How would you survive and prosper if sent back in time with no possessions?

[m k]

How would you explain your blue blood hands without a background?

 

[Mark44]

That would be secondary. Given that I don't know anything about hunting/chopping wood or any other such basic thing, I wonder if I'd actually survive. Also, I don't know anything much about the lifestyle in previous times so I'd be heavily dependent on someone else.

I agree. Many people are so "civilized" and dependent on modern-day infrastructures and technologies, that they aren't able to survive without them even now, let alone 200 years ago. Just the simple action of making a fire is a skill that many don't have.

Depends on where you want to be 200 years back.You don't really need to know chopping/hunting to live

If you were transported to a cooler climate, such as northern Europe or parts of North America, having the skills to cut wood might be essential. In the tropics you might be able to survive on fruits and such, but in desert areas such as the Sahara and Saudi Arabia, hunting would be a crucial skill.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

I just realized that as I'm a competent pianist and violinist with a large repertoire of memorised music that would be an excellent way to establish some sort of status - although I'm not sure what they would think of Chopin and Rachmaninov's music before they had been born!

 

[Mark44]

I'm not sarcasting at all!

Oh, cute! You've turned the word "sarcastic" into a verb. :!)

Sure,
I sarcast
you sarcast
he/she/it sarcasts

we sarcast
you (pl.) sarcast
they sarcast

 

[fresh_42]

... although I'm not sure what they would think of Chopin and Rachmaninov's music before they had been born!

Chopin should work but Rachmaninov could you end up in a place where they button up their jackets on the rear ...

 

[rootone]

I will know in advance the result of every forthcoming horse race, not to mention stock market fluctuations, lotteries, elections, wars, and important scientific discoveries.
I should be able to get very rich before eventually being imprisoned or assassinated,

 

[fresh_42]

Sure,
I sarcast
you sarcast
he/she/it sarcasts

we sarcast
you (pl.) sarcast
they sarcast

Is it I sarcasted or as to cast simply I sarcast?

 

[Mark44]

Is it I sarcasted or as to cast simply I sarcast?

For the past tense (preterit), most authorities () favor "I sarcast", similar to "the fisherman cast his line into the river."

 

[micromass]

I will know in advance the result of every forthcoming horse race, not to mention stock market fluctuations, lotteries, elections, wars, and important scientific discoveries.
I should be able to get very rich before eventually being imprisoned or assassinated,

Really? You know the outcome of any horse race and stock market fluctuation of 1816?

 

[rootone]

well a lot of them anyway, since before I travel back in time much of the information will be available as historical records.

 

[micromass]

well a lot of them anyway, since before I travel back in time much of the information will be available as historical records.

You didn't read the first post did you? You must rely on your knowledge now, no studying allowed.

 

[rootone]

OK I missed that, I thought you just couldn't take anything physical with you.

 

[ebos]

I'd make a few lame predictions and then start my own religion. Then I'd grab a whole bunch of land (with my flock) where I know gold hasn't been discovered yet in 1816. Put them to work. The rest is history...

 

[collinsmark]

More than that, even if you are an expert on history, including the details of horse races and stock market fluctuations, it might not help you.

Many (perhaps even most) physicists would argue present the argument that if you did find yourself transported back in time, events would might then unfold increasingly independently of the history that brought you into your world (and ultimately into your time machine).

This is particularly true if the correct interpretation of quantum mechanics (QM) is the "Many Worlds" interpretation. You could go back in time, but there's essentially a zero chance that events would unfold as they did in your "knowledge" of history. Because you know only 1 history out of a vast number of possible histories.

So if that turns out to be the way time works, one's knowledge of specific events (e.g., horse races, stock markets, and even the results battles, wars and political upheavals) might turn out to be essentially useless.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

If you're trying to be realistic, I hate to think what would happen to the locals when I brought in 21st century germs, and I don't think my resistance to 19th century germs would be very good either. But I could play a good funeral march.

