Dave and I have discussed this question many times. We've both decided that, first, we human beings could not handle knowing all of the tragedy and loss before us, but, second, we both would not want to change much of anything in our pasts.
We saw the Academy Award nominated film Arrival last night. I loved it. It's an alien film for grown ups. It's not easy to understand but the question Louise asks in the quote above is a big clue.
Dr. Louise Banks, played by Amy Adams, is a celebrated linguist who's been chosen to meet with aliens who've landed in the United States. Eleven other pods have landed in other parts of the world. Louise's job is to discover how to communicate. It turns out to be through circles rather than words. They do not experience time as linear but rather circular.
This is another clue.
All during the film Louise experiences flashbacks of her time with her daughter, Hannah, who suffered from cancer and died at a young age. Early in these flashbacks we see Louise wearing a wedding band. Then we don't. Who could this mysterious husband be? Why are they no longer married?
Louise explains to Hannah that her name is a palindrome. It's spelled the same forward and backward.
This is another clue.
This film beautifully portrays the importance of common language. The aliens scare us humans because Louise translates their message as "Give weapons" when they are actually saying "Give tools." They want to give us the tools of inter-galaxy language - one that surpasses time and space.
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