Security Card, and use that and the birth certificate to get a driver's license.
Most of it has to be done through the mail, so it will take a while, but that's the worst of it.
Can't do that today, though. They've locked down birth certificates pretty well, it would be hard to get your mitts on one. These days they tend to just steal someone else's identity, and live parallel lives with someone else.
You just described to me how it’s extremely difficult and requires a lot of effort.
When I had a racket making fake IDs in the 90s, I didn’t go through a fraction of that much trouble, and they came out looking perfect. Because I figured out the algorithm by which New York State makes ID numbers. It wasn’t difficult. The number corresponds to several different pieces of information on the license itself. And with Photoshop, I just put your picture in there.
No traveling to a midsize Midwest city, no trolling cemeteries for dead children, no interstate identity and Social Security fraud required. And it took about 15 minutes to do.
And even then, I wouldn’t call that “pretty easy”
Yeah, that was life before the Internet. You actually had to do stuff. You couldn't just click a few keys, and get what you want.
Still, to create an entirely new identity, and disappear? Today, you couldn't do it all. A little legwork and a few months of waiting for mail isn't that much to ask.
Yeah, that was life before the Internet. You actually had to do stuff. You couldn't just click a few keys, and get what you want.
Literally, nobody said that. And you’re also making my point that it would be a huge pain in the ass, not “easy“.
Still, to create an entirely new identity, and disappear? Today, you couldn't do it all. A little legwork and a few months of waiting for mail isn't that much to ask.
I wouldn’t know, and that’s not what we’re discussing here. And, once again, you’ve made my point for me that it wouldn’t be “easy“, it would be a gigantic pain in the ass.
It was something you could do yourself, and not have to track down some sketchy criminal to buy some fake identity that may or may not work.
It was a major crime that you could pull off all by yourself, without getting involved with anyone else. It wasn't a pain in the ass, any more than anything was a pain in the ass in the olden days. Want to buy something? Get your ass in the car and go to the store. Want a gift for someone in another state? You had to buy it, box it, and take it to the post office to mail it. No buying it from Amazon and having it delivered, without ever leaving your chair.
Spending a couple of hours in a cemetery, them mailing a couple of letters, would have been considered a pretty easy major crime in those days.
It was something you could do yourself, and not have to track down some sketchy criminal to buy some fake identity that may or may not work.
It was a major crime that you could pull off all by yourself, without getting involved with anyone else
Ok rebel. But that wasn’t what we’re discussing. The point of the discussion was whether or not it was easy. And by everything you keep saying, it was an enormous pain in the ass to do what you’re describing. And well, it may not have been a pain in the ass for you in particular, for any normal person it would’ve been. And the more you keep “explaining”, the more and more you prove that to be the case.
I don’t even know what you’re trying to argue at this point. That you committed crimes and are therefore cool? Because it certainly was neither simple nor easy the way you describe it.
The point was that in the old days, that's what you had to do to create an entirely new identity, and considering how effective it was, it really wasn't that complicated or difficult.
Only today, where so many things are easy, does a few steps, including a couple of hours in a cemetery, a couple of letters, and some waiting time, sound like insurmountable obstacles. That's especially true, when you consider that today, you probably couldn't do it yourself, and you'd have to involve yourself with some people you probably don't want to deal with, and pay a ton of money.
But yeah, the old way was harder, because you had to walk around.
The point was that in the old days, that's what you had to do to create an entirely new identity
You are the only person in this entire comment section discussing that. As I have said, many times now, the rest of us were discussing creating a fake ID. You keep trying to change the subject.
and considering how effective it was, it really wasn't that complicated or difficult.
Except you described, in a bit of the detail, exactly how difficult it was, and how long it took. You keep claiming the opposite of what you spend paragraphs explaining.
I’m sorry you’re so confused. But this has been a waste of my time. I’m blocking you because everything you say is nonsense.
A 1980s driver license, the peak of anti forgery technology.getting a Time Machine and check book is easy, but forging a drivers license from the 80s - impossible.
And it would almost certainly cost you more than whatever you were paying for groceries. Not a particularly wise investment.
It doesn’t matter, your Time Machine doesn’t need drivers license.
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Pudding pops.
It might be hard to believe but some things were worse back then in terms of quality and choice.
Potato chips or crisps are an example of this. Today they’re both better and there’s far more choice. I don’t find there to be a whole lot of difference in quality of fresh produce either but choices of both where to get it from and the range available is greatly improved.
Things like confectionery (especially chocolate) and processed foods are way worse though.
Mileage may vary elsewhere, I’m in Australia.
Why go back in time if there’s plenty of fascists to kill right here and now?
You mean fascists in the 3 comma club with their own private militaries and goons in government, chilling inside their doomsday bunkers?
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That is one of the set ups in 11/22/63. A guy was buying all the food for his diner by going back in time.
Unfortunately this is how fascism starts.
We can fix the system, but instead fascists use the excuse of poverty or a broken system to gain power.
Literally how hitler became popular in Germany. He basically said "your lives are shit, this country should be ashamed of how poor it's gotten, but I'm here now to improve everyones lives, and blame it on someone who isn't you".
And people said "Yeah, that guy isn't afraid to tell the truth!"
History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.
The only reason not to kill baby Hitler is because his administration was somewhat incompetent... Someone far more skilled could rise up if he isn't the one to do it and commit even more atrocities.
Otherwise, baby hitler getting thrown off the building. Every time.
And the chance that it will erase yourself from the timeline is very high.
Changing huge events like this will have all kinds of secodary and ripple effects creating a world fundamentaly different from the one we know. Nobody knows how good or bad such a world would be.
Depends on the underlying time travel theory, though.
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