5 ms·

I've heard this argument made about a person time-traveling back to, say, the year 1000. You would be so cut off from the infrastructure you know and depend on,

I've heard this argument made about a person time-traveling back to, say, the year 1000. You would be so cut off from the infrastructure you know and depend on, and so i'll-prepared for the alien culture you landed in, that your knowledge of the future would be useless. But 1975? That is taking it too far. I was alive in 1975! It was different from today, but not so different that you couldn't figure it out. Yeah, you might be hard pressed to build an iPhone. But do not underestimate the awesome power of hindsight. The great thing about hindsight is that you know which ideas are likely dead ends and which are likely to pay off. Just knowing, say, that mammalian cloning is physically possible would make it a lot easier to do. You know that if you keep trying the reward is out there. I think a lot of web technology could have been built earlier if people had only known it was worth building.

rbanffy 16y ago
> I think a lot of web technology could have been built earlier if people had only known it was worth building. Well... The web browser was there in the 70's - we called it the 3278. Now, on a more serious tone, in computing we see the worst solution gaining share over better ones on a regular basis. It's only a half-joke when I say Smalltalk 80 beats Java (or C#) 2010...
seldo 16y ago
The solution is to take a modern-day invention that isn't that complicated technically -- a lot of fad items fit the bill. Would the snuggie have sold as well in 1975? How about crocs?
- jbm 16y ago
  In regards to Crocs, wasn't plastic prohibitively expensive until the late 80s?
  - jbm 16y ago
    I'm not quite sure why I'm being modded down. One of the reasons I mentioned that is that toys from the early 80s avoided the use of Plastic as it was a cost center. Are crocs not made out of some kind of plastic compound? Or is it because the plastic is easily replaceable, and people are referring to the form factor?
zyb09 16y ago
I like how everybody's most important task seems to be building an iPhone if they've traveled back 30 years in time.
meric 16y ago
I'd just bring the world map back to 1200, a print out of the wikipedia article for ingredients in gunpowder and 100 UK pounds* . It'd make me rich enough already. :D iPhone? pssh. * I don't think they'd accept my money but its worth a try; reversing 3% inflation for a eight hundred years make 100 pounds in those days worth a lot.
- maushu 16y ago
  You are aware that money does change along time, right? It would be hard to make someone from 50 years ago to accept the current currency, forget about 810 years ago. Hint: Take gold instead.
  - dkersten 16y ago
    Take diamonds back to before diamonds were plentiful. Hell, take flawless synthetic diamonds back to before when flaws where the thing to have in your diamonds.

rbanffy 16y ago

> I think a lot of web technology could have been built earlier if people had only known it was worth building. Well... The web browser was there in the 70's - we called it the 3278. Now, on a more serious tone, in computing we see the worst solution gaining share over better ones on a regular basis. It's only a half-joke when I say Smalltalk 80 beats Java (or C#) 2010...

seldo 16y ago

The solution is to take a modern-day invention that isn't that complicated technically -- a lot of fad items fit the bill. Would the snuggie have sold as well in 1975? How about crocs?

jbm 16y ago
In regards to Crocs, wasn't plastic prohibitively expensive until the late 80s?
- jbm 16y ago
  I'm not quite sure why I'm being modded down. One of the reasons I mentioned that is that toys from the early 80s avoided the use of Plastic as it was a cost center. Are crocs not made out of some kind of plastic compound? Or is it because the plastic is easily replaceable, and people are referring to the form factor?

zyb09 16y ago

I like how everybody's most important task seems to be building an iPhone if they've traveled back 30 years in time.

meric 16y ago

I'd just bring the world map back to 1200, a print out of the wikipedia article for ingredients in gunpowder and 100 UK pounds* . It'd make me rich enough already. :D iPhone? pssh. * I don't think they'd accept my money but its worth a try; reversing 3% inflation for a eight hundred years make 100 pounds in those days worth a lot.

maushu 16y ago
You are aware that money does change along time, right? It would be hard to make someone from 50 years ago to accept the current currency, forget about 810 years ago. Hint: Take gold instead.
- dkersten 16y ago
  Take diamonds back to before diamonds were plentiful. Hell, take flawless synthetic diamonds back to before when flaws where the thing to have in your diamonds.