Mitch McConnell's death. Just to settle this once and for all.

Blackbeard burying his treasure.

I just want to see dinosaurs

The grand opening of the Roman Colosseum.

The Nov 12-13 Leonids meteor shower of 1833, which was said to have been measured in excess of 100,000 meteors viewed per hour (about 27+ per second). This obviously was profound to basically everyone alive at the time who could see it (it wasn’t visible in Europe), and honestly it just sounds cool. I wanna see the insane space fireworks!

Watching Hitler killing Hitler.

The Kool Aid event

Children's crusade

The dancing plague

Anything that involves mass psychosis

Dinosaur's and theirbextinction. Was it a meteorite? Did volcanoes erupt? Etc. from the theory confirmed :)

we got midterm elections nov 3rd in the US

OG Woodstock easily

Literally any White Stripes concert.

Oh that's easy - the Zanclean flood.

What is now the Mediterranean sea used to be a land mass full of grass fields. A few million years ago, the Strait of Gibraltar gave way and hundreds of millions of cubic feet of water poured in. It's debated how long it took to fill up the Mediterranean. Could've been weeks, could've been decades. But for whatever period it was, it'd be nuts to sit there and watch it all unfold.

The Tunguska Event

If you weren’t already aware there’s a 45 minute audio recording of the Flavor Aid event. It’s easy to find online. It’s on YouTube and in Apple Music. The internet is weird.

If I could do it from a safe spot in space - the Theia impact that formed the Moon.

Anything the government wiped from our memory

If I choose the Moon landing, do I get to watch it from the Moon? Because that sounds pretty fun.

I'd hang out with Leonardo Da Vinci in his studio.

No restrictions? Big bang starting from, say, an hour before.

I'd stop the supreme Court from giving the presidency to W Bush. I try not to think about what a timeline where we actually do something about climate change would look like, it's just too depressing.

Al Gore is an asshole and a neoliberal but I think he actually would've done something about climate change. I also don't think Osama Bin Laden would've gone through with 9/11 without a Republican in the White House.

Edit: upon further inspection, the title says OBSERVE a historical event. Oops.

Not really historical event but, I'd be really curious to travel back to see my distant relatives, and what they were like, their personalities and quirks, likes and dislikes, their styles of humour. See their faces in 3d. Start with my great great grandparents and skip down the line as far as I can go. Actually, I'd love to see my nan again one more time, can I start there?

The day of my birth. I'd like to know what my family was like before I was there. What my brother and sisters said about me. How my dad reacted, etc.

The first “human” artwork. We will never know what it was or what medium it was in (cave painting? sculpture of some kind?¿?) but my personal belief is that moment is when we started being the humans we would eventually become and it would be so interesting to see what the first person came up with to express their thoughts.

It was likely a handprint in a cave but still.

Do I have to actually know what it is? I'd want to see the peak of the first human civilization.

I'd like to see how the pyramids were actually built, and by whom. Shit, I'd help for a while if they'd feed me.

The day the music died.

RIP Mozart

After watching a video about this last week I would pick man first arriving in Australia. the animals that existed there way back then make the stuff that's in Australia today look tame. I just want to see the faces on these early humans when they realize how fucked they are. Giant Komodo Dragons, Giant Koalas, Giant Snakes, a damn Crocodile that could run on land. It's amazing any of them survived.

Apparently, indigenous people have passed down the story for generations that when Captain Cook first set foot on their soil, he fell on his arse. I'd like to see that.

Boston Molasses Incident.

is it just viewing? am I safe from harm? is there automatic translation?

some good options already posted:

the pyramids being built

the big bang

to that i'll add:

watching a t-rex and seeing what that thing actually looked like and how it hunted (this one is kind of stretching the rules a bit)

Jesus Christ when he was alive in his prime years. I want to see him turn water into wine. This would answer if he was actually real and if he really did that. (spoiler I believe he did but it would be interesting to see).

I would love to see the building of Machu Picchu

This is all assuming that I am able to view without affecting history in any way shape or form and am able to survive the experience (with my sanity intact)

Can I choose the moon landing, but from the moon?

the inception of our universe.

with any luck the portal will trigger a causality loop that will rip our entire existence apart so quickly that we won't even have an opportunity to understand that we no longer exist.

quick and painless way to make all the stupid go away.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1561_celestial_phenomenon_over_Nuremberg?wprov=sfti1

In 1561 a space battle happened in broad daylight (edit: dawn actually) over Nuremberg, so I think I'd like to see that, assuming I could come back just after, 1561 would be a shit time to live

Edit- link, other linked wiki articles in the link are worth reading as well.

Himiko's Japan would be neat. I wonder how much I could understand due to both dialect and how old japanese was structured compared to today.

I wonder if whatever language the scientists would be arguing in would be comprehensible to you, you know, from inside the simulation they were arguing about whether or not it was ethical to run.

There are graffiti from some of the builders if you weren't aware

I would love to see denisovans, neanderthals, and the other human wncestors

They're arguing for an hour about contamination and having to explain this to the powers that be before a morbid suggestion gathers all attention to the start of the test.

It's subtitled and in 720p

This is monstrous, but the first Europeans going to Western Africa to enslave people. It must have been clumsy, awkward, brutal, violent, and coercive. In short, one of humanity's most callous, idiotic moves.

If I could interact (using modern tech), I'd sink every one of those ships with mines and drones. I'd monitor boats from space. I'd send a few of the slavers back knowing — and telling — only that enslavement will destroy them and Africa is not theirs to exploit.

The rest who survive would be taken care of, taught the strengths of diversity, other cultures, and West African ways of living. They would be the welcome wagon for any Europeans to return. Their tasks: stave off invasion, disrupt slaving activity, open negotiations with Europe. Undo the scourge of that institution and the attendant supremacy that followed.

Then, I'd set the same protections for the Americas. Unfortunately, Asia is accessible over land and contact predates my selected moment.

IDGAF if — as consequence — it sets human development back by 400 years of labour, resource exploitation, and "progress". It's worth it.

I just want to walk around the city of Ur, go to the market, eat some food, maybe buy some low quality copper

This is harder than picking a favourite movie or song! I think I'd like to listen to the Sermon on the Mount IRL, or be present (with binoculars and from a safe distance) for the Battle of Badr or the conquest of Mecca. ✌️

Yeah, I was reading this thinking 'Who the hell does this asshole think he is?? I was there and I couldn't do shit about it except watch. And somehow he thinks he could influence the supreme court?!?'

LOL

In my defense there's definitely the occasional post around here asking people what historical event they would change if they could. I thought it was amusing so I left it up.

I'm good, I got plenty of historical events at home.

EDIT nevermind I thought of a good one. I want to go to right before the Permian extinction and check out all the wildlife.

Depends it is to view without the problem of being seen and interacted? Basically as an invisible ghost?
And not counting the language barrier?

It would be interesting to see many magical moments from every mythology.
To see the actual rulers in Egypt and how they built the pyramids.
Or visit any other wonder's of ancient world. The library of Alexandria!
There is also that tomb in China that supposedly floats on quicksilver.

But if I want to be more realistic with useful info I would try to see some CIA / KGB briefings - or even the outcome of the Manhattan project, how it went down. How did they realize what they did. (Tho Teller Ede was seemingly totally fine with his work based on how he interacted in early 2000s).
We could visit some NorthKorean bigwig powwows also, or even Lenin first ideology part.

Well sure, I guess if that's what you want, but it'd be hard to see the studio from way up there.