No, we may not, but even if we did know, there is no way to know how the ripples of our presence will affect anything. Even a good outcome could down the line produce something terrible. There is an explosive on Earth called TNT, trinitrotoluene. It was originally meant as a fabric dye, a beautiful honey-yellow, lovely and rich. Some decades later people realized it could be used as an explosive and introduced it to wartime ordinance. An innocent invention turned to a weapon of slaughter.

[ his smile is sad, but understanding. ] I don't mean to be pessimistic, but I know the reality. The world can be a cruel, unhappy place. We can only hope to leave some good behind us, like seeds in a garden, whether they flourish into a garden or wither it up to them, but it only takes one person to nurture a seed. It only takes one ripple to show that person the seed is worth caring for.

[ don't tell copley that joe is paraphrasing the pitch of his creepy scrapbook boards. ]