You're immortal and sent back to Dec 1945. How do you survive until modern day?

Stipulations:

  • You cannot die and are immune to disease
  • You cannot alter the future such that you change the world from your point of origin. i.e. You cannot become so famous that future people recognize you as immortal.
  • If you vary the timeline too much you will cease to exist.
117 points · 137 comments · view on lemmy.world

137 Comments

SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 93 pts · 93d (13 replies)

Immune to disease? Welp, time to become a massive slut throughout the ages.

I would survive on Mamie Van Doren, Brigitte Bardot, Sheree North, Rebecca De Mornay, Pam Grier, Rosie Perez... I mean I could go on.

...I mean someone's gotta make horny posts without Violet here, right?

candyman337@piefed.ca · 10 pts · 93d (9 replies)

I keep seeing people mention this violet person, who are they talking about?

Asafum@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 93d (8 replies)

Someone who posted quite often about having sex, wanting sex, missing sex(after a very short time), having sex with multiple people, etc etc...

Tbh they sounded pretty lucky to be so desirable lol

MagicShel@lemmy.zip · 14 pts · 93d (1 reply)

Did they disappear? I think I blocked them. At 52, I don't need to hear the sexual hijinks of a teenager. I applaud their enthusiasm but honestly it was like hearing my daughter having phone sex through the wall.

SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 7 pts · 93d
[ removed ]
candyman337@piefed.ca · 1 pts · 93d (5 replies)

What was their username?

Asafum@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d (4 replies)

Violet and a number. I can't remember exactly, something like violet01

dabaldeagul@feddit.nl · 4 pts · 93d

"Violet08_" Just checked my blocklist lol

XeroxCool@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 93d (2 replies)

Probably 26 minus 18

Mountainaire@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d (1 reply)

Viol8?

XeroxCool@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d

Thats probably the license plate of the cop in NYC with a thousand red light and speed camera tickets

YeahIgotskills2@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 92d

Love that the only thing stopping you from being a massive slut is your mortality and fear of venereal disease!

AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 92d

Yeah, the 60s would be insane. Everyone fucking because they live in a world where they are far less aware of STDs. Ignorance is bliss

SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 93d
[ removed ]
ProfThadBach@lemmy.world · 61 pts · 93d (2 replies)

if I am immortal then just do my own thing. Work a job for a while and move on. Rinse and repeat. I have been a nobody for 63 years. It is not really that hard. You know like the Highlander.

N0t_5ure@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 93d (1 reply)

There can be only one....

Big_Boss_77@fedinsfw.app · 2 pts · 93d

touches nose

ZeroGravitas@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 55 pts · 93d (41 replies)

As I was reading this, I disappeared in a flash of light and landed in 1945. But I have a plan.

  • Learn acoounting, get a job, grind for 10 or so years
  • Start investing in Ford, GE etc. and wait for the compound interest to kick in
  • Buy a farm, continue to invest. Retire "early"
  • Grow a beard, get some white hair paint
  • Travel to "relatives" in Australia for 6 months every year
  • While in Australia, get rid of beard, set up alternative identity as my own nephew, get involved in fledgling computer domain, invest
  • Back home, take up fishing, end up disappearing at sea one day, nephew inherits everything
  • I am nephew. Got enough money now to stop working, buy a vineyard in NZ, spend 6 months in the year abroad
  • Invest in IBM, I should be filthy rich by now
  • Hire professionals to set up a dozen or so alternate identities in English speaking countries. Kill nephew, avoid Australia for the next 20 years
  • Numbered Swiss accounts, different looks, pro theatre makeup, the works. By now my 10+ offshore companies own 10% of Berkshire Hathaway between them
  • Rotate identities as needed. Invest in the dot com bubble from 100+ offshore shell companies. Cash in and buy tech stocks after the crash. I am now richer than God, but still not intervene in not-yet-current affairs
  • No posh events, no media, no socials ffs. My ghosts come and go. I own a few law firms that take care of business and identity management. When suspicions arise, I change countries. Ireland works for a while. I now own 10-20% of all major tech companies, because I bought them before it was cool
  • I get into crypto early. Money has no meaning anymore. I mark the days and months remaining to May 19, 2026, when all of this began. I need to insert myself into my old life right as past me begins the journey, will probably feign a nasty flu afterwards to get back on track. Small price to pay for total freedom

And here we are. Money wise, I own about half the world and now I can finally act. Where should I start?

