4 ms·

A fun thought experiment is what if you could go back in time to year nnnn, pick a time, and you could only take with you 1 lb of material, or X kg, name some r

A fun thought experiment is what if you could go back in time to year nnnn, pick a time, and you could only take with you 1 lb of material, or X kg, name some reasonable amount you can carry by hand. What would you take with you ? Fun game. But for a time greater than say 120 years, I would argue 1lb of aluminum would make you a kajillionaire since it was not until around 1900 or so that it was possible to refine it, before then it was one of the rarest materials. You could also name things like a computer, a machine gun etc. This little thought game sort of highlights the issue discussed in this thread. Imagine how much you would have made if you had been able to race that chariot guy if you had say a modern 4x4 (assuming you could find gas) although that violates the 1lb rule:)

m463 7y ago
a gun, a solar panel, and a tablet with wikipedia.
- I-M-S 7y ago
  perhaps a taser would be even more useful in this scenario since you'd be able to recharge it and not worry about ammo
akiselev 7y ago
I think the more interesting question isn't really what you carry but where you go. If you can control where you go (doesn't really matter when, as long as its >250 years ago) the obvious answer in my opinion is you take enough documentation to recreate the Bessemer process and steam engine, some historical prospecting maps, and as much gold as you can carry to pay for the manpower to build everything. If you pick the right spot (assuming it's populated) near known easily accessible iron, coal, and other mineral deposits, you'd be able to begin the industrial revolution centuries or millenia before it actually happened. The Romans had water wheels, rudimentary steam engines, steel, and coal but all of the easily accessible materials were spread out across several continents so there wasn't enough available to really develop towards industrialization. There's no real reason the technologies couldn't be bootstrapped with the right geography. It really isn't a stretch to add a section on gunpowder to the documentation and leap another age or two, bringing guns to the iron age. If my Empire Earth simulations are anything to go by, it would lead to total world domination in short order (which would then quickly collapse because long distance communication would still be centuries away). The problem with taking something like aluminum is that until it was plentifully available, no one had any idea what to do with it and it wasn't really worth all that much. I've got a 1867 Scientific American with several articles/letters to the editor arguing back and forth over its future potential with one side emphasizing the fact that since it was so rare, few people had access to it to develop technology to use it and so there was little demand. You'd basically have to bring the rest of modern civilization with you to make the material useful and valuable in a human life time. Same with computers, anything that runs on refined fossil fuels like gasoline or electricity, and so on.
Baeocystin 7y ago
I'd take a pound of modern seeds. The plants we have today are amazing in terms of productivity compared to even a century ago. And to be pragmatic, although it's fun to fantasize about being the one to start the Industrial Revolution centuries earlier, one person in ancient times is very likely to just die of disease or violence before anything grand could happen. But Farmers know what to do with seeds, and after the first harvest, the boon of plentiful crops will have spread no matter what.

m463 7y ago

a gun, a solar panel, and a tablet with wikipedia.

I-M-S 7y ago
perhaps a taser would be even more useful in this scenario since you'd be able to recharge it and not worry about ammo

akiselev 7y ago

I think the more interesting question isn't really what you carry but where you go. If you can control where you go (doesn't really matter when, as long as its >250 years ago) the obvious answer in my opinion is you take enough documentation to recreate the Bessemer process and steam engine, some historical prospecting maps, and as much gold as you can carry to pay for the manpower to build everything. If you pick the right spot (assuming it's populated) near known easily accessible iron, coal, and other mineral deposits, you'd be able to begin the industrial revolution centuries or millenia before it actually happened. The Romans had water wheels, rudimentary steam engines, steel, and coal but all of the easily accessible materials were spread out across several continents so there wasn't enough available to really develop towards industrialization. There's no real reason the technologies couldn't be bootstrapped with the right geography. It really isn't a stretch to add a section on gunpowder to the documentation and leap another age or two, bringing guns to the iron age. If my Empire Earth simulations are anything to go by, it would lead to total world domination in short order (which would then quickly collapse because long distance communication would still be centuries away). The problem with taking something like aluminum is that until it was plentifully available, no one had any idea what to do with it and it wasn't really worth all that much. I've got a 1867 Scientific American with several articles/letters to the editor arguing back and forth over its future potential with one side emphasizing the fact that since it was so rare, few people had access to it to develop technology to use it and so there was little demand. You'd basically have to bring the rest of modern civilization with you to make the material useful and valuable in a human life time. Same with computers, anything that runs on refined fossil fuels like gasoline or electricity, and so on.

Baeocystin 7y ago

I'd take a pound of modern seeds. The plants we have today are amazing in terms of productivity compared to even a century ago. And to be pragmatic, although it's fun to fantasize about being the one to start the Industrial Revolution centuries earlier, one person in ancient times is very likely to just die of disease or violence before anything grand could happen. But Farmers know what to do with seeds, and after the first harvest, the boon of plentiful crops will have spread no matter what.