Thread If you got sent back in time 500 years, how could you change things?

but you're waking up in london naked

you don't have a textbook

if domo changes the parameters I can write more interesting stuff but given those limitations almost everyone alive today that isn't an expert in 16th century england would die within weeks at best
 
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the only parameter i will change is from "500 years ago" to "a period at least 500 years ago".

You pick the time and locale, as long as its at least 500 years ago.
 
If i had to make the trip, I'm not sure if I would be tempted to arrive pre or post plague in London (1665, 1666 was the great fire I believe.) Get immunized beforehand no matter which I choose.

Either one, I'd probably try to get up with Hooke or maybe Comstock and advance the shit out of some engineering.

Also, tattoos of all the important info would knock out most of the problems that came up previously.
 
kiwi said:
I'd still make my way to California and hit the gold rush early.
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This

then I would deposit it all with wells fargo, left in trust to my future, today self. I'd say 'Already went back in time. here's your cash. No need for you to go back. Best just to get lots of hookers and blow'
 
Domon said:
the only parameter i will change is from "500 years ago" to "a period at least 500 years ago".

You pick the time and locale, as long as its at least 500 years ago.
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The 500 years part is the kicker. 1515 is 70 years before the founding of roanoke. Things were so bad a whole bunch of people hopped ship to take over a foreign land at shitty odds just to get the fuck away from europe, and they did so fast. 1515 was the period when it was all really starting the big downward swirl.

I guess, if I knew beforehand that I was being sent, but had no choice and HAD to go, I'd spend all my time learning blacksmithing, smelting, and swordmaking techniques and learn Japanese both spoken and written and pick someplace around Osaka, and become a master swordsmith.
 
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Duke said:
I guess, if I knew beforehand that I was being sent, but had no choice and HAD to go, I'd spend all my time learning blacksmithing, smelting, and swordmaking techniques and learn Japanese both spoken and written and pick someplace around Osaka, and become a master swordsmith.
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You'd be even more out of place and shunned there than London with the crazy talk that MLB mentioned. They were incredibly xenophobic and their feudal system was very rigid. They took to trade with Portugal easily enough around that time, but they didn't easily allow them to put down roots.
 
I guess I'd get my vision laser beamed before I went back in time.

500+ years ago as a woman, ugh. Just glom on to a powerful guy who isn't a total idiot, and try not to get pregnant, I guess.
 
my little brony said:
find something favorable about the situation?

ok well, let's assume it's spring and I show up in the early morning in some alley that way I don't have to worry about freezing to death in november

At this point survival is the game. To survive I need water, food, and shelter from the elements. Three days to find water, three weeks to find food but I'd rather not use that allotted time especially since the cholera will have an easier time fucking me up if I'm dehydrated and starving. But it can wait, the first thing I need to find it some rags. Some kind of clothing. Hopefully I appeared in an area of london that could be considered middle class for the time. Not in the slums where I might get raped and murdered (possibly even in that order) but also not in a wealthy area where I'll be immediately arrested for vagrancy.

So let's find some clothes hanging out to dry. Some kind of pants, a shirt, and enough extra rags to wrap around my feet. We don't want to be creating open wounds on our feet in a place like this because, again, cholera. Now I need water that isn't a horse and people shit smoothie so it's either steal it from someone with clean water - might be hard to find - or get it in another form. I'd start stealing from fruit vendors but I honestly don't know what fruits existed in 16th century england and how much water they contained. I'm thinking that no matter what I do I'm going to have to take it from someone else. Since we all agree go big or go home, I'll look around for a sharp object. Perhaps steal a knife from a butcher.

Then break into a nice but not well guarded home and take the people hostage. After some difficulty in trying to communicate I'd inform them that they will be safe as long as I get food, clean water, clothes, and some money. In addition to taking some valuables I'll look through their library for anything useful. A map of london, perhaps. Maybe see if they have some better weapons than whatever sharp stick I managed to use.

Now that I've solved the short term survival issue it's time to figure out long term survival. Plus how to use my knowledge of the future to alter the world because why not, right? So let's get two birds stoned at once. While I know enough of the basics of newtonian physics to get by I won't be able to do anything notable enough in a short amount of time. Notable enough to provide me with a living, at least. I think the only way to do so in a reasonable manner is to have the support of the academics. Find a scientist or physician, do my best to explain the things I know and find ways to prove them. Hopefully ingratiate myself with them enough that I can make a living and over time contribute to the knowledge of the world.

So basically, steal shit until I can figure out whether I should travel to Cambridge or Oxford.
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Jeez that's dumb. Why wouldn't you just call me and get me to fetch you. I knew London really well back then.
 
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I'd start my own break away church from Catholicism that would ultimately teach atheism. Lots of other splinter churches were starting out around that time I believe.

It would be the best way to have a massive positive impact on the future.
 
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