 

[mfb]

For 1816, assuming we can change the history, and assuming I don't get killed by the first disease that runs around. I looked up the historic discovery/invention dates after I wrote the text, I didn't know them but they wouldn't be relevant in this time travel scenario.

Can we bring the clothes we wear? Modern clothes would be impressive in 1816 or earlier. Wandering around naked, on the other hand, can make the start very challenging.
Survive: Find someone friendly enough to let you sleep+eat there, offer reading/writing or teaching how to read/write in return if possible, or worst case some work that doesn't require any modern-day knowledge.

Get in contact with academia: Assuming I land in western Europe or the US, I would try to get in contact with someone working on physics. 1816 is just in time to steal the discoveries that electric current produces a magnetic field (Ørsted 1820) and a moving magnet an electric field (Faraday 1821), and the invention of the first DC motor (Barlow 1822). Write down Maxwell's laws. That should be sufficient to get established as physicist, and gives more time and resources for further inventions/discoveries in collaboration with others. I don't know all the details of the key experiments and certainly cannot "just" reproduce them, but I know where to look.

Help improving electric sources and components, if the problem is a lack of knowledge.
Find the Hall effect, establish electrons as positively charged!
Invent a Geiger counter, discover radioactivity. Introduce the concept of atoms.
Invent the periodic system.
If chemists at that time can make an alpha source of sufficient activity, perform the Rutherford experiment, discover the electric nucleus.
See if a mass spectrometer is possible to build.
...
All those things need increasingly large collaborations, but if you know where to look you can probably advance many discoveries.

Special relativity: Only if Michelson-Morley has been done, or if no one questions things I predict any more...
Quantum mechanics: Maybe once the hydrogen spectrum has been measured (Balmer series: 1885)
Relativistic QM, QFT, GR: I could point others to what they should look for, but I can't write it down as complete theory.

More particle physics: If the tools allow it.
Other physics: Also largely tool-dependent. Sure, I know that the CMB exists, that galaxies receed and so on, but without the devices to measure that it doesn't help.

 

[Joyal Babu]

mfb you have nailed everything down perfectly.If you were ever to time travel you might just end up being the most revered and intelligent person in human history.

 

[Joyal Babu]

Say guys what might we expect to find two hundred years into the future.What might be the most profound change?Definitely we have become very advanced compared to our ancestors 200 years back,can we actually expect such a huge change 200 years from now?If yes what all might it be.Which all science fictions can actually become reality.

 

[mfb]

can we actually expect such a huge change 200 years from now?

Unless something catastrophic happens, I would expect even more. Research progress and also its impact on our lives tend to get faster. Life in 1913 (to avoid the war) was different from 1813, but no comparison to the 2013 world.

1963? Different from 1913, but computers were still exotic massive devices, and the internet an experimental thing between a few academic institutes. Number of people working on computers for most of their time: negligible. Average time spent on computers for things other than work: even more negligible. The C64 was still 19 years away.

 

[EnumaElish]

Say guys what might we expect to find two hundred years into the future.What might be the most profound change?Definitely we have become very advanced compared to our ancestors 200 years back,can we actually expect such a huge change 200 years from now?If yes what all might it be.Which all science fictions can actually become reality.

Genetic engineering of, and across, species an everyday occurrence - and problem. Heavily regulated by governments, officially restricted to certifiable cases of medical necessity and public interest done in licensed labs, yet unofficially performed in backstreet alleys for physical and mental enhancement, with side effects - some rather unpleasant for the bearer, others for the public, yet others for both.

 

[HyperTechno]

Assume that you are being sent back in time. You can choose the exact time period, but it has to be more than 200 years ago. You cannot bring anything with you.

How would you use your current knowledge in order to survive? Would you be able to get rich/famous/powerful? Note: you cannot learn anything new before going, you'll have to rely on everything you know right now.

Assume that language barriers won't be an issue.

