Survive and Get Rich/Famous/Powerful in History: Time Travel Test

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a hypothetical scenario where participants consider how they would survive and potentially gain wealth, fame, or power if sent back in time over 200 years. The conversation explores various strategies, knowledge applications, and the challenges of adapting to a historical context without prior learning.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest using their knowledge of history to gain influence or wealth, while others express skepticism about the feasibility of this approach.
  • There are discussions about the potential perception of knowledge as "black magic" and whether people in the past would accept or utilize such knowledge.
  • Participants propose sharing scientific knowledge, such as soap-making or weapon designs, to impress or connect with influential figures of the time.
  • Some express doubts about their survival skills and knowledge of basic necessities in a historical setting, indicating a reliance on others for survival.
  • The feasibility of teaching advanced concepts like special relativity or Maxwell's laws is debated, with some questioning the relevance of such knowledge in the early 19th century.
  • One participant shares a personal strategy involving correspondence with historical figures like Newton to gain recognition and possibly publish knowledge.
  • Another participant recalls a previous discussion on a similar topic, mentioning the construction of a DC electric motor as a potential project.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a variety of opinions on the effectiveness of their proposed strategies, with no clear consensus on the best approach to survive or gain influence in a historical context. Disagreements arise regarding the relevance of certain scientific knowledge and the likelihood of acceptance by historical figures.

Contextual Notes

Participants acknowledge limitations in their knowledge of historical lifestyles and survival skills, which may affect their proposed strategies. The discussion reflects a range of assumptions about the past and the capabilities of individuals in that era.

  • #91
micromass said:
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.

2600 BCE. This (I think) is right before civilization started. I would want to do this because it was the greatest opportunity to shape our world into what it has potential for today. Mostly I think this is the case because others would be able to follow a great civilization before developing into a completely different and opposing culture. I would use my knowledge to form a civilization from the grass roots and lead that into the way I perceive the world should operate. If a large enough civilization was started, I think the average person has more than enough ideas and solutions now to prevent these problems from ever happening or at least minimize the severity. We could be 500 or more years advanced in technology and as a society.

Problems we face today that I would try to eliminate: Wars, hunger, poverty, racial tensions, communist countries, lack of literacy and education, weapons, disease, global warming, extinction, and more if I had the time to think of them all.

I would establish a strong enough society so that we could draw in others and begin exploring the world and establish micro societies with the ability to expand across the globe. We would not have to shape culture entirely as culture variation is an important part of humanity. However, cooperation would be the key. We would just need leaders from the original civilization to expand and lead each continent to prevent differences from causing war. We could then get an early start on preventing all the problems mentioned above and establish communities capable of envisioning the future based off of what I know.

The great minds would still come and I would begin starting an organization set to ensure we spread education, science, and all other key ingredients to technology and development. We would have to capitalize on each great mind from then until the present. The Newton's, Einstein's, and others may have a greater society and more information to start with than they did at their respective time. This group would be permanent. We would not be able to afford losing the concept so all that I know would be recorded. We would never let our guards down and assume that our current problems not occur again. We may not have need for development of huge armies and nuclear weapons. We would prevent them before they became too large.

Farming would begin ASAP. I would use my knowledge of farming concepts to start everywhere. Each person would have a role in society and I would try to begin a free market with monetary assets. Trade would begin as soon as other civilizations started. There would be no need to wipe out the america's or other continents. Our explorer's would already know what would ensue and we would find a way to keep ourselves from fearing others of different races. Slavery would only be a caution and not a reality. We would need to unite immediately and encourage learning form one another. Our current races would still be around, but perhaps asians, caucasians, africans, etc would be minorities and the predominant race would be a mix. People would hold power in their goverments so that we voted and evil regimes were never to be established. We would have knowledge of disease and have safe practices and preventative actions for devastating diseases such as HIV, Bubonic plague, and the flu. Once antibiotics emerged we would not abuse them and they would be used properly to prevent antibiotic resistant bacteria. The people would be aware of global warming and we could find a way to prevent it in the first place. Lastly, we would respect our environments and not pollute our earth. We would not poach animals and cause extinction. We would be a efficient society.
 
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  • #92
Seth1533 said:
2600 BCE.

Farming would begin ASAP.
You missed the establishment of farming and permanent settlements by ~5000-9000 years. The Egyptian empire starts building their first big pyramid (62m tall) in the century you picked.
Seth1533 said:
I would use my knowledge of farming concepts to start everywhere.
How much do you know about farming without modern tools or fertilizer and without modern seeds?

Even if you go back enough to be there before farming starts: domesticating crops and selective breeding to get reasonable results is a process you cannot speed up much without modern technology, and it takes centuries to millenia, way longer than your lifetime. If you are the first to start deliberate farming, you won't live to see its benefits.
 
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  • #93
mfb said:
You missed the establishment of farming and permanent settlements by ~5000-9000 years. The Egyptian empire starts building their first big pyramid (62m tall) in the century you picked.How much do you know about farming without modern tools or fertilizer and without modern seeds?

Even if you go back enough to be there before farming starts: domesticating crops and selective breeding to get reasonable results is a process you cannot speed up much without modern technology, and it takes centuries to millenia, way longer than your lifetime. If you are the first to start deliberate farming, you won't live to see its benefits.

I think you may have misinterpreted what I said and/or I wasn't exactly clear. The question asked my opinions without looking up anything right now so I took a guess at when mesopotamia arrived. So if farming was that far before, that's great. I'm not an expert on farming but the basic principals I would instill in the minds of others basically to get the process started. I really wanted to just say I would do all that I could to make sure there is an organization that captured my knowledge of the world and that the knowledge was not forgotten. I know I would miss the technological age and we would more or less be building a city the whole time in the context that I used. I understand moore's law, but my point was if a person went back in time and could tell others what to expect and try to promote education and science, let's say the lightbulb and telephone are created 200-300 years sooner and the internet was here in 1850. By now, our technology would be greatly improved. On greater terms, If somebody could have planted the idea of all of our basic understanding of the world, we could by more advanced by now.
 
  • #94
I think the time of the Greeks/Romans would have been the best then. You have to do something interesting first to get others to listen to you - telling early farmers about atoms won't work. Building a primitive steam engine, a hot air balloon or something similar is more interesting and should be possible with the technology 2000-2500 years ago. They also had ways of conserving knowledge over multiple generations.

Oh, and invent buttons with buttonholes!
 
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  • #95
Account test (I've not logged in for a while).

By His Bootstraps - Robert Heinlein.
 
  • #96
In 1816 I could confidently tell them Napoleon is never coming back. I could also tell them (assuming I'm in Europe) that it's a good time to go to America where the non partisan Era of Good Feeling is about to begin. Imagine, there will be only the nominal Democratic-Republican Party where there is widespread agreement on all the major issues in peacetime. It's hard to believe such a time ever existed.

Of course I would take my own advice and buy land in central Manhatten along the borders of what would become Central Park. The money would come from arranging passage for immigrants from Europe and loans. Actually my ancestors farmed land in Manhatten, but sold out and moved upstate because the farming was so much better (better soil, not so many rocks). Brilliant!
 
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