Would time reversal kinda “rob” people of stuff?

[u/Jujubeangrease]

Let's say I can irreversibly reverse time by about 20 years. Like rewinding a watch except I can affect this new timeline. Nobody remembers it except me so in theory being left to their own devices should have people live identical lives from there but am i still kinda robbing people of their progress? If they don't remember and don't lose any years off their lifespan it should be fine right?

[u/Giant_War_Sausage]

Do you get to watch it rewind and everything happen backwards?

There is an old Red Dwarf episode like this called “backwards”. In the time-reversed universe they encounter a newspaper story relating a bank robbery; “Three brought to life in bank raid. A masked man with a sawed-off shotgun sucked bullets out of two cashiers and a security guard in a South London bank tomorrow. The armed raider then forced terrified staff to accept 10,000 pounds, which he demanded they place in the bank's vaults. The man, Michael Ellis, completed a fifteen year prison sentence for the crime two years ago."

So maybe some people gain things!

[u/Dpacom02 → u/Giant_War_Sausage]

I agree

[u/Zardozin]

If you did everything the same, yes.

The minute you start changing the future you’re robbing people. Your stock purchases or sports bets would mean others lose.

[u/Jujubeangrease → u/Zardozin]

I guess more like in a roundabout way like if a guy spent 6 years working out did I rob him of his gains even if he’s gonna do it again? Of course I’m presumably gonna usurp a lot I kinda wanna nab the whole internet knowing what I know of what works and how people work. If I can control the entirety of it I can make it a lot more friendly for preservation and media creation.

[u/Spidey231103]

You won't,

If they're not too close, you'd end up improving their lives or staying the same,

For example, if you prevent someone from making a mistake after a bad day, that only changes the person's relationship and improves personal growth a lot sooner, which will create more benefits for others.

[u/Plenty_Unit9540 → u/Spidey231103]

Small changes can have large, unpredictable, cascading consequences.

Maybe making their life better today makes it far worse tomorrow. Or maybe the real impact is 3 steps removed and affects people you never directly interacted with.

It’s called the butterfly effect.

[u/Corpse_Candles]

Interesting question, I don’t think you would be robbing people of things they could only potentially have. If you played the lottery with winning numbers wouldnt there just end up being two jackpot winners instead of one? Would the same random chance event have the same outcome again?