Interviews

Advanced

1. Do you think time travel could be used to prevent disasters or accidents? How could this be good or bad?
2. If time travel were possible, should there be rules about what events can or cannot be changed? Who would decide these rules?
3. Would it be fair to change the past to benefit yourself or someone else? Why or why not?

Here are some words and expressions that appear in the video:

timeline (noun): a sequence of events in the order they occurred
– In history class, we studied the timeline of World War II to understand when key events happened.

cascading (adjective): having a series of connected, often escalating effects
– The decision to invest in that company had cascading effects, leading to greater opportunities for the entire team.

cryptocurrency (noun): a digital currency that uses encryption for security
– Many investors are interested in cryptocurrency because it offers the potential for large profits, though it’s also very risky.

temporal (adjective): related to time or the physical world
– The temporal effects of climate change can already be seen in rising sea levels and shifting weather patterns.

rectify (verb): to correct or make something right
– After the mistake was discovered, she worked hard to rectify the situation by apologizing and offering a solution.

Now, watch the interview and answer the comprehension questions. You can also turn on the automatically-generated captions for the video once you start it.

Randall: In this video, Aubrey, let us talk about, I think, somewhat of a controversial topic, and it is . . . it’s about time travel and should it be allowed? In, in other words, theoretically, if it were possible, should people be allowed time travel? Yes or no?

Aubrey: Oh, absolutely, unequivocally, no.

Randall: Okay, so let me in a couple of scenarios.

Aubrey: Unless all we’re doing is like putting a camera through and just observing, then that might be a different conversation.

Randall: So let me give you a couple scenarios, and then we talk about it. Number one: correcting mistakes.

Aubrey: Have you read any time travel books or watched any time travel movies ever? It always makes it worse.

Randall: Okay.

Aubrey: Look at the timeline. Can you tell me for sure that nobody went back in time and tried to fix something? And that’s why we are where we are. It’s terrible. The timeline we’re in is bad.

Randall: Well, what about, for example . . .

Aubrey: But if we went back and fixed something, what if it made it worse?

Randall: Okay, well, let’s talk about something, you know, life and death, that you want to time travel back to save someone.

Aubrey: Yeah. And what if that guy turns out to be a serial killer? You don’t know.

Randall: Yeah. Okay. That is possible, but if you had that power, would you use it?

Aubrey: No. You don’t mess with the timeline.

Randall: Okay. What if it’s one of your pets? Would you use it?

Aubrey: Ah!

Randall: Wow! Whoa! Whoa! Oh. There’s a little bit of shifting and, and thought there.

Aubrey: No, I would hate it, but no.

Randall: Okay.

Aubrey: Okay, so maybe if I could go back, like, an hour, but I’m not going to go back like ten years.

Randall: Okay.

Aubrey: But, but see, think about it though. I’m going to turn this around: Have you ever thought about, like, if you could go back, and I’m not even going to say go back to being a child, because then you’d have to go through puberty again, and that would just be cruel.

Randall: Yeah.

Aubrey: If you could go back to being 18 with all the information you have now, and there’s no guarantee you’d retain it. Would you do that?

Randall: You know, the one thing is, I think there’s the temptation to say, “yes,” but you have no idea of the cascading and, you know, effects of that decision. You might say, well, “I’ll correct this,” but maybe that’ll lead to some other negative outcomes that you weren’t anticipating. You just don’t know.

Aubrey: I have a list in my head of, if I ever accidentally end up back in time, what investments I should make. But so, you know, let’s say I go back in time, and I invest in Bitcoin right back when it was easy.

Randall: Right.

Aubrey: So then I never work at the animal hospital I worked at, and I never get my cat because that’s the only reason I got my cat.

Randall: Right.

Aubrey: Okay. So then I have to contrive a reason for me to get a job at that place.

Randall: Too complicated.

Aubrey: But I’m a Bitcoin person, so I don’t qualify for this job anymore because I’m a crypto bro.

Randall: Well, let . . . let me shift it a little bit. Have you ever read the book, Pet Sematary, by Stephen King?

Aubrey: Oh, yeah, I’ve read, Pet Sematary.

Randall: Okay. That book, that book has a lot of, we’re not going to give the plot away, but that book has a lot . . .

Aubrey: But you’re bringing up Stephen King. What you need to read is 11/ 22/ 63.

Randall: Okay.

Aubrey: . . . where the protagonist goes back in time to stop the Kennedy assassination.

Randall: All right. Well, these are examples that, you know, you mess with the timeline, you think you’re going to rectify something, and it leads to all kinds of other problems, but I’m sure we could talk more about this, but I appreciate you sharing some of the thoughts because who knows what’ll happen.

Aubrey: Are we sure that the Large Hadron Collider* didn’t do something to this timeline? Like, are we sure that didn’t happen? Like someone didn’t come back and was like, no, don’t turn it on, but then they made it worse, and here we are, and everything’s terrible.

* [The world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator located near the French-Swiss border]

Randall: What if you could just go back in time? You know what? I was at a restaurant and I just ordered this meal, and it’s really terrible. I just want to go back 15 minutes and reorder something else? Don’t mess with the timeline.

Aubrey: Yeah, don’t mess with the timeline. It’s bad. Plus, how’s that going to look? How’s that going to look?

Future Me: “Hey, hey, past me.”

Present Me: “Wah! What are you doing here?”

Future Me: “No. Don’t panic. It’s me. It’s you from me for the future.”

Present Me: “No! What are you doing? You for the future. What? Am I going to die?”

Future Me: “No. You cannot order the sushi because it will give you food poisoning.”

Present Me: “What? The sushi. It’ll give me food poisoning?””

Aubrey: Now you’ve wasted all your time arguing with your past self about whether or not time travel exists.

Randall: All right, all right. Well, thank you, Aubrey, for those deep insights on how NOT to mess with the timeline.

Intermediate:

1. What is Aubrey’s main reason for opposing time travel?
2. How does Aubrey’s opinion on fixing mistakes from the past compare to Randall’s perspective?
3. What is Randall’s stance on the idea of going back in time to fix mistakes?
4. Why does Aubrey hesitate about using time travel to save a pet?

Advanced:

1. What philosophical considerations arise from the idea that small changes in the past could result in significant, unpredictable consequences?
2. Discuss the potential societal risks and benefits of allowing individuals to use time travel to fix personal or historical mistakes. What ethical questions would need to be addressed?
3. Examine the concept of “time travel as observation” versus “time travel as intervention.” What ethical dilemmas could arise from the ability to observe but not interfere with past events?
4. Consider the implications of using time travel for personal gain, such as fixing a life decision or making an investment. How might this affect the fairness of opportunities and the concept of luck?

The following activity deals with related topics to give you additional language practice.

• Time Travel  with Emily (Interview)