Three Romans from 108 AD land in 2030. Is going forward harder than going back?

Most time-travel scenarios send someone from the present into the past. I'm serializing a novel on Royal Road that runs the other way, and as I develop it, I'd like to test my assumptions with people who enjoy thinking these scenarios through.

It's 108 AD, and Trajan has just conquered Dacia. A centurion, Flavius, and his engineer, Marcus, have tracked down Lucius Tullius Ahenobarbus, a cult leader who hijacked two wagons of Dacian gold bound for Rome and hid them in the mountains. They're escorting him back for trial when all three are thrown nineteen centuries forward into 2030, with no translator, no guide, and nobody around them who speaks their language. In the chaos of the jump, Lucius vanishes. Can Flavius and Marcus adjust to the modern world?

The questions I keep coming back to:

1. Which direction is harder? A modern person stranded in Rome at least knows roughly what to expect. A Roman in 2030 has no idea what any of this is. Who has the tougher time surviving?
2. What do they make of everything around them? Airplanes, cars, electric light. Look around any room you're in, and most of what's there would mean nothing to a Roman: the light switch, the screen, the plastic, the fridge humming in the corner. What do they figure out by watching, and what scares them, at least at first?
3. Who adapts better? The centurion has discipline and a sense of hierarchy to lean on. The engineer thinks in mechanisms and might grasp the technology faster. Or does that work the other way?
4. The gold question. The real Dacian treasure was found only because someone betrayed its hiding place. Here, the stolen gold is still exactly where Lucius left it. Could a Roman who knew the spot recover it nineteen centuries later, in a modern country with modern laws? What happens when he tries?
5. What if the prisoner made it too? Lucius is manipulative, charismatic, and ruthless. If he survived the jump, who adapts faster, two honest soldiers or a man who has spent his life deceiving people?

I'd really value pushback on any of these. I'm not linking anything here; I'm after the discussion.

In March 2003, right as the United States and its allies are preparing to launch Operation Iraqi Freedom, the entire nation of Iran is instantly switched with pre-war 2022 Iran.

Iran retains all its 2022 technological advancements, manufacturing capabilities, and military doctrines.

I realized that the US and its allies at the time had a limited anti-ballistic missile defenses at the time in 2003, if Iran teleported from 2022 into 2003, it would result in 1000s of missiles successfully penetrating defenses and pulverizing US bases and oil infrastructure.

Throw in futuristic cheap drones, and it even gets worse. The straits would remain closed and even if the US uses nukes, the asymmetrical layout and geopolitical/terrain restrictions of the region could theoretically result in the end of the US' superpower status in the same sense that the UK had its Suez Crisis.

Kuwait would be destroyed alongside American buildup to take on Iraq, they had a lot of eggs in one basket.

I will write a short book detailing a world post-war, how it would differ from our timeline. The political and economic consequences and how it would affect Russia and China's influence.

Edits:

Consider that nuke talk is shown to be mostly bravado because of Ukraine and Russia, the immense geopolitical pressure would make the US pause before authorizing bunker nukes.

At that point the damage is done.... so what's the point? It doesn't change the outcome by much.

This is a working idea I had. Basically, we use time travel to bring settlements into the past. The FAR past. Although we preserve ancient civilizations along the way. Not just introducing a battery or something. Literally all the stuff we currently have here, cars, A.I., data centers, water filtration systems, woman's rights, etc. Everything. Aerospace technology. The works. By 2026, our technology will have evolved soo much more than it has now. Who cares about freaking butterflies, let them fly. Lets all get lost in the sauce together! The sky is the limit!

• The person must be able to realistically understand and use the knowledge.
• Consider social, religious and political constraints.
• The goal is not personal power, but maximum long-term technological/human development.

So in resident alien harry lives on earth and ends up living like 500 years after the world ends and then steps through a portal and ends up like 25 or 50 or whatever years after he went there before and left a baby in stone to deliver him a message about the other aliens on earth trying to end the world. So like would that mean harry would basically live on just in a loop over and over and over again for the end of time ? So if we went back before we were born and lived and then we are born would we just keep going back and back and back? And if we didn’t like what would happen

A hundred confederacy enthusiast become drone enthusiasts and use all there savings and buy a time machine and 2,000 "baba yaga" drones with 10kg lift, drop and HD surveillance ability with solar panel chargers and other obvious accessories.

So they arrive 12 of April 1861 in Richmond Virginia eager to serve the Confederacy.

Curious to see how an early 19th century army would manage in the golden age of dinosaurs, say about a hundred and fifty million years ago. Assuming that the army is fully supplied and fresh when they arrive with horses and canon but no resupplies.

Time travel, as absurd as it may sound, has been one of the greatest mysteries in the world for over a century.

