Everything as It Was Not Before

“To grieve over past pain in the present is to create new pain and suffer again.” William Shakespeare

The well-known Portuguese expression "tudo dantes como no quartel de Abrantes" (everything remains the same, as in the barracks of Abrantes) refers to what always stays the same, without change. But what if the past could be changed? Few questions in contemporary culture spark our imagination as much as the possibility of traveling through time and altering the past.

At the beginning of the last century, Albert Einstein, with his theory of relativity, laid the foundations for our modern understanding of time and space. This theory became one of the fundamental principles of modern physics.

The summarized version of the theory is based on two ideas: the first is that all things are measured in relation to something else, that is, there is no absolute frame of reference; the second is that the speed of light is constant and a maximum limit of nature.

Based on these ideas, time travel becomes real and measurable. Therefore, an observer traveling at high speed will experience time at a slower pace than another observer. In other words, the faster you travel, the slower you experience the passage of time.

Scientists have already conducted experiments to prove Einstein's theory. In the most classic of these, two perfectly synchronized clocks were used at the same time. One of these clocks remained on Earth, while the other was placed on an airplane traveling in the same direction as the Earth's rotation. After the plane circled the globe, scientists compared the two clocks and found that the clock on the plane was traveling slightly slower, at a rate equivalent to one second per second.

In short, to travel through time, all you have to do is accelerate. And depending on the technology used, it would be possible to travel days, months, decades, and even billions of years. We could witness the life of the dinosaurs, the evolution and destruction of humanity, the end of the Earth and the Sun, or the collision of the Milky Way with Andromeda.

If it were scientifically possible to travel back in time, would it be ethical and moral, or advisable, to return to the past to correct our mistakes?

We all have regrets, remorse, hurt feelings, or a desire to do something differently that we have already done. That is why the idea of going back to the past and correcting this penance is so tempting.

Who wouldn't want to go back in time and put Paulo Isidoro to mark Paolo Rossi in the fateful game in Sarrià, Spain, in the 1982 World Cup? Or warn Barbosa, goalkeeper for the 1950 World Cup team, to protect the left corner from Uruguayan Ghiggia's shot? Or even go back to May 1, 1994, and convince Ayrton Senna not to compete in the Imola Grand Prix.

We could cite countless examples that, due to their collective merit, would deserve a rearrangement of the past. Wars, terrorist attacks, the rise of autocratic tyrants, climate tragedies, air and naval accidents. The list is so extensive that the only solution to resolve all issues at once would be to return to the initial moment of the Big Bang or, for Catholic believers, to prevent the serpent from seducing Eve, and then Adam, into eating the forbidden fruit.

Would changing the past bring more happiness? There are ethical and moral implications to consider, in addition to the unknown consequences of this alteration on people's lives and the preservation of the natural course of history.

Philosopher David Lewis, addressing what he called the grandfather paradox, discussed the contradictions of time travel and questioned whether history would somehow adjust to the changes.

From a utilitarian and consequentialist perspective, changing the past to prevent tragic events such as wars or natural disasters is morally correct if it results in less global suffering. Philosopher John Stuart Mill argued that morality should be based on maximizing happiness and minimizing suffering, which could be applied to these situations.

Benedetto Croce emphasizes the importance of history as a discipline that seeks to understand the past, preserving its authenticity and avoiding interventions that distort historical truth. Therefore, preserved history helps us understand how the world and society have evolved over time, allowing us to learn from their mistakes.

The philosopher Immanuel Kant argued for morality based on acting in accordance with duty, while Jean-Paul Sartre explored the morality of individual choice, which could be applied to these decisions.

The complex ethical and moral dilemmas involved in going back in time and changing the past spark different views. All of these philosophers have contributed to the discussion of these issues, each with their own unique perspectives and approaches.

For a long time to come, time travel will only be possible in physics and in the pages of science fiction books. Therefore, traveling to the future or the past to correct our mistakes will remain only in our imagination.

These approaches make us reflect on the morality of human behavior, given the unlimited possibilities that time travel brings us. We are called upon to engage in an intellectual, ethical, and personal duel that questions the nature of our behavior beyond moral constraints.

The truth is that, despite all the lessons we have learned throughout our lives that "it is important to forgive in order to be forgiven," "accept facts as they are," "turn the page," etc., if we had this power, we would hardly fail to use it to correct the past, whether for an altruistic or personal purpose, such as the loss of a loved one in an accident. We act as we do because we think it is fair to change the past.

If I had this power myself, I would have a list of issues to address. One of them would be to warn my great-grandfather to withdraw his investments from the New York Stock Exchange before October 24, 1929.