PC Collecting old PCs and games

[bobrpggamer]

I have been trying to keep from posting this, but I am a little lost on my own right now, so...

OK it is 2022 and I have been issued a time traveling device from some company (yeah its lame to think about).

So my idea would be to travel back to 1978 and collect Apple II (The Apple II came out in in 1981 - but you would be there to see it come out) PCs up to Pentium pro PCs or something, as well as games and hardware for most PCs in between.

You know the old thought of "if I had a time machine I would collect comic books". Well I was thinking about it and it is harder (although not harder than actually being able to time travel) than you would think. Lets assume I can not take much back with me with this device.

So I am in Palo Alto California 1978. so I go to a researched computer outlet to buys an Apple PC, games and peripherals to start. I first need to denominate my 2013 $100.00 back to the pre-1990 $100.00, that's already going to take some time. I would then need to have a place to store or have deliveries.

So paying for rent without an ID and or SS Number, the ID is obvious and the SS Number is for credit checks, it gets a bit difficult to do this without breaking the law.

Option 1 - the best do not break the law by falsifying anything: I show up right after the Vietnam war around 1974, and apply for citizenship, now I have to have a decent story to come up with of course, to have a Californian accent and just showing up at a dock in the bay area. If i can convince the Immigration guys of a likely story, this would be best and within 5 years I could be a (dual I guess literally) citizen, this will then allow me to rent a warehouse somewhere and packaging the computers and other things in packaging that will allow the items to be in excellent shape in the future, I can also make sure I am around to pay the rent and collect all the computer magazines as well per month.

Option 2 - the not so illegal but a bit shady way: find a lawyer that you can trust (possibly a little shady at that), pay him monthly for setting up a bank account with credit cards and rent a place under his name. This will be a bit difficult to do because, can you really trust this person to begin with, would there be day that you get a visit from the feds or local police. Easiest way, but more dangerous.

This would also work if you knew someone you could trust at the specific time you are going back to.

Option 3 - pay cash for everything and just figure some way to preserve everything throughout time until you are in the present time to be able to enjoy the things you collect. This way has the biggest drawback: you may get stopped by the police and you have no ID and you cannot confirm you are even a citizen, this may lead to all sorts of problems and at worst you may be considered a Russian spy or some other odd problem, although amnesia is a possible excuse I do not think it would take you to far that way.

One way would be to bury the items in the ground somewhere where you know the ground would not be touched to the very day, and keep a very low profile while going around, which would have to be done traveling via taxi, making sure no one sees you in the process of planting a time capsule and all kinds of other considerations to stay under the radar. If you are arrested and your finger prints are taken in a time you were 10 years old that would not be a very good thing to happen, I would think.

All of these would include the code of ethics that would be, do not share new tech with old and do not cheat by buying things in the past and selling them in the present.

The thing that stumps me is: You are not really doing anything illegal and you are already a citizen, but you cannot really get away with being in the past in the US without an identity. That is unless there is a new law put in to prevent time travel by independent individuals, then I suppose it would be illegal. it would not do much good to show your drivers license from 20 or more years in the future ether.

Its a bit beyond ridiculous, but its been interesting in finding the best way to do this without ending up in the immigration office without an identity - if it were actually possible to travel through time.

This does not bring into effect the idea that if you were to buy a C64 game, would that game disappear from the collection of games someone may have. This is too difficult to really understand completely so I do not take that into regard.

Sorry in advance to the mods for having to read this nonsense.

The Apple II was actually 1977, like I first thought.

 

[Laz Man]

You would need to identify some type of bank or storage company/facility that exists today and maintains accounts dating that far back.

Once identified, you would need to find a way to create an identity (legal or illegal) to open an account with them....

 

[bobrpggamer]

I would think an identity could be faked as of the 70s and 80s a lot easier with the info from the future, this is the only way to keep a place to work with and be somewhat legit, other than legally trying to become a citizen, pretty much out of the blue.

The main thing to consider is just the law at that point. It could be taxes, it could be that you just look suspicious and the thing is, you can not fool the authorities for long. This is the simplest way, but getting caught eventually would be endless (even though you are not doing anything illegal other than living in the past) lies and may not work and It could turn into what would be a federal case, and possibly even the dreaded Men In Black type government would just get paranoid of who you really are. You could be an alien from another planet or just a spy, who knows what would be going through their heads. Its all fine and dandy in a movie where a guy has no record of any kind, but in reality that would be more than a plot line in a story it could mean to them that you may be a threat to homeland security or something. During the early 70s you have draft dodger guys under the radar and of course post 9/11 is the probably the worst time to have a fake identity, let alone the Hoover era communist paranoia in the USA, you would definitely be locked up as a spy in that time period. Imagine some of the music today and Ronnie James Dio's devils horn signs (or diablo signs at heavy metal concerts) in the whole Salem witch trials eras, yeah they were really paranoid back then and they were unmerciful.

Remember the first Terminator and Kyle trying to explain how he went back in time to do this or that, well it would be the same and at the least you will be watched or institutionalized if not thrown out of the country deemed a spy.

The time capsule thing keeps popping up but keeping the process from being noticed is also a problem with that idea. Such as, who drove me here and did he see me do this, did I look suspicious. Without a drivers license I need to travel via taxi or similar. Dropping me off at a location and toting the items, the shovel and the capsule itself is a bit weird to see someone do. This would work with computer games and software and maybe some peripherals but that's about it. You could hide the item in the capsule and wrap it in the form of a present and conceal a trowel, but any larger item will look plain bizarre. This would take research as well to see if the area will be untouched by anyone in the future among other things like erosion.

You remember Breaking Bad and Walt burying his money in plastic garbage cans, well that did not work out too well for long. In his case the main question was: who could he really trust? of course in the end he could trust no one for more than about a week.

Thank you for not taking this too seriously, its just a brain teaser thing I have recently thought up. The whole Idea is how could you pull it off without raising suspicions, its really not that easy to do.