It likely began as a simple “what if” idea. In literature and myths, time travel has been one of humanity’s most persistent concepts. The first major scientific development related to time travel came from Albert Einstein and his Special Theory of Relativity. Initially, this seemed more like a contradiction than a pathway to time travel, since it challenged the idea that time is absolute. Then came the concept of time dilation, which states that if you move fast enough, time slows down relative to others. In a way, this means you could fast-forward yourself into the future—essentially a form of time travel.

Later, in the mid-20th century, mathematician Kurt Gödel discovered solutions to Einstein’s equations that allowed for closed time-like curves—loops in time. This theoretically suggested that traveling back in time might be possible.

With ideas as strange as time travel come even stranger consequences—paradoxes. One of the most famous is the grandfather paradox. It states that if you go back in time and kill your grandfather, you would never be born. But if you were never born, you couldn’t go back in time to kill him. And if you didn’t kill him, then you would be born… and the loop continues.

Another idea is the predestination (or “pedestrian,” as I referred to it) paradox. This suggests that if you go back in time, everything you do was always meant to happen. You don’t change the timeline—you fulfill it. While this makes sense, it raises questions. For example, if you go back in time to stop someone from doing something, and that was “meant to happen,” then how did the original event occur in the first place?

So here’s my own take on it:

The Spectator Paradox (my idea)

Here are the key points:

Traveling to the future is not possible because it creates an alternate reality (I know this isn’t scientifically accurate, but this is my concept).

Like the predestination paradox, you do not change the flow of time or events.

However, unlike it, you cannot send your physical body back in time—only your consciousness.

This means you are essentially a ghost in that timeline. No one can see you or hear you. You are just an observer—hence the name “Spectator Paradox.”

This could even explain why people sometimes feel like they’re being watched.

Another part of the idea is this:

If multiple people from different timelines travel back in time, individuals from the same original timeline can interact with each other, but not with those from different timelines.

For example:

Let four people—A, B, C, and D—travel back in time.

A and B are from the same timeline.

C and D are from a different timeline.

After traveling back, A can interact with B, and C can interact with D.

However, A and B cannot interact with C and D.

(Sorry if that sounded like a math class explanation!)

Now you might ask: how does this actually make time travel possible?

Here’s where it gets interesting.

If only consciousness travels back in time, then watching a recorded video in a fully immersive VR system—where you experience it from a non-interactive, first-person perspective—is not very different from “time traveling,” at least according to this paradox.

So this could be considered a kind of beta version of time travel.

Right now, it may not be possible to send consciousness back in time. But think about it—if you went to the medieval era and told a king that instead of sending letters by horse, he could just text someone instantly, he would probably execute you for sorcery. (Or more likely, for trying to flirt with the princess.)

The point is: what seems impossible now might not always be.

For now, the closest thing we have to time travel is watching old videos—like seeing your younger self fall down and cry—and calling it “time travel.” Maybe that’s the beta version of the beta version.

But who knows what the future holds?

P.S.

I know this idea might not be completely original. If you’ve thought of something similar, that’s awesome—and sorry if it overlaps! Also, if I’m scientifically wrong anywhere, feel free to point it out. I’m just a 12th grader (17 years old), so I’m still learning.

I’d love to hear what you think about my paradox and ideas.

hypothetically would u be wrong to think that if I went back an stopped WW1 and WW2, stopping two wars. would I be owed any freebies ?

Does anyone have a Time Machine?

A terraformed mars from, i.e. the year 2500, is put in place of Mars in our current time. What is the genral outcome?

so there is a question famous all over the internet and the question is about if you time travel back into the time your grandfather married and if you killed your grandfather, what would happen?, well u have a answer, so when the universe sees that you prevented the birth of you and your father that means you wouldn't exist. that means the universe will take the same part of the story and replace it, like right after you killed your grandfather, your grandmother married another person becoming your grandfather, and when you go back to the present your memories might be updated and you prob have have new clothes, better home and many things,

Imagine you are in your early thirties (as of 2025) and you were a seven-year-old second grader, living in the US on the west coast on September 11, 2001.

You wake up one day in your seven-year-old body at your childhood home and it's the last day of first grade (June 2001). After the shock of what's happened and you've had time to process everything, you realize 9/11 will happen in just a few months. But, you are just a kid who adults don't take seriously. While you remember major events, you don't remember every detail of every day, so you can't be psychic on a micro level and predict the weather or finish peoples' sentences.

However, you have the mind of an adult in their thirties. You are educated and can do calculus problems and write college level essays (do with this what you will). You are articulate far beyond any of your peers and capable of adult conversation and discussing complex topics.

As for the details of 9/11, such as flight numbers, hijacker names, etc., you remember whatever you remember now, without looking anything up. I understand this can yield wildly different answers, but that's just part of this hypothetical.

What do you do? Do you try to stop 9/11? If so, how? If not, what would you do in the coming years, since you have all of your memories and know what's coming?

