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You must pick a point in human history before the 1950s to be spend the rest of your life in. What era and place would you choose? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 11 months ago by hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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You would still have the same age, gender, personality, skin color, etc. and you would be able to speak at least one local language and would know basic information of the era and place. Your family, social standing, and such would be randomly picked.

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[–] livus@kbin.social 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Problem with that plan is you don't know if you will be a slave.

[–] MudMan@kbin.social 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Not necessarily insurmountable, but still a good point.

You may still have an easier time getting things up and running as a slave in antiquity than as a serf in the Middle Ages, depending on where you end up. Pretty sure you'd have a better shot as a slave in antiquity than in the US or other colonial areas, both because colonialism reeeeally sucked and because you'd have relatively more valuable skills.

[–] livus@kbin.social 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

@MudMan I think the odds are much better if you're a non-chattel kind of slave, for sure.

[–] MudMan@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Don't get me wrong, you could also just materialize chained up to the bottom of a mine or in the middle of a war campaign lasting 40% of your lifespan and die in a week.

It's just since the premise doesn't say you get to refuse at least this way you'd have a good chance at just absolutely smashing it and maybe bypassing some of the real nasty stuff on the way to technological advancement.

[–] livus@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago

@MudMan totally. Nowhere's completely safe. This kind of thought experiment is always going to be a numbers game.