Time Travel and Art Preservation

Num7

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Similar to another thread I started about the ethics of going back in time to retrieve specimens of ancient, now extinct species... Do you think it would be okay to go back in time to retrieve lost pieces of art?

Think about it. How about going back in time to save priceless paintings from getting destroyed? Would that be moral?

If it sounds unethical to recover and take back paintings and other works of art, what about making an ultra-high-resolution digital copy of them? Of course, it wouldn't be the real thing. But wouldn't that be a pretty good alternative?

What do you think?
 

MODAT7

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Think of all those poor nazis who would lose all their stolen artifacts... or those alien "collectors" who take art off world...

But it would be a good idea for high res scans regardless. Some museums are doing multi spectral imaging for this. They've found some interesting tidbits in UV and IR.
 

Einstein

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5,424
It would be a way to prove alternate timelines exist. Think of all the alternate painting versions that could exist of artists we know.
 

8thsinner

Member
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491
Similar to another thread I started about the ethics of going back in time to retrieve specimens of ancient, now extinct species... Do you think it would be okay to go back in time to retrieve lost pieces of art?

Think about it. How about going back in time to save priceless paintings from getting destroyed? Would that be moral?

If it sounds unethical to recover and take back paintings and other works of art, what about making an ultra-high-resolution digital copy of them? Of course, it wouldn't be the real thing. But wouldn't that be a pretty good alternative?

What do you think?
This is a fun idea but I don't think it's wise, even though theres many different timelines you'll never be able to guarantee you don't change any of those by getting caught in that time period. So the question become do we have the right to screw with timelines? And I know it gets done by some races but I'm of the opinion that it shouldn't be done.
And thats even pretending we would have the tech know how to even chose specific timelines. Even the pleadians have been known to make mistakes with time travel and they are like a million years more advanced than us.
 

PaulaJedi

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Zenith
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8,858
Similar to another thread I started about the ethics of going back in time to retrieve specimens of ancient, now extinct species... Do you think it would be okay to go back in time to retrieve lost pieces of art?

Think about it. How about going back in time to save priceless paintings from getting destroyed? Would that be moral?

If it sounds unethical to recover and take back paintings and other works of art, what about making an ultra-high-resolution digital copy of them? Of course, it wouldn't be the real thing. But wouldn't that be a pretty good alternative?

What do you think?

Only if they were lost. Stealing art from the past would mean we wouldn't be able to enjoy it in the future. Also, why couldn't we search for the lost art now? Don't need a time machine. Saving them from being destroyed - yes - but what are the implications? You'd potentially be changing the timeline.
 

8thsinner

Member
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491
Cute but from what i've seen much of the real high value art is deeply deeply encoded with giant secrets were only now starting to figure out, for example look at the famous last supper painting which subtly encodes the older horoscope calendar images perfectly in sync with their placement in the kings chamber which was only discovered this year.

Anything lost tho, it's probably in the vatican already where other thousands of other secrets lay buried.
 

Num7

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Collecting art pieces from different timelines is an interesting concept as well.

Would such art pieces be rare and highly coveted? Would there be a black market for foreign art pieces? Maybe it wouldn't be that crazy...

I like @8thsinner 's point of secrets and mysteries being encoded in some paintings. Imagine finding variants of known mysterious encoded riddles we haven't deciphered yet? That would certainly help us to understand our own, I guess. :)
 

PaulaJedi

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Zenith
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8,858
Collecting art pieces from different timelines is an interesting concept as well.

Would such art pieces be rare and highly coveted? Would there be a black market for foreign art pieces? Maybe it wouldn't be that crazy...

I like @8thsinner 's point of secrets and mysteries being encoded in some paintings. Imagine finding variants of known mysterious encoded riddles we haven't deciphered yet? That would certainly help us to understand our own, I guess. :)

Oh, wow. You're starting to uncover a time travel black market. Maybe someone went back and stole the Ark of the Convenant so that they could profit from it in their timeline (yet to be revealed, of course).

We would need time borders. Seriously. How do you regulate that? You could use time travel for regular travel, to pass borders without a passport, to commit crimes, etc. This is getting deep.
 

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