You're in a room with a film reel that can show you the rest of your life, or every moment from your past. Which do you watch? Or do you?

[choog]

There's a great short story about a similar premise by Ted Chiang (the guy who wrote the story that Arrival is based on).

If you don't own the book it appears in -- LaVar Burton reads it in full on his podcast.

The merchant and the alchemist's gate

https://www.stitcher.com/show/levar...lchemists-gate-part-1-by-ted-chiang-200144201

LeVar Burton Reads

Listen to LeVar Burton Reads on Pandora - The best short fiction, handpicked by the best voice in podcasting and presented in 3D immersive audio. In every episode, host LeVar Burton (Roots, Reading Rainbow, Star Trek) invites you to take a break from your daily life, and dive into a great story...

www.stitcher.com

(2 parts. It has to do with the complication that your future self would have also seen the tape)

Click to shrink...

This is one of my favorite novellas! It's a beautiful story.

 

[mikhailguy]

This is one of my favorite novellas! It's a beautiful story.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, it is gorgeous. Worth listening to, LaVar does a great job.

 

[Deleted member 19070]

Hell no on my future. Imagine if you saw your future and it was some version of you old and alone after your spouse died at an early age and your kids hate you.

Past 100%. Assuming I have unlimited time to view these videos I could learn from my mistakes to make a better future.

 

[Cheesebu]

I would pick the past. My life has been pretty nuts. I know everyone's has, but I fondly think back on even the toughest parts. It would be really cool to watch myself go from shithead youngin to weird emo hippie as a kid/teen.

Also, if I got to watch every damn show I've ever been to that would be insane. My music tastes have changed a lot but I saw most of my favorite bands in small but legendary venues, and weird places like Amoeba and Blondies Pizza in SF.

 

[McScroggz]

Neither. Don't want to relive the past and don't want to spoil the future or be let down by learning something about what will happen.

 

[iFirez]

I'd watch my future, which would just be me watching footage of me watching footage because it would take the rest of the my life to watch the future footage.

 

[BasilZero]

Both Future and Past.

Knowledge is Power.

 

[Oliver James]

The past and I'll keep the recording

 

[Cipherr]

Neither. Id ask to set the film to exactly 5 minutes prior to "now". Then check the reel to see how much tape is left compared to the firsr part of the reel to get a rough idea of how much time I have left, then set them shits on fire.

 

[Benzychenz]

Whatever option I choose will have already been decided by whatever the canon is on the tape.
Doesn't matter how I answer here.

 

[JayCB64]

Past. There are some people who I've lost over the years who I would love to see in motion again.

 

[Kevers]

I want spoilers

 

[Kevers]

Watching the future would be just you watching yourself in a chair watching yourself. The longer you sit and watch to get past the chair watching part the longer the chair watching part lasts, until you die. Then you die in the chair, having watched your entire future.

Past is the only option.

Click to shrink...

Nobody said it was real time, you'd still be stuck there watching the past.

 

[Tavernade]

I would take intricate notes of my past in an excel document so that I may have a fuller understanding of my life in the present. Only the important things, though, so I know how often I've seen every movie and what my total playtime was for games that didn't have that feature. Also I want to know where I put some of the souvenirs from my last trip as I cannot find them for the life of me.

 

[Landy828]

100% my Past:

Pros
- see my father again (died at 32 when I was 11)
- getting all my memories refreshed (I lost 95% of my memories from birth to 11 years old with the shock of my dad's death)
- see my kids start as babies again and watch them grow

Cons
-suffer through my years with my ex-wife

 

[AlgusUnderdunk]

I'd watch myself watching the film.

 

[100%TrophyMaster]

I deny both of these outcomes and create my own destiny by fighting a crazy JRPG boss God who forced me to watch this.

 

[UnholyChocolate]

Neither, I'm good

 

[sangreal]

Neither but if I had to pick, future. I already have a great memory and spend all day and night ruminating about the past

 

[Fromskap]

In this case, probably neither.

But by one interpretation, if I watched the future and kept my free will, there wouldn't be anything physical stopping me from changing my choices and making it better. Ergo, if the future shown is to be unchanged, it must be because I would not want to change it. Therefore, it would show me the ultimate lifepath for me going forward. And it might be possible that this would not happen if I didn't see the future. Maybe I'd watch it after all…

 

[squall23]

I'd just leave. I don't really want to know my future and I have a pretty good memory of my past.

 

[Deleted member 10193]

It's a bit silly putting a restriction on not being able to change it. The TVA isn't a real thing.

I'd watch it if I could find the nearest tall building to jump off if it wasn't a favourable future.

 

[Carvel]

I think I would want to know how much movie time there is left in comparison to my past, but I don't know if it is a good idea to know this.

