If you could eliminate one person from history...who would it be? [View all]

[Grave Grumbler]

Last edited Sun Aug 12, 2012, 09:55 PM - Edit history (1)

The rules:  You can use your time machine (once only) to go back in history and prevent the conception of any person.  Example:  You want to stop Hitler from being born, so you go up to Klara Pölzl (Adolph's mother) in 1880 and give her 10,000 marks to emigrate to the USA.  She never meets let alone marries Alois, so voila...no Adolph.  This will have the incidental effect of preventing his brothers from being born as well, of course.

After you prevent your target from being conceived, you snap back to 2012 and enjoy living in a world made better by your actions. Bear in mind, though, that removing someone from history may not have that great an effect. If you prevent Thomas Edison from existing, someone is still going to invent the phonograph and the light bulb. They may be called by other names, and they may be delayed by a decade or so, but things tend to get invented when it's time to invent them.

I would note that some individuals would be exceptions. If you took out Isaac Newton (heaven knows why, but it's your choice), modern science as we know it may be delayed by half a century.  Prevent Jesus Christ or Muhammad from existing, and history may change so much that the present day would be virtually unrecognizable.

Anyway, that's the setup. Who do you pick, and what do you think would be the result of this person not existing?

(My pick is to take out Hitler)