You come into possession of a time machine...

[Karlotto]

It functions perfectly and you have a surefire way to get back. Where do you go? I`d probably go see Daft Punk`s Alive 2007 performance. Not much in history I care to see if I can read about it, but concerts? Totally go to those.

 

[Infamous]

hmmmm. this is one of the first times i've been asked what i'd do if i had just a time machine. usually i'm asked what i would do with a time and space machine i would go back in time, and stop my friend from seeing david tennant, so that i'd never have to hear her talk about him again

 

[Shinseph]

It depends on what rules the time machine is using. If it's like the delorean where you're there and can interact and change things affecting the time line you travel in. Then there's the ghost of christmas past rules where you're just an observer, you can't be seen or heard. You can't interact in any way.

I wouldn't want to do anything if it was anything other then a mere spectator. There's simply no way to tell how the time line would change with even a small change. The farther back in time you go the greater the effects of the change.

But there are quite a lot events in history I'd like to see. Mysteries to learn the answer to. Too see them all could take an eternity.

 

[MoodWhiplash]

I'd go to the future, just to make sure there aren't any flying cars. Because flying cars are silly.

 

[FinalPyre]

Assuming this just puts "me" back in time, where I can interact with the past, and perhaps alter things (whereas interacting with your past "self" would be a sure-fire to either kill or drastically alter your current "self"), I think other than joyous spectator-ship, which I would probably need to research to find anything sufficiently interesting, I would make the obvious choice (in a few easy steps):

1. Look up some stock market history
2. Find someone that I trust, or depending on how short-term I can make this work effectively (if this thing is multi-use, start with a small test), use myself
3. Go to the past
4. Get that person, or myself, to invest some money into the stock market in such a way that it wouldn't have much of an effect on the market itself over the span of time we did this for
5. Return to the future, collect profit
6. Monitor/consider any noticeable ramifications before further attempts (this includes things like making sure people don't catch on that my activity is suspicious)

There are many ways you could go about this, most people would probably first think "lottery!" but that draws a lot more attention, and you can't really do a small test first. Like this you could easily pull in a few dozen grand here and there without anything looking too out of place. ;)

TL;DR: I would use a time machine to cheat at life. I swear though, some of the things I would do, if I thought I could get enough income this way, would be at least somewhat noble... OTL

 

[Timing]

The future. Then I'd come back to the past and buy that winning million dollar lottery ticket. When my funds start running low, I "magically" buy another winning lottery ticket. Set for life ;)

 

[FinalPyre]

Oh right. If you can go to the future that alleviates at least a little of the past-changing dilemma. By this point though I would probably just end up studying the time machine rather than doing anything else XD

 

[Shinseph]

The future is a good idea, but that future would never happen again because you, a part of the past realtivly, had witnessed it when originally you hadn't. Unless of course time always plays out the same way even taking into account your time travel so nothing ever changes, always happening the way it happened. Time paradoxes are a pain in the butt.

 

[Vivi]

That could be a blessing as well as a curse..

Like Shinseph, I'd also want to learn about a lot of mysteries and things that happened in the past. I'd consider changing some choices or actions I regretted but then I'd probably just leave that unchanged. I think maybe it's better this way. Who knows what would happen if I went back and undid something I thought was horrible but turned out to have great, positive effects later on? Actually, anything I've done has taken part in making me, and without those regrets I wouldn't have learned anything.

Anyway, I'd most likely also go back to almost all ages that humanity has been through ;D and I'd befriend lots of people, I don't care if it'll change the future! I want to learn more about life and people and explore the world! (And at different ages!)

I would also go to the future to see if they've managed to find cures for serious diseases and epidemics. I'd also do research into that using the info and technology they have.

And by the way, I think flying cars are amazing! xD