Imagine if you were to see only the last 30 seconds... You'd probably waste the rest of your life fearfully looking for hints if any given moment could lead to what you saw

 

[Menchin]

Not being able to change the future makes no sense so I'd choose to see the future and change the parts I don't like

 

[Deer]

FUTURE DOES NOT EXIST YET SO IS FUTILE

past of course, would be fun my life has been cool and it would give me more perspective

 

[SABO.]

id definitely fast forward to some type of thing I could gamble on and make a ton of money in the present

thats all

 

[Darkgable]

If you show someone the future, they have no future.

You take away the mystery, you take away hope.

Michael Jennings. Paycheck...

 

[Travo]

The past. I'll rewatch all of the sex scenes. :P

 

[MIMIC]

As weirded out as it may be, I'd want to see the future.

 

[Tigress]

Past. If my future is horrible knowing that it will be will only make my present horrible too as it will make me really anxious. Sure it could be a good future but knowing that is not that beneficial at least for the risk it's bad and I just make myself miserable knowing it. And overall I have had a good life so watching my past will just be nostalgic for me.

 

[Mezentine]

Neither. Absolutely neither. I avoid regrets by avoiding dwelling on the past, the last thing I need is to have thrown into stark relief all the moments when things could have gone differently, and if I knew the future I know I'd become neurotic about changing it. I'd turn around and walk out of that room

 

[HotsauceDragon]

When I see these types of questions asked, I always have a bunch of additional questions I want answered.

First off, why a film reel? Why did this magical time wizard decide to place my life in one of the first cinematographical mediums ever invented, using technology from the 19th century, when they could have placed them in a series of video files in a portable hard drive?

Is the time wizard a jerk?

 

[Bazza]

What if you watch that tape, and it's just you in a room watching a tape?

Click to shrink...

Yea basically by choosing to watch the tape of your future, your entire future would just be you watching a never ending tape till the point you die.

 

[Alienous]

The future I see would be informed by my having seen it, so that would be interesting.

That would recursively spit out something optimal, I think.

 

[Threadkular]

I thought about this after watching Devs and I would watch everything. I do have some dissociative issues and it wouldn't hit me what I'm watching (that's often how I view my past) which probably isn't healthy. Probably at some point it would hit me like a ton of bricks. Like I would have bad trips when I smoked weed.

 

[The Hobo]

I would watch my past if only to find out how much of what I remember is true and how much is stuff my brain made up to fill in the gaps.

Watching my future with no way to change it would be entirely pointless.

 

[Wyndstryker]

Past for sure. There are a lot of things I want to remember but completely forgot

 

[ItchyTasty]

Past. What I imagine my future will be changed every month, which I think makes life more exciting.

 

[CloudWolf]

Watching the future would be pointless if you can't change it and possibly also incredibly depressing. No, thank you.

Watching the past could be nice.

 

[Kalel114]

The older I get, the more I forget. So, the past for me. Especially since I just lost my brother to MS. Would love to relive some memories with him.

 

[GatsGatsby]

Definitely future just so I can see how this current relationship ends up. I have no desire to rewatch my past even the good parts. Thats what memories are for.

 

[Red Liquorice]

The future just to see if it's going to suck as much as the past did. I'd rather know.

 

[Sidewinder]

Considering how utterly miserable my life has been in the past 15 years, I'd rather watch the first twenty years and then stop, at least I was happy back in the days.

Or maybe watch the future just to see if I should pull the trigger now or wait a little longer.

 

[Lord Azrael]

The past or neither

 

[softtack]

The sexy bits.

 

[Addleburg]

If I can't change my future I don't know why I'd want to watch it. Best case scenario is that I get depressed knowing everything that will happen before it occurs, worst case scenario is I get super depressed seeing all the sad shit that will inevitably happen.

I'll easily watch my past. It'd be good to see my late brother again even if in just video form and to reflect on the largely good experiences I've had until now.

 

[Young Liar]

i would like a search engine function of sorts for my memories so i can find shit i lost or misplaced and information i've forgotten that might still be useful today.

and like what a lot of people have already said, no way am i gonna bother watching my future if i can't change it. it would only fuck me up knowing that whatever i do my future would be inevitable.

 

[ArgyleReptile]

Will lottery numbers be blurred out to prevent me winning the jackpot? Or will I be shown a future after I win the jackpot?

 

[mrndkra]

Future, easily. I've had my body completely break down and have had 3 surgeries in the last 2 years. I continue to have so many problems and I can't tell if things are getting worse or better but I'm FUBAR from the hips down at this point. Lost everything basically and I'm not even 30 yet so there isn't much to reflect on. On the other hand, I want to know if things ever get better or if I'm going through all this pain and trouble for nothing.

 

[atomsk eater]

Probably past, I don't remember too much of my childhood anymore. The future one by it's nature would reveal how long I've got left/how I die, and I think that knowledge would be maddening. Especially if I can't do anything to change my future, just imagine seeing like 5 years from now your life goes to shit and having to carry that anxiety until then lol.