With all the talk of going back in time and bumping off Hitler (if you’re gonna do it, do it during WWI, where one could rationalize he’d be just another combat fatality, one amongst millions) here’s a thought.

Where would we be technologically if (a) Hitler is removed from the picture and (b) WWII never takes place as a result.

Would we be chatting on the internet? The internet is the outgrowth of a Cold War military communications project, after all, so……no WWII, no Cold War? What would the level of technological development be?

While it’s all well and good to speculate about whacking Hitler (personally, I wouldn’t as interfering in such a profound event as the Second World War is bound to have unforeseen consequences), for me at least, it’s more of an ethical question than anything else. Sure, it’s a tempting thought - you kill one man and save the lives of millions. But……what’s the blowback? What are the consequences of altering a timeline so radically?

Of course, here’s a fun thought. Let’s say that someone from the future traveled back into our past and ensured the Nazis lost WWII, because in their history, the Nazis won that war and they wanted to make sure that never came to pass.

We’d never know, would we?