Atropos@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 93d (4 replies)

Please dump enough "political contributions" into us politics to get intelligent, empathetic, progressive people in charge.

NateNate60@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 93d (2 replies)

It's pretty rare for good people to become immensely wealthy and stay good people. Money corrupts, and once you're to a point where money is no longer survival but a high score, that starts to drive your thinking.

Atropos@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 93d (1 reply)

Absolutely correct.

Maybe immortality, infinite wealth, and a hundred year long life won't corrupt THIS person?

Brb gotta go pray to the Easter bunny ..

ZeroGravitas@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 93d

Living 81 years with the prospect of annihilation if one rocks the boat too much will change a man. Likewise honing the kind of duplicitous skills required to simply survive the attention of the world.

So, would my moral compass stay intact? If I don't work at it, no - I'm under no illusion that it would. What I expect to happen is that I would continue to avoid the public eye. But once the shackles are off, there's no telling where this goes.

Stepping out of this role for a bit, if I had that kind of wealth today, what would I invest in? Education and science. Press freedom. Rule of law. Anti-poverty programs (part of education). Probably others too, but those are the essentials.

agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 93d

"If you vary the timeline too much, you will cease to exist."

Even if you want to be altruistic enough to sacrifice yourself for the good of humanity, you'll be wiped out long before you're able to change enough to lead to lasting improvement.

NABDad@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 93d (1 reply)

Can you spare a few million?

meco03211@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 93d

Get fucked peasant!

hansolo@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 93d (10 replies)

Super excellent. The only notes to add:

Steal and cycle through 2 new US identities every 10 years. Always churn new idienties faster than you expect. You can be Bob age 20, Jerry age 30 and Sid age 40 in LA, Chicago, and NYC, respectively, at the same time.

Start a shell company where all your identities are the board. Use it to buy land in LA and NYC.

Gamble for supplemental income.

ZeroGravitas@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 92d (9 replies)

At no point did my plans involve setting foot on US soil. Too many three letter agencies for my liking.

hansolo@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 92d (8 replies)

Fair. However, there's a lot of runway before that really gets problematic. You can move things offshore prior to 2000 and be perfectly fine.

NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 92d (7 replies)

Funny seeing you here, surprised you didn’t say you’d go back to when we were enslaving and committing genocide on native Americans and capturing and torturing people in Africa.

hansolo@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 92d (6 replies)

Fun fact: you can talk about things that happened without endorsing or condoning the things that happened.

You'll notice that I didn't say anything about genocide or the slave trade being good.

Edit:ah yes, you're the very stable genius that told me to "go die" recently. Very classy.

Like, do you need to talk to someone? You don't seem OK.

NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 92d (5 replies)

Sure, that’s a great explanation as to why you used slavery as an example to justify shackling and limiting sentient A.I. and called it great.

Maybe don’t use condoning language if you’re not condoning something, cause that shit was racist as fuck, no matter how you try to contextualize it.

hansolo@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 92d

Look, I'm sorry that you're still not understanding that taking about terrible things that humans in power did, and still do, to exploit other humans, doesn't mean I'm saying that's good.

It seems like you might be misunderstanding mid-sentence sarcasm as... being a fan of genocide and slavery? WTF is wrong with you? Read the room. Read with context. It's an explanation that companies that exploit people will seamlessly transition to exploiting AGI.

I can't tell if you're genuinely stupid or just trying to be the worst internet troll. Either way, you're really behaving quite inappropriately, sound like a fool, and are not good enough at understanding English to use your misunderstanding as a reason to cyberstalk and bully someone.

Strider@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 93d (3 replies)

Fuck. It's your fault!

