Submitted 1 day ago by Kookie215@lemmy.world to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
Its the 12th century and you’ve had no time to prepare, after you’re done reading this post you are snapped. What do you do?
The Ring of Fire series which is about this concept was such an amazing read. Unfortunately the infinite branching plotlines became way more than I could handle.
First off. Do I get to bring stuff with me? Like say the entire printed off contents of wikipedia.
also, I would like find one or two things that hadn’t quite been invented yet and ‘invent’ it.
also, Also, with a modicum of military power, I’d probably start a religion.
In what language? Modern English didn’t exist yet and neither did pretty much any modern language. Good luck trying to get the local nobles and priests to decipher the hundreds of codices you brought with you that are in some strange language that nobody has seen before
Wikipedia is for my benefit, so I can just read it.
Nobody else needs to even know I have it, necessarily.
Them not being able to read it might even be a boon.
The goal is to get a leg up on things, not start having nuclear reactors in the medieval era.
For example muskets had an iterative development as small incremental changes took place. Relatively small changes made modest improvements.
It would also be nice to know when eclipses are about to happen, for, ah, reasons.
I don’t have the knowledge to survive in the 12 century so either some Native Americans find me and are kind enough to teach me to survive
Or I just die.
I become a scribe or accountant, since I can write cursive, do math, and know some Latin.
There was a monastery within walking distance of my home at that time, so that’s where I’d head first.
I’d cry, curse god’s name even more than I do currently, and then probably die from boredom.
1375? Bro that’s the. Middle ages. Fucking kill me.
I’d write the harry potter series from memory. And all the star treks.
This seems like a good idea, but you would have to make a lot of changes to make it relevant to the times. I think it could work
Try to use some type of boiling water technique to invent drinkable sanitary drinking water that doesn’t get me drunk (might not be necessary in some parts of Asia)
Most parts of the world that is not North America: try to convince some wealthy persons and bar owners to sponsor me to getting a bunch of bread molds and rats/mice, possibly even pigs, to conduct antibiotics and vaccine research, otherwise I might die from random sources…
Not sure if I could reasonably do those given my limited biology knowledge, but I guess they are worth trying. Besides that I’d just try to be less blunt/offensive so I don’t get sent to jail and try to live my best life I guess
You’d have to work pretty hard to get drunk on small beer.
Slowly and with plenty of witnesses invent the toilet. But like out of wood pieces like a barrel or ship. Rain barrel on the roof for water. Start suggesting more contained sewage.
Should be just enough to not get dead for heresy or something but live comfortably and help a shitty situation.
They had sewage and toilets since Roman times. It wasn’t affordable to many (and you couldn’t make it affordable) but they definitely knew how to make it.
I’m doing pretty good then. Where I live has been so historically abundant in resources that people were able to just sort of vibe.
I would also establish a calendar, convey it to the locals, and warn them of what is to come along with a timeline.
I would be among Native Americans in what is now the Seattle area. To them I would be a gibbering idiot who didn’t even know their language, and they would probably kill me.
Start making siege weapons.
Well, I know about hygiene about various diseases, and even how to treat them. I’m also running for my life to the nearest forest, as I don’t have any way to prove I’m not a Vagabound or invader, and I can’t communicate.
There’s no choice but to try to hide deep inside a forest, and try to find a river or lake. I would eventually be forced to drink dirty, risking parasites, unless I get lucky enough to find what I need to purify it.
As soon as that is taken care of, I would focus on covering up my tracks, digging some sort of shelter to hide from medieval people, my next step would be to ensure a food source like fishing, or finding plants I recognize as edible, which might be where I mess up and die (A lot of plants look similar to poisonous ones, mushrooms too).
Next step would be making bog iron, finding copper, and so on, to make life easier at first, but then to defend myself against being discovered.
Let’s skip the “I have no basic survival skills” part (also skipping disease) and assume we find a nearby group of humans. If you approach first contact carefully they’d probably let you live with them in exchange for labor, giving you time to learn the language.
I think I have enough ambient exposure to modern technology that I could contribute at least 3-4 major innovations to my group over a couple decades. The challenge would be conveying and implementing ideas more than remembering them. You’re not going to get back to modern standards of living in your remaining time traveled years no matter how much you remember, but what little you can impart to others would earn your keep.
I don’t know what all the innovations would be, but germ theory and pasteurization come to mind.
The first and easiest thing would be to invent calculus. I’m sure other things would pop up situationally, I could probably get basic electricity going with a bit of experimentation.
I claw my way out of a few feet of soil, and walk about thirty minutes to where the local Olhone maintained a ceremonial shellmound from 800 BCE until the arrival of the Spanish in the 1700s. By all accounts the Olhone were chill hunter-gatherers, so my best bet would probably be to befriend and join them.
They’d be more knowledgeable than me about everything in the local environment, so I don’t think I’d have much knowledge that would be of use to them. (They seem to have known of other nearby groups that practiced agriculture, but saw no need for it.) I might eventually consider traveling north or south along the coast, but many other groups in western North America practiced warfare and/or slavery, so I’d probably be best off staying put.
Get to smelting!
Good luck finding enough wood for that ! Energy was reaaaally expensive back then.
Probably die of gangrene after stubbing my toe or something else stupid. Prior to modern medicine, diseases and things we think of as mild were often deadpy.
Clearly I am OVERprepared for this with my VAST knowledge of Doctor Who. And nothing else.
arotrios@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Prophecy some major upcoming events, subsequently market myself as a saint, grab a comfy church position, sell indulgences, profit. Works in pretty much any era.
CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 1 day ago
You can name some upcoming events between 1375-1376 that would get you enough fame to make a living, off the top of your head?
FelixCress@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Or be burned on a stake.