Would you try to go back in time and stop COVID?

[Doge Land]

Well, 2020 is coming to a close and you get a poll.

If given the choice, would you try to go back in time and stop COVID (the pandemic) from ever happening, or would you leave everything the way it was this year?

Before you go click your answer, think about it for a minute. This year, thousands may have died. You may have been stuck in your house for quarantine and curfews. But think about the things you did because you were stuck in your house.

Some of you might have joined NS during the pandemic. Do you think you'd still be here if there was no pandemic?
Some of you might have been getting burned out of NS before the pandemic, and then it came and you realized there was a lot more to do here than just answering issues. Do you think you'd still be here if there was no pandemic?

There are a lot of questions to ask before you answer this question, and I'm not forcing you to ask or answer them all. Just think about it for a minute... and press the button.

I am voting no, I would not like to stop COVID from happening. Without COVID I'd probably still be stuck in my old, dying region where the only thing they did there was RP. Without COVID, I never would have seen the opportunities I could have had outside that region. I might have never met more friends in NS, or strengthened bonds with ones I already had. I know thousands died, and I was stuck in my house too. But for every negative, there's a positive this year. So I'm voting no. This year is perfect the way it is.

[The Reformed American Republic]

I don't see how one can stop COVID-19 by time travel. We don't know the exact location where it started.

[New Ruchaar]

I don't see how one can stop COVID-19 by time travel. We don't know the exact location where it started.

Naive

[Doge Land]

I don't see how one can stop COVID-19 by time travel. We don't know the exact location where it started.

Well, I don't mean stopping the virus from existing. I mean stopping it from becoming a pandemic.

Alright, just edited the OP to clarify.

[The Reformed American Republic]

I don't see how one can stop COVID-19 by time travel. We don't know the exact location where it started.

Naive

Why is that? Do you know the exact wet market where it formed or within the exact animal the mutation occurred in? I'm guessing no, so unless you have a massive team of time travelers, it's not going to happen. Probably won't work out right anyway either.

[The Emerald Legion]

Naive

Why is that? Do you know the exact wet market where it formed or within the exact animal the mutation occurred in? I'm guessing no, so unless you have a massive team of time travelers, it's not going to happen.

You just take the vaccine back in time with you.

[The Reformed American Republic]

Why is that? Do you know the exact wet market where it formed or within the exact animal the mutation occurred in? I'm guessing no, so unless you have a massive team of time travelers, it's not going to happen.

You just take the vaccine back in time with you.

And vaccinate an entire populace? I don't see that being feasible.

[Saint Yosx]

Well, 2020 is coming to a close and you get a poll.

If given the choice, would you try to go back in time and stop COVID (the pandemic) from ever happening, or would you leave everything the way it was this year?

Before you go click your answer, think about it for a minute. This year, thousands may have died. You may have been stuck in your house for quarantine and curfews. But think about the things you did because you were stuck in your house.

Some of you might have joined NS during the pandemic. Do you think you'd still be here if there was no pandemic?
Some of you might have been getting burned out of NS before the pandemic, and then it came and you realized there was a lot more to do here than just answering issues. Do you think you'd still be here if there was no pandemic?

There are a lot of questions to ask before you answer this question, and I'm not forcing you to ask or answer them all. Just think about it for a minute... and press the button.

I am voting no, I would not like to stop COVID from happening. Without COVID I'd probably still be stuck in my old, dying region where the only thing they did there was RP. Without COVID, I never would have seen the opportunities I could have had outside that region. I might have never met more friends in NS, or strengthened bonds with ones I already had. I know thousands died, and I was stuck in my house too. But for every negative, there's a positive this year. So I'm voting no. This year is perfect the way it is.

No, because I feel if I was able to, it would mess everything up. I feel this was made to happen to humble lots of people and to teach how important it is to listen to our medical workers. I never really appreciated a doctor or nurse until now. Without the pandemic I would have never really used the forums on the nationstates and therefore would not be talking right now. The point is changing the past would make a unrecognizable future, and that’s a future I don’t want to live in.

[Page]

Like killing baby Hitler and all of these other scenarios, my answer is always the same - don't fuck with time. Even going back a year to change your McDonald's order from a cheeseburger to McNuggets could lead to a nuclear war. And even if the consequences wouldn't be so drastic, no pandemic would have at least probably meant Trump gets reelected and the long term consequences of that might include more than 200,000 deaths.

[Escalia]

Others have said it best, but no. Because honestly, no matter how good your intentions are, messing with time can only end badly.

[Sanghyeok]

How am I traveling back in time, and what abilities do I have?

[Russia Real]

I vote no, Thanks to COVID I started playing NS and met a lot of friends with it (even though I lost most of them in the region change process)

[Valrifell]

This is like asking if you would go back in time to stop 9/11 while 9/11 was still happening.

[Stellar Colonies]

I don't think it's possible to change the past, nor do I even think time travel itself is possible.

If both were:

Meddling with time is normally just far too dangerous. Time isn't like a road, where a small change will still be ironed out to reach a destination. If it were possible to change the past, even your very presence there sets off a chain of events which inevitably alters everything, making any changes irreversible and very unpredictable (which is why I hope time travel is impossible, fixing damage to the time line is comparable to unmixing a cake to get the fresh separate ingredients from it).