ZeroGravitas@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 92d (2 replies)

Not yet, but it's about to be. Just watch the dominoes and remember me.

Strider@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 91d (1 reply)

Nono you don't pin this shit on someone else now. You don't give an evil mastermind origin story speech and then temporarily back out!

🤣

ZeroGravitas@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 91d

OP tied my hands from day one: change the history and disappear. That restriction expired only 2 days ago. I do have things in place, and some calls have already been made, but these things take time. That being said, I have no ambitions of taking in the limelight. I'm a simple man, and I find I rather like the shadows.

I could tell you a bit about what's cooking, but why spoil the surprise?

Pronell@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 93d (1 reply)

ALL OF THAT, JUST FOR A SAFE CAREER IN ACTING?!

ZeroGravitas@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 92d

Let's just be excellent to each other, ok?

Sektor@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 93d (13 replies)

Kill Jimmy Savile, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Epstein, so on.

MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 93d (12 replies)

Then you don't survive, you cease to exist

Sektor@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 93d (11 replies)

Like for real or because you became a killer you lost your humanity?

MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 93d (10 replies)

No because of the rules of the hypothetical posed in this post

Sektor@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 93d (9 replies)

Indeed. Lame rules.

MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 92d (8 replies)

Would be a shittier hypothetical without boundaries because then what would be the point?

Sektor@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 91d

What's the point with rules? People trying to become Musk, like that won't change history.

Masamune@piefed.social · 3 pts · 93d (1 reply)

Hey, are you the guy who "lost" that hard drive full of Bitcoin in the landfill?

ZeroGravitas@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 92d

It was one of my minions. Poor sod. If he finds it, he can keep it. For me, that's a rounding error. .

bstix@feddit.dk · 0 pts · 93d

Ftting into your current life when you make it to the present would be noticable since you would've aged 81 years in the meantime.

remon@ani.social · 41 pts · 93d (1 reply)

How do you survive until modern day?

I just do ... you literally said I cannot die.

MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 93d

There is the caveats they put in that you've got to make sure no one finds out you're immortal or you'll just cease to exist and can't change history in any significant way or be met with the same fate

jordanlund@lemmy.world · 39 pts · 93d (1 reply)

Become a famous actor, nobody will believe I'm immortal because it's not possible.

rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 93d

zxqwas@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 93d (2 replies)

Sit around and wait. I'm immortal.

MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 93d (1 reply)

"Hey this guy has sat here for 30 years and he hasn't aged one bit!"

* ceases to exist *

sloppy_diffuser@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 92d

Sleep it off in a coffin like a vampire? They didn't say you could starve.

Kolanaki@pawb.social · 24 pts · 93d

ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 92d (5 replies)

So you just get a normal job and get to live through one of the greatest economic booms of American history where you can raise a family of 5 with one singular income?

Literally just go to work for 40hrs a day 5 days a week and you could have damn near anything you want as long as you're white?

This is a dumb "what if".

MajorasTerribleFate@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 92d (1 reply)

as long as you're white

And male, cis, straight, Christian, etc. You could fake some of those things if needed, but that's generally a crappy way to live.

Also, assumes American.

ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 92d

Yeah you right. I made that assumption but the premise didn't give you much to go on.

Plus this would be right as ww2 was ending so you're relatively safe either way unless you're black in the south. Again in America

GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 92d

Well if you want to be boring with your answer and not have fun thinking of other interesting ways to solve this problem then yeah it's dumb,

PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 92d

I think having a family would be too sad

BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz · 1 pts · 92d

And live in America

FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca · 18 pts · 92d (1 reply)

How will I survive if I cannot die? I just will

qarbone@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 92d

The challenge is in not erasing yourself by the rules, by being famously immortal. Presumably, you also don't age. So you just have to move around every decade or two.

vane@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 93d (1 reply)

Go to Leningrad, kill Putin parents, die. If still living, go to next city to kill another old fart fucker parents. Fuck this world.

MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 93d

Then you fail, you cease to exist

NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 93d (1 reply)

Kill history’s greatest bastards and/or their parents until I destabilize and cease to exist.

