|
I guess most of us at some point in their life have thought about the hypothetical situation where you, with your current knowledge, would be sent back into some point in history.
Just curious. How would you do there? What would you do? And perhaps the most intriguing question: what knowledge would you be able to use and how far would it get you in the world. What knowledge would be useless? Would be a farmer, a knight, a scholar, a king?
Some things to consider:
- You assume they speak English or a language you know, but it might be the form they used at that time.
- You assume tools and the likes are limited to that time, you didn't bring anything you can't carry with you (on foot)
- You assume you have to build a life there: earn money, marry, ... You cannot go back.
- You have the knowledge you have today, but of course, you can learn there.
Do indicate where in history you landed (ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, Roman empire, Middle Ages, ...)
Personally, chances are I would die in some horrible fashion. 
|
|
|
|
|
V. wrote: Personally, chances are I would die in some horrible fashion.
If I somehow survived I'd probably kill myself.
No way I'd want to live in those barbaric times with the knowledge I have now.
Anyway, if that also isn't an option I'd put my strong analytical mind to work so I can figure out who to befriend and how, climbing my way up the social ladder, ultimately becoming rich and respected.
Just kidding, I'm a programmer, I'd still die 
|
|
|
|
|
Last week should be pretty safe, and sufficiently lucrative in terms of lottery numbers etc. that I can survive and then do what I like.
Going back before I was born gets into "nasty times" very quickly: WWII, then the Depression, WWI, and almost immediately the pre-machine, pre-medicine ages when you do indeed die pretty quickly. Heck, toilet paper wasn't invented until the 1850's, and that was like sandpaper! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
OriginalGriff wrote: Going back before I was born...
Here I expected something like the 100 year war. 
Why do you have to make things so complicated?
Join a merry band of Vikings, enjoy a few trips to France, England and Ireland until you can build yourself a nice big house from your share. Bonus points if you do some research to go on the most lucrative raids.
My personal tip: Go to Paris (885 - 886). You may have to row a ship up the Seine, even carry it past some obstacles. Once you are there, you must do nothing more than looking barbaric enough, so that they will try to bribe you to go away.
|
|
|
|
|
Are you well practiced in swinging a 2 ~ 3 Kg sword (or even using a Seax)?
Because they were seriously expensive - more than your house in relative terms - and the skill needed to use one without being killed needs a huge amount of practice. And duels, feuds and just plain murders were common in Viking groups.
If you just "dropped in" without your own equipment, you'd be lucky to be fighting with a pointy stick ... against people who were used to a lot of hard, physical work and who have a very vested interest in killing you!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
OriginalGriff wrote: Are you well practiced in swinging a 2 ~ 3 Kg sword
As good as you can without really hacking people to pieces. The fights, of course, were choreographed. You might add 25kg chainmail and a heavy shield to the list.
OriginalGriff wrote: And duels, feuds and just plain murders were common in Viking groups.
Like any warrior in history, they also needed to rely on the others. All the things you mentioned were personal, which quickly happened when they thought you were unreliable. So, minding your own business and showing some competence may help a lot whenever you join some group of boyscouts.
OriginalGriff wrote: be fighting with a pointy stick
Everything is a lethal weapon in the hands of a Ninja.
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks to my superior scholarship and math skills I could probably easily join the Mage's guild.
After that, we're in business! 
|
|
|
|
|
|
I guess the Unseen University is better than nothing! 
And if I am not a student there, I am sure to be a study! 
|
|
|
|
|
Classes there are, as you know, in a quantum state. Both the professors and the students have better things to do and when nobody attends, nobody can say for sure wether or not they took place.
|
|
|
|
|
I didn't know that one.. But sounds just like it probably is! 
|
|
|
|
|
I know it's a cliche and everyone says they'd use their chance of time travel to horrible people before they could inflict their evil on the world, but if I could go to any point in time I'd go back and kill J K Rowling.
|
|
|
|
|
Ok, you caught my interest. Why ? 
|
|
|
|
|
She's made millions from writing s***t books and now acts like some kind of moral arbiter for everyone, using her influence to spread her deeply retarded left-wing libertarian views to the impressionable minds that look up to her.
|
|
|
|
|
Ah like Bono from U2 ?
|
|
|
|
|
Yes. Only worse. Although, at least JK.R doesn't push her books through your letterbox.
|
|
|
|
|
Only because they are so damn thick!
Coming soon: "Harry Potter and the Structurally Reinforced Bedside Table"!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
I used to have a how to book, given to me by my father when I was a sprat, half a century ago. I loved reading it, things like how to make soap, concrete, how to build things and all sorts of traps and survival stuff.
I have since forgotten 95% of it and the book is now gone so I would probably die rather rapidly.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
|
|
|
|
|
Well, I have this book, but that might help me more in the future ...
|
|
|
|
|
I would go back 8 years and buy a sh*t load of Taylor Wimpey stock. It was 4p a share, now it is 180.
|
|
|
|
|
I'd go back ~35 years and invent managed flash memory before Eli Harari et al did so. That would make me rich and famous enough for my tastes. 
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
--Winston Churchill
|
|
|
|
|
Well, language would be a barrier, but I would be quite interested in going back to the time of Christ or Buddha and experiencing that part of history in first person.
Any knowledge I bring would really be quite useless, and therefore I would most likely be quite useless, and therefore die destitute from some nasty disease or starvation.
Marc
Latest Article - Create a Dockerized Python Fiddle Web App
Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802
|
|
|
|
|
Marc Clifton wrote: I would be quite interested in going back to the time of Christ or Buddha and experiencing that part of history in first person
Sweet. And as usual, the whole lot of us on CP would be looking forward to reading your article based on your first-hand experience with the matter.
|
|
|
|
|
On a related thought:
Assume you went back to a point before they were using your current calendar. How would you work out what time period you'd landed in?
If you were lucky, and able to speak the language, you might be able to get someone to tell you about recent events, which might give you a clue. But given how slowly news would travel, and how little most people would have known about events beyond their own village, it's a long-shot.
And what if the events they thought were important at the time aren't the events that made it into the history books? Or if you've landed before recorded history (or at least the part of it you remember from school)?
There's rather a lot of history, and only a tiny window where an unprepared time traveller could reliably determine the period.
Putting Time In Perspective - UPDATED - Wait But Why[^]
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
|
|
|
|
|
V. wrote: You assume they speak English or a language you know, but it might be the form they used at that time.
So, if I went back in time in the Netherlands, I'd end up in Medievel England? Depending on the time-period, there would only be some grunts in a proto-language.
V. wrote: You assume tools and the likes are limited to that time, you didn't bring anything you can't carry with you (on foot)
Most raw materials will be on site available.
V. wrote: You assume you have to build a life there: earn money, marry, ... You cannot go back.
Building a life does not require marriage(s).
V. wrote: You have the knowledge you have today, but of course, you can learn there.
..yeah, sitting around the campfire as a caveman, huddled in a bearskin, explaining how OOP is far better than procedural programming.
V. wrote: Do indicate where in history you landed (ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, Roman empire, Middle Ages, ...)
The stone age.
First introducing hygiene (soap is easy to make), next stop iron-age (skipping bronze). Once done, the race would be on to develop bread and search for chickens (or similar tasting animals) - no other way to introduce KFC in the new post-stone-age.
Yeah, sounds great, until you realize you're on the wrong continent and there will not be any coffee around for another 13000 years. Imagine those mondays..
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
|
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