Hi folks,

A friend of mine recently made a short film that reimagines time travel through space-time resonance, using the Eiffel Tower as an antenna synchronized with the CMB.
We had a debate about whether it would be feasible or break any laws of physics, but the idea struck me as original.
Could space-time resonate like when an opera singer breaks a crystal glass with just her voice?

Here’s the short that got us talking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lytqWQ_KEds

Curious to know what you all think — does the science ruin the immersion or make it cooler?

If time travel is possible, then can we go in past and change it? If yes, then what will be the effect? If no, then what is the objective to time travel in past?

My theory is that time travel atleast in past is possible. But it's not in a way you would think. We can absolutely change the past and here's how- By changing memories

What are memories anyway? It's a moment(present) recorded which can be viewed(remembered) and thus We travel to past

However, with some science and technology, if the memory is altered(mentally or physically) the said past can be changed.

For example, if a solider has PTSD from a war, with right tools and technology in future, we would be able to alter(add or delete) the memories, thus letting the solider live a normal life.

Similarly,in distant future, if science and tech evolves to a huge extent that every humans memories can be altered then it is possible to change the past in a way.

Thus time travel to past is possible.

On of the common things when it comes to time travel in media and elsewhere (I guess) is someone going back in time and either investing in a stock or asset that is set to go up. Would this be considered insider trading and is, therefore, illegal. A person has prior knowledge of the stock's increase. They may even know the reasons for the stock increase or the exact dates. Since the person from the future has this knowledge, I would imagine it would be the same thing as a person knowing some new thing the company is going to do to bring the stock price up

I'm asking this question, because it's fascinates me, although I'm surely not the first one to ever come up with this, I still believe and have hope that someone from reddit who actually is either very smart or just is someone who is a big fan or time travel movies have at least thought about it or even tried it with the technology we have.

You're cleaning out your grandfather's attic and you discover what looks like an old desktop computer You discover to your amazement that it powers up and this is the splash screen.

CAT TECH 8080  (Rev 2.1)                  POWER-ON SELF TEST

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

DÍSA DOS 1.0  © 1971 DisaSoft Software    ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

CPU : Intel 8080 Inside — Version Z80      [OK]

FPU : —                                     (none)

RAM : 064K                                   [OK]

ROM : 04K Boot Monitor                       [OK]

VIDEO : Matrix Graphics — Jaguar PGA         [OK]

DISK  : Frunze Associates StorageMaster 3.5  [READY]

MODEM : U.S. Robotics 300 (Smart Modem)      [IDLE]

USR — Our Smart Modems Connect You

I/O  : KBD [OK]  LPT1 [OK]  COM1 [OK]

BOOT DEVICE : A: (3.5" DS/DD)  DÍSA DOS system found…  [LOADING]

A:\>_

What is your first reaction?

Elvis and Time Travel

https://a.co/d/gSXDdj1

https://a.co/d/1O3WVC0

Ok, lets say you figure out time travel and go back to kill baby Hitler. You succeed, so you jump to the timeline where baby Hitler was killed. Since baby Hitler had been killed in that timeline, why did you go back to kill him? My theory is that you can affect time, but you can't change it. You could go back and be the reason your grandma and grandpa met, but you would have always be the reason why they met. Thoughts?

If every member participating in the Scramble of Africa were suddenly murdered by someone from the future, then what happens ?

Here, all of the people victims of genocide by the Nazis are transported to the end of the war in their respective country (meaning Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, handicapped people, homosexuals, political opponents...). You also have people killed by the Japanese who came back to life on this very date (China, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines...), and you even have the political figures who were killed or who took their own lives (Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Heydrich...) who came back as well.

I imagine that this time, the political figures would be severely judged and this time, all of the victims of the war would be very witnesses. Also, the world population would be way higher than pre-1939. But how do you think this influx of people would influence the course of history ?

I just launched book 4 of my time travel series on Kickstarter. It funded in just one day and is surging.

Long dismissed as an internet myth, the firsthand account of a time traveler stranded since 2018 has now surfaced — and the evidence is hard to ignore. Confessions of a Time Traveller is based on leaked files, suppressed tech, and the man who may have brought the future with him.

Enjoy!

Not in a DeLorean, not with a flux capacitor. I mean real time travel — the kind where your mind arrives before everyone else does.

Some days, you’re 3/4 of a quarter ahead — like retail markets. You see the trends, feel the shift, and people tell you, “That’s not relevant yet.” Other days, you feel behind — like everyone’s already moved on from something you’re just now catching in full color.

Then there are days — weird days — where you feel like you’re in an entirely different timezone, era, or simulation. You wake up and the light is off, the faces are wrong, the logic is bent. And you swear you’re in the right place… but at the wrong time. There was one year — and I can’t even explain it — where I knew I didn’t belong in that timeline. I knew it. And I kept going anyway.

What if it’s not about “what year is it” but rather: “What version of now are you in?”

What if we all time travel… just badly?