FenrirIII@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 92d

I like this one. Changing the world for the better is noble

FaceDeer@fedia.io · 13 pts · 93d (2 replies)

Do I have prep time? I'd like to research what sorts of things will disappear over that period that will be incredibly valuable if "found" in 2026. Stamps, particular issues of comic books, coins, that sort of thing. That way I can build up a nice nest egg for when the "you can't change the timeline" restriction comes off.

Once I get close to modern times, buy a bunch of Bitcoin while it's super cheap. That's easier to sit on without causing disruption than stocks would be.

When 2026 hits, cash in.

FenrirIII@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 92d (1 reply)

Invest in Bitcoin 😋

FaceDeer@fedia.io · 1 pts · 92d

Line went up, didn't it?

LodeMike@lemmy.today · 11 pts · 93d

immortal

looks inside

how do you survive?

ulkesh@piefed.social · 10 pts · 93d (2 replies)

You're immortal

How do you survive...?

I think you answered your own question.

MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 93d (1 reply)

I think you need to read further than that...

ulkesh@piefed.social · 0 pts · 93d

Or, more likely, I was making a joke...

Sanctus@anarchist.nexus · 9 pts · 93d (11 replies)

Why did you make it so easy? Throw someone back to 10,000 BC. If its just ~80 years thats easy. You can't die. Just go make a little place to hang out in a cave or somewhere extremely remote. You dont even need food or water.

FenrirIII@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 93d (10 replies)

Boredom. Imagine how boring it would be to just hide. I was hoping for some creative ideas.

Sanctus@anarchist.nexus · 7 pts · 93d (4 replies)

You said you can't change time or you cease to exist. What else are we supposed to do? You can't exist and not change time.

FenrirIII@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d (3 replies)

You cannot change it so much that you alter the future. Doesn't mean that you can't live a fulfilling life or run things from the shadows.

Sanctus@anarchist.nexus · 4 pts · 93d (2 replies)

But the catch is I dont know what will change time a lot or a little. If I get in an elevator and shit my pants in front of Utada Hikaru does she never write Simple & Clean? I simply cannot know, so with those rules I have to isolate.

EtnaAtsume@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 93d

She would certainty nor say that simple and clean is the way you are making her feel.

STUNT_GRANNY@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d

Why not operate under the assumption that your future self has already gotten away with everything? Taking advantage of the bootstrap paradox. Like Bill & Ted, everything around the dad's keys. Might at least be fun, that way.

Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 93d

Living in a cave for 10,000 years without seeing someone is the best environment to discover new hobbies.

bran_buckler@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 93d (2 replies)

Are you looking for ideas on things to do? When are you going back to 1945 and what part of the world would you be in?

FenrirIII@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 93d (1 reply)

NYC, just after the war ends

bran_buckler@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d

If you’re in NY on V-J Day, you could kiss a dental assistant and/or a sailor!

BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 93d

It worked for our ancestors for hundreds of thousands of years. Wake up, chase antelope until it dies, spend the rest of the day hanging out by the fire and maybe doing some fishing. Gonna get real good at cave paintings, honestly sounds pretty fucking good.

vagrancyand@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 93d (6 replies)

1945? Bank robbery is still incredibly easy. Literally all forensics is during this time period is just fingerprinting. People are also malnourished and incredibly weak compared to the average person in 2026. So beat up some GI that illegally kept a gun from the war, use that to perform a series of bank robberies along the west coast of the US and the American South (where Gold stores were concentrated during the gold standard period we find ourselves in).

After that invent corporate trusts and the concept of multi-layer corporate holdings. This would be having a corporation per property owned, which is owned by a corporation and uses services from another corporation, all of which eventually ends in a labyrinthine ownership path that few, if any, forensic accountants in the 1940s could possibly follow to find out it's all just me.

By understanding, even just vaguely, which cities and areas get built up over time in history and buying surrounding properties cheaply and simply holding them until areas are built up enough to sell them for massive profit I would be able to generate essentially infinite money from basic seed money. Add onto this a series of bank and hedge fund holdings that are informed roughly when to invest in specific companies as they come up through the ages the infinite money glitch becomes an exponential money glitch.

