24 replies to this topic

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

If a magical being (genie, leprechaun, fairy godmother, creepy weird guy in robes, etc.) offered you the following bargain, would you take it:

 

You could be fabulously wealthy and powerful beyond your wildest dreams, but you would have to live in the year 1500 CE.  (I chose this date because it is traditionally considered to be the beginning of the Renaissance.) 

 

So let me clarify the parameters:  If you lived in, say, England, you could not be the king, but you could be a wealthy and powerful duke with a great deal of influence.  While the throne will never be yours, it is likely your children will marry well, perhaps even royally so, so who's to say where your bloodline could go?

 

You cannot bring anything with you from the present except knowledge (somehow you will speak the contemporary language as well as you do modern English — it's fucking magic).  You will start out wealthy and powerful, what happens to you from that point is entirely up to you.  Oh and you can go anywhere on Earth.

 

Would you take that deal?  And if so, where would you go and what would you do?

[rotty]

Staying here, I like my A.C. and microwave way to much 

[Haflinger]

Being wealthy and powerful is kinda overrated. So ... no.

 

I would probably give up my life now for a genie that promised me a long life in perfect health in the 16th century though.

[Thrash]

I don't know when 1500 C.E. is, so I can't give an answer.

[rotty]

A.D. = Anno Domini (Latin) or After Death (of Christ)

C.E. = Common Era

Same thing

[Haflinger]

C.E. is the non-religious term for A.D. I've always thought it's childish.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

I don't know when 1500 C.E. is, so I can't give an answer.

 

Give me a fucking break.

[PrinceVegeta]

Hmm, a lot of money, go anywhere in the world...Start my own country, and prepare for world domination.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

World domination would be pretty tough in 1500, given the limitations in transport and communication.  Besides, there were plenty of established players who might object!

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

A.D. = Anno Domini (Latin) or After Death (of Christ)

C.E. = Common Era

Same thing

 

It's actually after the birth of Christ.  If he were real, he would have died in 33 AD.  Anyway CE is the currently accepted term amongst non-religious historians.

[PrinceVegeta]

World domination would be pretty tough in 1500, given the limitations in transport and communication.  Besides, there were plenty of established players who might object!

 

But you also said we can bring knowledge with us. With that, my countries military prowess would be above its time, as well as its development overall. I could change history. C:<

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

You could certainly try.  The question is whether modern knowledge would be enough.  Remember, we have 500+ years of Renaissance, Enlightenment, etc., behind us, and all the accumulated learning that goes along with it.  There's a cool time travel short story in which an engineer from the 20th century is transported to the year 1000.  At first he thinks he will easily wow these "savages" with his advanced knowledge, but he quickly finds that without the basic underpinnings of technology his skills are useless.  It would be like trying to teach someone calculus before they've even learned multiplication.  I wish I could remember the name of the story.

[PrinceVegeta]

Oh well yes. Of course we'd have to start with the basis tech of the time, but getting from one point in development to the other would be much faster. 

[Joshua]

Italy sounds like the placeto be for me, being witness of the rise of art, Leonardo paints the Mona lisa, Michael Angel sculpts David, St. Peter Church starts in rome, that would be the enjoyment part but, i do believe knowledge is power and knowing events that will occur certainly gives me a clear advantage on things such as battles, wars, as i should be aware of what movements my enemy would do 

[Haflinger]

Yeah, and Borgias. No thanks.

[KiWi]

I just don't know.

I think I'd need some guarantee of health/longevity. I don't even need to be that rich. But then again, I'm trying to twist the conditions. I mean why do we want to be rich? For me, the status aspect, isn't such a big part, as it is the ability to pursuer certain interests, fancies, material goods and conveniences. You wouldn't have those things (Air conditioning, sports cars, ability to be front row at all your favorite concerts, etc).

Now, if I went back, and what Jorost brought up (if you think of that story let us know) is a very good point. Depending on how, or how much information you can bring back. Even if they'd still be lightyears behind us currently (socially, mentally, just everything), perhaps you could help it along. How though without hindering the growth of the arts, the sciences, without artificially giving them results, that they mental, and physical capacity to support isn't there yet. Are there spots where you can help correct a mistake that would be made for years, and set us on the path to enlightenment (in more than one way), earlier? Better than we have now.

Basically, if I go back with all this information, could I do more good, than bad, and by the time history rolls back around to, 2013 lets say, will more deaths have been caused? More pain and suffering occurred, and ignored? Would we be a harder people, or not already obtained (or kept) what advances in civil liberties, democracy, civil discourse, what have you, we have. Would I have ruined the progress of science? Of the state of humanity?

I don't know man.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

Oh well yes. Of course we'd have to start with the basis tech of the time, but getting from one point in development to the other would be much faster. 

 
Maybe.  You'd still just be one person starting from nothing.  Let's say you wanted to build a grenade.  How?  Where do you start?  What's the chemical composition of the explosive in a grenade?  Where do you get it?  Etc., etc.  Remember, you'd have to be able to answer all these questions off the top of your head — there's no internet in the 16th century, and no one to help you.  And there's not a lot of room for trial and error.  One wrong move and you'd be remembered as the strange visitor who blew himself to bits!  I think it would be a lot harder than you think.

[Haflinger]

There are other useful devices from the 21st century that you could "invent" that would be a lot less risky than trying to invent a grenade, of course.

 

But yeah. I mention good health as being something that would lure me to the 16th century because it's not something I have here. Of course it would have to be a wish granted by the djinn, because 16th century healthcare is well not so good.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

It was highly variable.  In some cases it was surprisingly good, given the technological limitations of the time.  But those limitations were pretty significant.  Even the most skilled practitioners still believed in the "four humours" theory of medicine, and had no concept of germs.  They were not as unsanitary as later chroniclers would have us believe, however.  Experience and observation would have taught them that clean wounds heal better.  But bleeding was still a common, and highly unhelpful, treatment.  As was cupping, hardly better.

[Redezra]

Screw that shit. I'd only go forwards