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Post by Einhorn on Nov 22, 2022 16:25:52 GMT
A friend asked me an interesting question a while ago: if you were transported back in time by 500 years, what would you be able to show them how to do that they can't do already?
I'm shocked to say that I can't think of anything. My education has been in the humanities, so I don't really have any technical or engineering skills. I don't think I could even manage to reconstruct a mouse-trap. I had thought that I might be able to cause an artistic revolution by introducing perspective into art, but I've just discovered that paintings developed from the flat style we all know from works like the Bayeux tapestry to three dimensional around the start of the 15th Century; so, there's not even that.
What could you show them?
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Post by Montegriffo on Nov 23, 2022 1:13:28 GMT
How to complete a Rubik's cube.
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Post by Montegriffo on Nov 23, 2022 1:14:08 GMT
Interesting question though. I'll sleep on it.
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Post by Einhorn on Nov 23, 2022 10:11:59 GMT
How to complete a Rubik's cube. Beast!  |
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Post by Montegriffo on Nov 23, 2022 10:50:08 GMT
It's harder than you think to come up with a sensible answer.
I went through my limited skills and struggled to come up with anything.
My first thought was I could teach them how to make a decent curry but many of the spices needed would be unavailable in 1520 England. Columbus had only sailed the ocean blue some 30 years earlier so I might not even have been able to get chillies. Some Indian spices would have come along the spice route and ended up in England but they would have been ruinously expensive for the likes of scum like you and I.
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Post by Montegriffo on Nov 23, 2022 10:55:37 GMT
Then I thought of making a bicycle but fashioning one out of wood and wrought iron would be tricky. It would be too heavy to be of much use and a chain and sprockets would have been next to impossible. I could use a belt and pulley but it would be difficult to stop it slipping.
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Post by Montegriffo on Nov 23, 2022 11:29:17 GMT
Does it have to be useful?
I could probably show even the best court jester a few juggling tricks he'd never seen before.
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Post by Einhorn on Nov 23, 2022 11:42:55 GMT
Does it have to be useful? I could probably show even the best court jester a few juggling tricks he'd never seen before. No, but if I can come up with something more useful I'll feel superior. |
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Post by Orac on Nov 23, 2022 14:10:48 GMT
This is a really good question - which is allied to another slightly different question:
If the internet and our supply chains failed, do you have any skill and knowledge that is remotely useful to anyone else? If you are in the medicine field, you might feel confident, but bear in mind the supply chain is gone and so all you will have is your hands and what you could make.
On the op's question- from scrap, I could maybe build a battery that could run a small transmitter and receiver pair that could be used to demonstrate the possibility of very basic radio communication. You don't need much to make this work, the difficulty was getting the observation and theory together that suggested it might be possible - ie knowing rather than engineering. Another possibility is an electric generator driven by horses on a treadmill. I probably couldn't do it without help and so, if i had no resources i would be stuck on iron-mongering which i haven't the fogiest how to do.
I would of course be risking being burned as a witch
Good thread!
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Post by Montegriffo on Nov 23, 2022 14:18:15 GMT
You could fashion a transmitter and receiver using the late medieval technology and materials available? Not to mention a microphone and a speaker.
That would be an impressive feat indeed.
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Post by bancroft on Nov 23, 2022 14:22:40 GMT
I would emphasise making a better water and sewage system like the Romans and Greeks had.
As for batteries don't think they could make wire back then and doubt if I would know either.
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Post by Orac on Nov 23, 2022 14:29:46 GMT
You could fashion a transmitter and receiver using the late medieval technology and materials available? Not to mention a microphone and a speaker. That would be an impressive feat indeed. A microphone or speaker might be possible, but they aren't strictly necessary. If you can make anything react visibly to the receiving of the signal you allow binary (Morse code) type information. You could demonstrate the utility in theory. What i am thinking of is very basic - the transmitter would be a sparking machine. This stuff is the bread an butter of Steam Punk alternate time-lines. |
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Post by Montegriffo on Nov 23, 2022 14:34:28 GMT
I would emphasise making a better water and sewage system like the Romans and Greeks had. As for batteries don't think they could make wire back then and doubt if I would know either. Good call. You could demonstrate the link between dirt, germs and disease and save millions of lives. They were still blaming cholera and typhus on bad smells until well into the industrial revolution. You could preempt Jenner's cowpox vaccines by about 300 years while you were at it and save a few more millions of lives. |
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Post by Montegriffo on Nov 23, 2022 14:40:40 GMT
I would emphasise making a better water and sewage system like the Romans and Greeks had. As for batteries don't think they could make wire back then and doubt if I would know either. I think a good medieval blacksmith or jeweller could fashion some fine copper wire. Fine gold jewellery in this country goes back at least to Roman times and the Anglo-Saxons and Normans were very proficient. |
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Post by Einhorn on Nov 23, 2022 17:06:59 GMT
I couldn't produce penicillin, but maybe I could convince a scientist to look into it. I suppose that doesn't really count, as it would apply to many things. Besides, all I know is that it's produced from mold.
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