Again layers and layers of holdings on holdings on holdings creates obscurity and complexity that would take well into the age of computers to ever unravel. A kingdom easily rivaling the Rothschilds, while being even more hidden as I'd be copying their modern techniques a half century before they perfect them.

With infinite exponential money during the golden age of capitalism I can wait until the present day when I'd no longer be effecting the timeline and then start funding communist revolutions globally, allowing for myself to become a martyr in the revolution.

SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 93d (4 replies)

So beat up some GI that illegally kept a gun from the war

You realize that in 1945 it was before most gun regulations, right? You could buy a gun for cash at a hardware store.

vagrancyand@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 93d (3 replies)

Yeah but without cash as a freshly time traveled person to 1945 there's only so many ways to get a gun.

SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 93d (2 replies)

Would you bring some period specific cash with you on your trip?

vagrancyand@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 92d (1 reply)

That would be ridiculously expensive and time consuming. The question does not present a lead up scenario but one would assume whatever deal this is doesn't allow for a lot of prep time or extra money.

Additionally any money that would exist in that time period that survived to today... would still be present in that time period. In a pre-computer world it'd be easier to get away with what is essentially counterfeiting or what would be explained as counterfeiting to those that caught you; but that's still a massive risk for saving at best a few years building up that wealth yourself.

And that's all assuming you didn't create a paradox by allowing those two versions of the same item to exist simultaneously. Like you traveling back is fine, as you wouldn't exist in 1945, but bringing items that did exist would either displace the money to avoid the paradox, changing the future possibly significantly which breaks the rules, creates a paradox which would cause you to no longer exist.

SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 92d

one would assume whatever deal this is doesn’t allow for a lot of prep time or extra money.

Why would we assume that? We assume that you become immortal, and are sent back in time, and the part that seems unrealistic to you is that you'd prepare for the trip before you go? :P

Any money that existed then would exist today, so you avoid anything serialized. Stick to things that are non-serialized and fungible- precious metals for example, or gemstones (without laser serial #s of course). Pre-serial cash would work too (probably the easiest to counterfeit in modern times).

But as for existence paradox-- the mere action of going back would create such an issue if it is an issue. All the molecules in your body and clothes existed in 1945, if perhaps in different arrangements-- IE anything plastic might have been in the ground as crude oil, the molecules of your body would be things like plants, dirt, trees, etc, anything metal you have would be ore in the ground, etc. And per butterfly effect paradox, from the instant you arrive you've changed things, just by breathing and walking around you've affected air flows and converted a little more oxygen to CO2. If you arrive in the middle of nowhere, hold still for 30 seconds, then depart again, that might have no real effect. Or it might create a butterfly effect that changes a weather pattern or something and has a huge effect.

By that measure, the whole thing becomes a not fun exercise in paranoia- knowing that even saying hello to someone (or not saying hello) might alter the future and erase your existence.

EtnaAtsume@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 93d

This just sounds like what the rich are doing already. Maybe they're the time travelers after all.

Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org · 8 pts · 93d

I move to a country where you can have quality of life at very cheap costs. One of the larger Greek islands maybe. I try to live healthy even despite the "immune" feature because life is better then.

Make a fortune of course from knowing the future but keep it secret. Remain unknown to the greater public.

Buy a little house and a patch of land to grow my vegetables. Learn languages. Make friends.

Try to do 'good things' with the money (find out what good things are...).

samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 92d

If you vary the timeline too much you will cease to exist.

But there's a chance you will make the timeline better for those you leave behind? I'd be spending a lot of time in NYC, waiting for an opportunity...

RBWells@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 93d (3 replies)

I stay in my same body, at the same age I am now, keep all my teeth, etc? I am nearsighted, it's gonna be difficult.

What happens when I pass the day I am born, though? Are there 2 of me?

