Something to think about

Yes, and no. Generally, those stories that follow that trope are referring to unintended consequences or those acts done on accident. The other more common bit is the amount of time the change is coming from. It's not 10, 20, or even a 100 years. It's 1, 2 or 300 million years. Oh, and did I mention unintended consequences? Cause that's really important. It's the changes you didn't plan on and are always "worse" that everyone is worried about. No one talks about making small changes that better everything because that's already something people talk about and in truth is rather boring. Anecdotal though it is, the fact that this is the premise of the original post proves my point. And before someone jumps in and says we don't ask yourself how often you've been asked or heard "What can we do to make things better?" Most likely at work, or a business or service you've used.

To paraphrase Jack Reacher: "Everyone wonders what would happen if they went back in time and killed Hitler to help the past. What they should be wondering is if there's anyone they can kill today to help the future."

we already do, difference is, knowledge, we don't know what the affect will be. chatting a little longer and make someone miss a train, or next set of lights, might have saved them from an accident. Going in the past and returned, we would see the ripples in time, but now, those ripples extend further than we can see, whether good or bad, we do change things.

butterfly effect

Never been a big fan of people cropping these images to include a single reaction to the first post.