Well I'll be sort of an imaginer/dreamer. Before I go, I'll study the technological accomplishments that happened from 1816 to today(not necessarily the technological details, but the concepts), and I 'll go to past and become a dreamer who dream about technology! Well as I know that what I know can really be accomplish-able, I'd find a place in the society among the educated class like what Arther C Clerk had!

 

[micromass]

Before I go, I'll study the technological accomplishments that happened from 1816 to today

Read the first post, you're not supposed to look up extra information.

 

[HyperTechno]

Read the first post, you're not supposed to look up extra information.

Alright... I'm thinking!
Well , I still know about so many technological advancements the mankind has had since the coal age! And I'll use that knowledge to do that dreaming thing after I travel to past! As I know that those technological advancements are really achievable , I might be a successful dreamer!
And I can use whatever creativity I have to form more creative concepts upon my knowledge and make the world achieve things more creatively and in early stages! Ex: invention of smart watch before the smart phone!

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Alright... I'm thinking!
Well , I still know about so many technological advancements the mankind has had since the coal age! And I'll use that knowledge to do that dreaming thing after I travel to past! As I know that those technological advancements are really achievable , I might be a successful dreamer!
And I can use whatever creativity I have to form more creative concepts upon my knowledge and make the world achieve things more creatively and in early stages! Ex: invention of smart watch before the smart phone!

Well, perhaps you'd be able to write some interesting fiction!
But there's a very long way between knowing that a smartwatch is possible and having any idea how to get there.

 

[mfb]

Smartwatches were built after smartphones because making the device small enough took longer.
Same with pocket watches vs. watches for the wrist, by the way.

 

[HyperTechno]

Well, perhaps you'd be able to write some interesting fiction!
But there's a very long way between knowing that a smartwatch is possible and having any idea how to get there.

Well, It's just an example to explain what I really meant...
So It's true smart watch, even smart phone and even the Personal Computer is far far in future relative to 1816...
Similar stuff could be written as fictions or mere concepts related to old techlonogy!
Plus... Dreaming of things that would happen after centuries of periods of time (relative ti 1816) would have great effect on technological development... ( Like Arthur C Clerk writing fictions about year 3000 in his Space Odyssey series)

 

[EnumaElish]

Chlorined water. Electric battery. Hydroelectric dam. Electromagnetic dynamo. The idea that tooth cavities can be cleaned and filled; build a team to invent the tools. Steam engine. Pasteurization. Vaccination. Pneumatic tubes. First mechanical calculator. Sewage removal. Trial-and-error with asphalt. Human powered flight. Human powered submergible. Telescope. Camera. And more.

 

[HyperTechno]

Chlorined water. Electric battery. Hydroelectric dam. Electromagnetic dynamo. The idea that tooth cavities can be cleaned and filled; build a team to invent the tools. Steam engine. Pasteurization. Vaccination. Pneumatic tubes. First mechanical calculator. Sewage removal. Trial-and-error with asphalt. Human powered flight. Human powered submergible. Telescope. Camera. And more.

That's great... You going to bring the present world the future...
Well these things can not only bring the tech development in early stages than we have normally acquired, but also can alter the path the world has gone! Cuz innovative thinkers can use their thinking power to develop concepts that we have never dreamed!

 

[EnumaElish]

That's great... You going to bring the present world the future...
Well these things can not only bring the tech development in early stages than we have normally acquired, but also can alter the path the world has gone! Cuz innovative thinkers can use their thinking power to develop concepts that we have never dreamed!

Genghiz Khan could become a successful, if somewhat heavy-handed, dentist.

Shakespeare could be a financier: "Either a borrower or a lender be; For loan oft earns both itself and interest; And borrowing sharpens the edge of husbandry."

Sigmund Freud a physicist: "I am actually a man of science, an observer, an experimenter, a thinker. But above all I am by temperament a conquistador — an adventurer, if you want it translated — with all the curiosity, daring, and tenacity characteristic of a man of this sort."

 

[rollete]

I'd make some dinosaur friends.