I don't think I'd change the timeline much anyway, it seems hard to. Though I'd love to become a lawyer and advise Al Gore against conceding the election he won. Even if I ceased to exist that might be worth it.

erev@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 92d (2 replies)

Im assuiming doctor who rules where just dont interact with yourself

mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 92d (1 reply)

I’d assume Harry Potter time turner rules, where there were always two of you when you were growing up, because future you had already gained immortality and gone back in time. But you never realized there was a second you when you were growing up, because future-you actively avoided interacting with past-you.

It also resolves a lot of the “what if you accidentally change the timeline and prevent yourself from ever being born” types of paradoxes, because you were already born which means anything your future-self does will automatically resolve with you being born.

erev@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 92d

tomato tomato

Trihilis@ani.social · 7 pts · 92d

Fuck it dude, I'd just go bowling.

Sunsofold@lemmings.world · 7 pts · 93d

Live a more or less normal life? Actually, some skills from more modern times could get you some good jobs over the decades, depending on what you know. You could achieve an independently wealthy status without getting wildly famous if you play your cards right.

bigbangdangler@reddthat.com · 7 pts · 93d

I would have said start betting like Biff Tannen, but that probably will end up changing the timeline "too much".

But if I can't die and am immune to disease, I guess I exploit that. Can't drown so I'll hop in an ocean and go somewhere. No need for food or lodging. I'll just wander for the next 100 years and peoplewatch.

YeahIgotskills2@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 92d

I think if I was 20 I could just backpack all over, get easy cash in hand jobs and fuck around for decades. However, if I'm sent back now at 48 being twice the weight I was at 20 I'd probably struggle as this late middle-aged oddball who has come from nowhere and has no period-specific skills.

BananaTrifleViolin@piefed.world · 6 pts · 93d

The hardest part is documentation. 1945 is perhaps easier to "create" an identity following the war, as so many we displaced. But after that it would mean needing to change identity every so often. I'd probably stay in Europe, either in my home country of the UK or maybe even move to West Germany. Both countries did well in the post war 1950s, although not as well as the US. Maybe I'd go to the US because post war may have been an easier time to slip in to the country and then take part in the post-war boom?

I'd start trying to earn money, and put every penny I could into a company I owned and use that to buy stocks and shares in companies I know would do well in the post-war boom. The key is compounding investments to make more money longer term, accepting lower standards of living initially. In the 40s-60s that'd be largely blue chip companies like Coca-Cola, IBM, GE, Proctor & Gamble. Then as new big names of the future came along I'd buy into them - obvious ones being Microsoft and Apple in the 1970s, Google in the 2000s. And of course, probably buy into Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hatherway at the earliest opportunity in the 1960s.

With wealth I'd create new identities - a "son" to inherit the business every 20 years or so. Move around every 10 years or so, maybe between countries to help keep anonymity and to stay under the radar. Unfortunately it could also need a degree of criminality to be able to keep this going - identity fraud but at a low level. Maybe set up a trust, and every 10-20 years be a new lawyer who manages it. So much of that can be done somewhat anonymously and somewhat remotely even in the past.

The aim - if I am to be immortal - would be to accumulate a lot of wealth, spread across multiple countries, to prepare for getting back to today when fore-knowledge runs out. Because not knowing what happens next, all you can do is then try and prepare for possibilities, and making shit ton of money seems like a sensible way to guarantee security and comfort.

EDIT: The other thing to do of course: buy and sell land. Knowing that cities will grow rapidly is perfect for buying up land for later development. And also in many big cities, certainly in Europe anyway, there was a period of suburbanisation with matching collapse of the urban core. A lot of apartments and buildings were sold cheaply as demand was depressed, but then the trend started reversing again in the 1980s though to now. Imagine buying up apartment buildings in London, Paris, Berlin etc. Then all you have to do is live off the income - pay your taxes and no one really is going to ask who owns what, and who exactly is getting the money.

MisterNeon@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 93d

Move to Montana or Idaho. Live out in the middle of nowhere. Read a bunch of books.

STUNT_GRANNY@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 93d

I wonder how many people in this thread have read/seen 11.22.63 before.

