Actually, the world reshapes itself around you.

I'm glad we have experts in our midst.

I honestly can't remember, and let's face it, you never know what kind of crazy spooky shit would happen around the messiah when he's just a tot.

The man makes a point.

What if I kill Hitler and Albert Einstien?

The world would be in a state of equilibrium...with an unsatisfactory amount of Jews. I kid

Really? I thought nuclear energy wouldn't exist and Japan would become a superpower :D

If only it were the other way around..............

I'd rather Japan exist than have nuclear power.

Einstein was only peripherally related to the Manhattan project. He used his influence to support it, but to the best of my knowledge did little of the physics.

Isn't it Dr. Oppenheimer you're looking for?

Nuclear power has enormous potential as an energy source. It just needs to be used with certain precautions.

You must realise that if you were to eliminate the people responsible for most of the world's discoveries and events, someone else would do them instead. The environment that allowed Hitler to come to power would easily produce any number of men like him, and they may well be more competent. And if it hadn't happened in Germany, it most certainly would have happened in Britain or another Allied power.

As for scientific discoveries, they may take a little longer, but not much longer. Science had already advanced to the point were nuclear physics were known of and being studied, and practical applications we becoming possible. There were also, and there are and were with most discoveries, other teams worldwide doing the same research.

You need to be very well versed in history to predict what events were truly unprecedented and could alone have altered human history, and even then its not something you can predict with confidence. And then Chaos complicates things further. The fact is, the effects of some events diminish with time, while others grow phenomenally. In fact, most events probably have many effects of both types.

This reminds me of the third Animorphs special where one of the Yeerk Vissers goes back in time and changes shit so America publicly promotes racist ideology and all the countries fear and distrust each-other so much that taking over the world would be that much easier.

With a little help from The Elimist (Read: God) the Animorphs are saved from that alternate time line after seeing the effects and follow the man through time where he first goes to the battle of Agincourt to make sure the French win, then to Washington's crossing of the Delaware to make sure the British win, then to the Battle of Trafalgor to make sure Napoleon wins and then to Princeton University where they find Visser Four looking extremely disorientated and confused at the fact that Einstein never attended Princeton University because he messed so much with the timeline.

They then corner him at the Normandy Landing where the German and French alliance (Flying a standard of a golden eagle on a black background) are fighting a British invading force (Flying an incomprehensible standard) and Hitler is an old man driving a jeep.

Moral of the story: Don't fuck with what you can't control.

I would make scathing comment about you reading Animorphs, but I won't, because you hate me, and will pound me into the ground for eternity if I do.

Fuck you Animorphs was the best children's book series of the 90s fuck you to hell.

Bitch.

I didn't say Animorphs was bad. I just like making scathing comments.

I read Horrible Histories and Diana Wynne Jones; feel free to say what you like about that.

Why? Horrible Histories was a brilliant series by the time I got too old for it, I particularly enjoyed the brilliant yet inaccurate satire America book.

Well, I also read Terry Pratchett and Agatha Christie, and I figured that Horrible Histories and Diana Wynne Jones were more eligible for scathing comments.

I read a couple of Animorphs books when I was twelve or so, but the main things that put me off were the covers - well, basically the entire design of the books reminded me of Goosebumps and stuff like that. You know, short, poorly-written novels published in their millions and probably written by a syndicate.

I apologise if they're better than I though they were :)

Animorphs is worth it for the Andalite and Hork Bajir Chronicles as well as the final two books of the series.

Well, I'm about to buy around 7 Terry Pratchett books second-hand ($50 worth), but once I've read all them, I'll have a go at Animorphs :)

Remember, it is a series for young teenagers, don't go mad.

I skipped Animorphs for exactly this, and the fact that Beast Wars was basically the same thing but with robots.

If I had a time machine, I'd use it to start a book club thread about two hours ago.

What BM said. Yes, but the Manhattan Project really was a team project. As BM pointed out, if Oppenheimer hadn't been in charge, someone else would have been.


Also, this: http://www.abyssandapex.com/200710-wikihistory.html

If I had a Time Machine, I'd sell it and make some big bucks.

Well the TARDIS pushes away all matter in the space where it is about to materialise.

Yeah, it tends to be bloody when Khorne manifests.

Anyway,

Here is where I stand on changing the present by changing the past: It can't be done. Any changes you made would already be applied by the time you Went Back in the first place.

I'd go back in time, kill the guy who wrote the bible and then burn the damn thing.

The guy?

I would first go and see Jesus, then blink in and out of different time periods in the future. Both just for the sake of curiosity.

That's if the bible was ever written.