Time travel ethics

[Megaton Punch]

Let's say you're a married middle aged adult. One day, you wake up to find yourself in your teenage body. Your consciousness has somehow been transported years into the past. You're old you, but in young you's body.

Later that day, your girl/boyfriend that you dated during those days calls you up asking to "hang out". You've had sex many times with this person, but to you, that was ages ago.

Would sleeping with her/him constitute cheating on your spouse? Note that there's no indication that you'll ever be able to return to the present without simply letting time pass, but it's not out of the question either.

 

[Chilson]

Would sleeping with her/him constitute cheating on your spouse? Note that there's no indication that you'll ever be able to return to the present without simply letting time pass, but it's not out of the question either.

No because there are only two logical conclusions. Either I never go back and therefore never have to feel bad about sleeping with someone in my younger body, or I go back and it basically becomes little more than a dream since there are presumably no consequences for this action.

 

[Roast Chicken]

In pure technical terms yes because the person you used to date is not your spouse. Travelling to the past to do it is still being in the past and as you mentioned, you've been intimate with them before. I don't really see how it matters because having sex with them already transpired at some point anyway and presumably the spouse knows you had exes when you were younger.

Anyway the scenario's a bit silly because I think the hypothetical time travelling "victim" would be too busy panicking about being transported into the past and wondering what's happened to their present body and life rather than "oh look there's my ex I'll go fuck them"

 

[Vecr]

Is the time travel self consistent? If so there's practical trouble you might have to deal with (what happens if you don't do exactly what you did the first time?), if it's "multiverse" style time travel that's where any ethical issues would matter (why are you getting into the ethical weeds in that kind of situation?).

If it's a multiverse style time travel system, it's probably not "actually" your old girlfriend, but someone very similar (because it's a different universe).

That would mean your wife didn't actually know about what you're going to be doing, because you're in a different universe, and it's probably an ethical issue depending on how you think about it.

 

[JamusActimus]

That situation is pretty horrible if you have children.

They are pretty much dead in a sense, you will never see them again

 

[Fapcop]

Seing as A: You are not currently married and B: You won’t even be married for many years I’d say that you are NOT cheating and you are morally and legally clear to do the nasty in the pasty.

That situation is pretty horrible if you have children.

They are pretty much dead in a sense, you will never see them again

What?! No, they just haven’t been born yet.

 

[Spill]

I mean, technically I think you could view it either way, but for me personally, no I wouldn't consider it cheating, you may be aware of the future and how things unfold, but they technically haven't happened yet, so I wouldn't consider it cheating, its too unique a situation to be getting hung up on the morality of such a gray area.

 

[Sexy Senior Citizen]

 

[Vecr]

What?! No, they just haven’t been born yet.

Only if it's a self-consistent time loop and you can't change the past.

 

[JamusActimus]

What?! No, they just haven’t been born yet.

I mean can you guarantee the right sperm will get to the ovule?

 

[Idiotron]

OK but I have the mind of a middle aged man and I'm supposed to fuck like a 16 year old girl in this scenario.... and the ethics question is about cheating?

 

[Spill]

OK but I have the mind of a middle aged man and I'm supposed to fuck like a 16 year old girl in this scenario.... and the ethics question is about cheating?

Holy shit you're right, although, exact age isn't specified so they could at least technically be a legal adult 18, 19, but you are still a guy with the mind of a middle aged dude in this scenario so, maybe this is the more pressing ethical question.

 

[Ultrapenguin]

Idiotron's right.
In fact it would be weird in a lot of ways, because not only is it basically statutory rape, but it's also deceptive statutory rape where she doesn't know you're actually a middle aged version of yourself that has transcended through time and space.

You're essentially a strange adult man wearing a teenager skin suit and concealing it to get in the pants of a teen girl.

But it would also be less statutory rape maybe because the person grew attached to you based upon your personality as a teenager? So there wouldn't be any prerequisite grooming involved?

In any case yeah the cheating is the least concerning part about this whole scenario.

 

[Lobster Cult High Priest]

Time Travel makes you gay.

 

[Megaton Punch]

Anyway the scenario's a bit silly because I think the hypothetical time travelling "victim" would be too busy panicking about being transported into the past and wondering what's happened to their present body and life rather than "oh look there's my ex I'll go fuck them"

Clearly it has been quite some time since you've been a teenager. Hormones are the most powerful force in the universe.

Is the time travel self consistent?

You are literally traveling back into your own past, essentially overwriting the mind of your teenage self with your adult mind. The future is your present, minus whatever changes your meddling may cause.

OK but I have the mind of a middle aged man and I'm supposed to fuck like a 16 year old girl in this scenario.... and the ethics question is about cheating?

I debated making this the crux of the issue, but I feel like doing so would make me look like I'm trying to justify something. It also definitely matters how old she is. 14? 16? 19? It's vague on purpose.

Personally I'm of the mind that no matter what, sexing up your teenage girlfriend is probably a bad idea.

 

[Vecr]

You are literally traveling back into your own past, essentially overwriting the mind of your teenage self with your adult mind. The future is your present, minus whatever changes your meddling may cause.

If you're re-writing it then it counts as (at least) a different branch of the same universe, because otherwise where would you be coming from? Not self consistent.

I say it's cheating, because if you're overwriting you're creating a new history that your wife didn't know about.

Personally I'm of the mind that no matter what, sexing up your teenage girlfriend is probably a bad idea.

Probably.

 

[Salinger]

This comes down to if the time travel was optional or not.

If this was an optional thing and you had kids, simply going back in time would be worse than cheating. You're effectively erasing your own children from existence simply because as @JamusActimus said, you've got that many sperm, even if you still happened to find your wife and procreated on the same day, both Ovum and sperm getting through would be different.

If its not optional shits already fucked and you're at a point in time where you haven't met your wife. That situation is more like being a widower.

As for statutory, its technically not, which is the best kind of correct. I'd still feel fucking weird about it.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

It's not cheating, that's illogical. It'd be no different than if your girlfriend simply had amnesia, that's not cheating either.

There's lots of unethical sexual time travel shenanigans you could conceptualize, but this isn't one of them.

 

[skykiii]

OK but I have the mind of a middle aged man and I'm supposed to fuck like a 16 year old girl in this scenario.... and the ethics question is about cheating?

This reminds me of an anime I saw once (because of course potential pedophilia makes me think "anime") about a dude who took a pill that turned him into a little kid but still with the mind of his adult form.

The dude thankfully is kinda asexual but if this were real life you just know most people would find ways to "benefit" from this situation.

 

[Woe-B-Gon (TM)]

Later that day, your girl/boyfriend that you dated during those days calls you up asking to "hang out". You've had sex many times with this person, but to you, that was ages ago.

I once read an SF story a bit like that. Forgotten the title but I'll try to recall the plot: An old billionaire (and owner of the company that makes time machines) deliberately jumps back into his teenage body to have one last fling with a girl he'd had an on-again-off-again thing for decades, ending with her death a few years ago. He finds her not only willing but some of her behaviors seem to almost foreshadow future events.

The final page revelation: The woman had done the exact same thing just before she died; not only jumping back into her teenage self, but bribing someone close to the guy to make sure that when he got the itch he was sent back to precisely the same date to "keep the appointment", as it were. The old guy, who was entirely cool with banging a teenager under very sketchy pretenses, seems quite distressed to be manipulated into a transtemporal rendezvous.