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Would You Rather Travel to the Past or the Future?

April 14, 2025

People have long been fascinated by the idea of time travel. It’s been explored in books like The Time Machine by H.G. Wells and in movies like Back to the Future. Four out of 10 Americans think time travel could one day be possible, according to a 2021 poll by CBS News. But would it be better to go back in time or to visit the future?

Some people say they’d love to come face-to-face with a woolly mammoth or a famous person from history, like Amelia Earhart. Others would want to go back in time to change events in their own lives. That test you didn’t do so well on? You could rewind and study harder.

But others argue that we already know what happened in the past. Traveling to an unknown future would be more exciting. You would get to see if ideas like flying cars become a reality. Travelers to the future might also bring back cures for diseases.

Here’s what two of our readers think.

I’d travel to the past so I could bring scientists information and technology they didn’t have yet. Then they could stop problems like global warming before they affect the planet.

Traveling to the past would also allow people to relive their favorite memories. I’d go back to our 2019 family vacation to Canada so I could visit Niagara Falls again!

I’d rather visit the future. I’d choose to travel to a time when scientists have figured out how to stop species from becoming extinct. I’d take their ideas back to the present.

I’d also return with new technology to make our lives easier. For example, we might one day be able to just think of words and see them appear on-screen instead of typing them.