Without some amount of preparation, I think I'd just end up mostly working for cash and living out of a van for most of that time, or otherwise staying off-grid. There's a surprising amount of paperwork involved in legally existing as a person.

Also, since memorizing statistics is not one of my hobbies, I'd want/need some kind of written ledger to have an edge in back-alley sports betting.

Just for fun's sake though, I'd try my hand at writing professionally again, as a novelist, but just ripping off the plots of movies and TV shows that haven't been filmed yet. Self-publishing everything under pen names of course, to preserve my anonymity.

HubertManne@piefed.social · 5 pts · 93d

How do you start? Like terminator completely naked with nothing as an adult? EDITED - also where do we end up in space?

Soggy@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 93d (1 reply)

Functionally impossible unless you completely isolated yourself from civilization. Any impact to "the past" will alter your origin, even if just by changing which sperm cell fertilizes a complete stranger's child. You have to define what "too much" variance means.

raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d

Had to scroll too far for this :)

MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 93d

What happens when you get to your birth date? Do you stop existing as a time-traveller and start being a baby? I was born in 1952, so I'd get less than seven years of time travel. Hardly worth the effort, especially if I don't remember it.

CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 93d

Seems like I would survive no matter what?

Since I’m not allowed to become famous I guess I’d go find a sweet island somewhere and periodically send world governments anonymous letters about things to avoid, if I can, rules were kind of unclear, am I allowed to change the future just as long as it’s not to my personal benefit or not at all cause that going to be impossible, and enjoy my life

PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 92d (1 reply)

How does hunger and thirst work, if I cannot die? Do I still get hungry? What if I don't eat? What if I just spend most of my time building a house in the woods and doing artwork for months or years at a time, since I don't need to restock provisions?

FenrirIII@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 91d

You can eat if you want. It's more if a question of boredom and losing your mind

stoly@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 93d

Move to NYC, San Fran or some other place that will be initially growing prior to the Baby Boom. Get settled there and stay there through the forced urban decline until current times. I suspect that I can own multiple properties in that time frame and come out on top when I sell it now.

Soulifix@piefed.world · 3 pts · 93d
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WongKaKui@piefed.ca · 2 pts · 91d

What country tho.
1945 for an ethnic Chinese in America is not exactly fun... racism and all

1945 in China is um... yea I'm gonna get gulag'ed/laogai'ed

AstroLightz@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 92d (2 replies)

Hide in a cave for an eternity then. If no one knows I exist, then I live forever.

FenrirIII@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 92d (1 reply)

Booooo! Boring!

ouRKaoS@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 92d

I'd do mostly the same, however I'd go full cryptid: there'd be sighting, blurry photos, and stories told about me.

youcantreadthis@quokk.au · 2 pts · 93d

I guess I stay out of north america and fuck with operation gladio because people still can't agree what the fuck was happening there so making Italy go full communist is probably safe and delicious

erev@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 92d (2 replies)

It's gonna be tough being a queer POC but I'd probably just be a sidequest queen and travel the world doing random shit, trying not to stay in the same place for too long and not return until i can reasonably claim to be my own child

GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 92d (1 reply)

I have a feeling you would have more fun in Paris than other places

erev@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 92d

a lot of indigenous cultures have really interesting cultural perspectives on gender. i think id enjoy traveling and connecting with people all over the world and immortalizing their stories in me

MalMen@masto.pt · 1 pts · 93d (1 reply)

@FenrirIII live in a small contry, avoid unprotected sex, farm some cabages to ocupy time

zabadoh@ani.social · 1 pts · 93d

Unprotected cabbage sex when the need arises.

SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 93d
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IAMgROOT@lemmy.wtf · 1 pts · 90d

join the military I cant die so if I just wear a balaclava or smth whilst firebombing nazis, I wont be famous, the legend about me will

mech@feddit.org · 1 pts · 91d

I think I'm OK with only making it to 2000.

belunos@lemmus.org · 0 pts · 93d

This was a bad question, and you should feel bad