this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
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Depends on the rules.
Round trip to a 'read only' version of the past? I'd like to see the dinosaurs.
Round trip that can make changes? Probably a few hundred or even thousand years ago, so I could give them modern technology, information about climate change, try to educate people on social issues, etc. I'd create detailed instructions and try to make a religion out of it. There's no guarantee it would work, but I'd hopefully return to a solarpunk utopia. Honestly not sure if I would try this, as it would basically overwrite everything I've ever known.
One way trip? I'd probably pass, unless I can de-age. I would definitely want to go back to being a child with all my current knowledge.
What tech would you take back if you could though?
I haven't really thought through the details.
It would probably take decades to prepare, and to figure out what the best approach would be.
It also depends on how much I could bring back.
If it's just me and what I can carry, I think I would just bring a few things to demonstrate the tech. Maybe a high power flashlight and solar charger. The important part would be a detailed guide on how to re-enginer everything we have today, as well as the science behind it. Really, I think scientific knowledge would be the most impactful.
If this was a huge operation with near infinite resources, I would send back a giant self sustaining compound with a general purpose factory. I think it would probably be possible to sustain a roughly 60s level of technology indefinitely on a small scale until the rest of the world caught up
Any further back than 2 or 300 years and you would definitely, 100% guaranteed be burned as a witch upon arrival.
True, I wouldn’t want to get Galileo’d, and I would definitely want to stay away from Salem, haha. I think ~1750 would probably be a good time. Someone like Euler would take it seriously.
You could visit late 1700s or early 1800s and start a company that makes renewable energy. Maybe something like wind power, wave power etc, should be achievable with the technology available at the time. If your company becomes successful enough, you could compete fossil fuels out of the market. Then, invest that money into developing energy storage technologies to outcompete the internal combustion engine.
That’s a good idea, and it could make a one way trip worth it if it meant becoming super powerful. I’d also focus on medical technology, and maybe computing.
Although I’m a bit unsure of whether I could really create enough broad social change just from that. My goal would be liberation for people of all races, genders, and sexual orientations, the dismantling of capitalism and power structures, etc.
The other option would be to do far back enough so that I could be some sort of god king, which would be a lot more work technologically, but might be easier to create a religion that would canonize my instructions.
Oh, in that case… I guess you might need to bring anthrax with you and eradicate the early humans when they were all still conveniently in one continent.