That aside, the question deals with a relatively short period of time, a year, with an event we still don't know the ramifications of. Even though it may not seem like now, it could still have positive effects which we haven't seen yet. New technologies developed to save lives in such a crisis, new procedures formed to react to and contain epidemics before they become pandemics, even political movements to force positive change such as better healthcare (for-profit healthcare will always want a large customer base paying for expensive treatments, which is not what we can have if we truly want to maximize everyone's health) and challenging discrimination. Some of these positive effects are probably not going to happen (the US dumping for-profit healthcare? Lol), but they still could. The lives saves or improved in general could be more with the pandemic than without it.

Of course, there is also the option of the time traveler erasing the pandemic (assuming they can find the source) and trying to introduce some of these positive changes directly, but that has a whole host of problems when compared to it organically developing (perhaps with some help, although the whole 'changing time is inherently unpredictable' issue pops up there as well).

Generally, I would just wait. We don't know what will result from this situation yet, not for years, and we have a time machine. We would be able to afford to wait, the past isn't going anywhere.

Well, just realized that I wrote all this for a question as 'out there' as this. Oh well, I enjoyed it.

[-Astoria-]

Just a few questions:

• If time-travel is feasible in this scenario, how would one travel back?
• Do we know the exact location where the first Covid case started?
• How can one be sure that by travelling, the time-space continuum will not be messed with in the process?

[Valrifell]

Everyone pointing out that time travel is impossible is being the biggest wet blanket I've ever seen.

[Ethel mermania]

How? Get China to close wet markets in October 2019?

[Nova Bromelia]

No, I would not, because this is just one virus out there, and the underlying reason why Covid emerged would still exist, in other words, if Covid had never happened, then another virus would have (and actually, still may happen)

And there is one positive side to Covid: it shows that when there is a global crisis, people dó act, and government dó find resources to deal with it. This is encouraging, especially in the face of the developing climate crisis that is going to hit us much, much harder than even covid ever could. Because now people know how vulnerable they are to nature. Also, for a short while, we actually managed to kind of limit our CO2-emissions, if only for a little while. All we need to do now is NOT going back to the "normal" state of affairs when the virus stuff is over and done with.

[-Astoria-]

Everyone pointing out that time travel is impossible is being the biggest wet blanket I've ever seen.

You say this like that's a bad thing.

[Major-Tom]

If I could somehow go back to the origin point and kill the pangolin or whatever that carried it, fuck yea, I'd do it. It's a far fetched hypothetical, but it is just that, a hypothetical. Would I fuck with time? Sure, I mean, I feel like the global pandemic and unrest timeline is worse than just about all feasible timelines that could come out of someone stopping COVID.

[Major-Tom]

Like killing baby Hitler and all of these other scenarios, my answer is always the same - don't fuck with time. Even going back a year to change your McDonald's order from a cheeseburger to McNuggets could lead to a nuclear war. And even if the consequences wouldn't be so drastic, no pandemic would have at least probably meant Trump gets reelected and the long term consequences of that might include more than 200,000 deaths.

I genuinely think COVID didn't change his re-election chances. There were certainly voters whose last straw was the pandemic, but just as many that voted for the first-time in droves because they thought wearing a mask at the local Cracker Barrel infringed on their rights. People angry at "lockdowns" flipped for Trump, weird shit, but it's true.

[Nuroblav]

I misread this as 'Would you try to go back in time and slap COVID?' - and I'll admit I was rather confused

[Cetacea]

I live in NZ, one of the few countries which has managed COVID successfully to the extent that we are now having a relatively normal christmas with family gathering from around the country. None of those overseas however, but Zoom helps there.


Because of our national lockdown, I have had an awesome year, its been a great chance to allow the nation to take a pause and reflect on whats really important - home, family and community relationships.
Yes there have been economic impacts, loss of work, reduction of profits, and there is currently reduced supply of imports, but death and longterm sickness is a bigger economic detriment than a managed lockdown, and the local recovery in tourism has been remarkable.

Our government has been responsible and focussed on community health and as a response our communities have also focussed on supporting each other. I do feel grerat sympathy and sorrow for those nations that have not had responsible leaders and have been overwhelmed by the pandemic.

But personally, no, I wouldnt change things as I consider COVID to be a blessing - a chance to reset the world

[Quelsh]

Assuming I believe myself to have a reasonable chance of success if I go through with this (which I think is being implied in the question, though I am not sure), I would try to go back in time and stop COVID. My COVID experience has not been very fun or interesting, but even if it was, I think I would value the million or so dead over my personal enjoyment. Additionally, just as some industries are seeing a boom with COVID, many businesses are experiencing hardships as a result of lockdowns, and hardships on businesses are felt by the consumer.

If, however, I had no especial resources or information, and my odds of success in stopping COVID were the same as they would be if I was just taken back in time with the resources and information I have now, then I would not try to go back in time. I have no feasible plan of action to stop a pandemic, and I would not know where to start, so I would have no reason to think I could actually do anything to stop COVID, and the likelihood that I would negatively interfere with time is probably higher than a positive outcome.

[Kowani]

Call me anti-Batman