this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2025
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No Stupid Questions

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Its the 14th century and you've had no time to prepare, after you're done reading this post you are snapped. What do you do?

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[–] Bieren@lemmy.world 1 points 9 minutes ago (1 children)

Nothing. I’d sit under an tree and enjoy the peace and quiet. No trump. No DC. No MAGA. No reporters. No non stop ads. No social media. No Google. No Elon. No bezos. The list goes on. Sure I’d probably die of some random disease or bandits. But I’d be okay with it at that point.

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 1 points 1 minute ago

Well you can do that today. Find a tree out in the middle of nowhere and sit under it without any electronic devices. Then you are oblivious to all that stuff. You may be bothered by the fact that the things are still happening, but there are also plenty of horrific things happening in that time period you went to, you just won't be keeping track of them.

[–] dotson@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 hour ago (1 children)
[–] Kookie215@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

The chances of that do seem to be high.

[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 9 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

I'd be dead since the Earth wasn't in the same position 650 years ago. Even taking that out of the equation, I'd die since I can't communicate with anyone and don't have the survival skills.

[–] Probius@sopuli.xyz 1 points 58 minutes ago* (last edited 57 minutes ago)

Actually 🤓, position and velocity are relative, so that's a nonsensical statement without defining a reference object for the Earth's position. If we're not assuming you end up safely on dry land, you could just as easily end up light-years away as wherever you were relative to the sun.

[–] dotson@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago

ah, someone who understands that celestial bodies change spatial positions with time... nice

[–] redwattlebird@lemmings.world 4 points 2 hours ago

Well, I'm in Australia so I would try and communicate with the indigenous population and teach them how to defend themselves against the upcoming colonist invasion and take advantage of what they have to offer, starting with forcing a signed treaty.

[–] Apeman42@lemmy.world 11 points 5 hours ago

Try to find the nearest shaman, apothecary or herbalist and trade my future clothes/pocket contents for some hallucinogens and painless poison. I ain't living through a time before electricity.

[–] xylogx@lemmy.world 12 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

You would die. There are many, many examples of explorers from “advanced” civilizations getting shipwrecked or stranded in an area where primitive hunter-gatherers live. Unless they are saved by the hunter gatherers, they are doomed, despite their knowledge of science and technology. Joseph Henrich talks extensively about these examples in his book, “The Secret of Our Success”

Check out this video to get an idea -> https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jaoQh6BoH3c

Yes, but what about you?

[–] WhatSay@slrpnk.net 2 points 4 hours ago

I'd go live in a cabin in the forest, again.

[–] untakenusername@sh.itjust.works 11 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I reread the Bitcoin paper yesterday, so with my newly refreshed knowledge id find the nearest mathimation, explain it to them, implement the protocol with paper records, handwritten hashes, and messages on horseback or something. After a few years when every major economic power realizes how valuable a deflationary currency that Mansa Musa doesn't control (14th century african gold-salt bazzilionare, ~400 bill USD today), the price of my currency would increase vastly, making me super rich.

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 10 points 5 hours ago

I would basically become a Jewish witch and either build a small community of people or die of some ancient plague, either way I wouldn't be thriving but I might just survive.

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 1 points 4 hours ago

Well, first I'd have to learn Old English, I think. Hell, even Middle English isn't understandable.

Hopefully I could get up to speed before they locked me up, or worse.

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago

Well I be naked, so would need to make/steal clothing very quickly

[–] ChillPenguin@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago

I would make an IT startup.

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 4 points 13 hours ago

Probably not the answer you thought, but succeed by knowing there are wild animals that could easily kill me. It's either I die by that, or wait until the lack of my blood thinners kills me, sl I'd definitely take the quicker death than the slower one.

[–] LordWiggle@lemmy.world 33 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I would kill everyone I meet with the plagues I carry which I'm immune to.

[–] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 20 points 14 hours ago

You might have a bad time with all the plagues that have gone extinct since then.

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 13 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I would teach London children the most obnoxious brain rot slang from today as a laugh.

[–] Kookie215@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

The butterfly effect of that would be weird because all of our brain rot slang would change then.

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago

Exactly, that's the fun part. Would it get worse, or swing the other way, having kids talk like uppity old money aristocrats?

[–] RandomVideos@programming.dev 6 points 15 hours ago

Use all the science i know from school to helpfully quicken scientific progress and spread trans propaganda

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 33 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Double entry accounting system.

I'm an accountant by trade. The double entry system wasn't invented until the 15th century.

I could account for any lords various assets, goods, and livestock in an efficient, reliable and accurate manner

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 7 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Being too early to market something also leads to failure

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 19 hours ago

It's never too early to efficiently count your sheep!

[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

What place do I get teleported to? If I'm teleported to the same place on Earth, then I just fell down several meters into a swamp and am probably going to die here.

[–] Kookie215@lemmy.world 6 points 17 hours ago

You teleported to somewhere safe and private, you won't fall to your death and nobody will see you lol.

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 1 points 10 hours ago

I'm building a boat to go find the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria to sink them real good. Then nuke China and Ruzzia at their palaces. Same to every "kingdom". That's what they all deserve. Complete erasure from history. Instead people would just know that there used to be an asshole who wanted everyone to work and give him all the money.

[–] MisanthropiCynic@lemm.ee 27 points 21 hours ago

Die because my medications haven’t been invented yet.

Or be murdered because I’m not christian

[–] yessikg@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

I would warn the Native Americans about the Europeans

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 9 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

Europeans would show up and my Native American homies would be armed with cartridge rifles, six shooters and a crank rotary machine gun.

I would try for better, but I think there just wouldn't be the time for fine tooling more advanced fire arms would require. Even getting all that going before I croak is going to take a lot of ambition.

Also assuming they don't think I am some evil spirit that they quickly kill when I demand industrial metal facilities be constructed.

Oh, they would probably also have penicillin before the white man, so that would be a major advantage.

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[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 12 points 19 hours ago

Wouldn't I be in like empty space?

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 34 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'm on the Gregorian calendar, 650 years ago is the year 1375. I'm in North Carolina, so if I were to snap back in time at my present location I would be a blue eyed white guy in pre-contact North America. And while I think I'm an above average candidate for the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court scenario I'm not realistically able to start "from scratch." I'd probably make it the summer on forage and my own body fat. I don't picture encountering the natives going particularly well, for me or them. I'm not sick and I'm vaccinated against a lot of shit but watch I'll give them 6 centuries worth of influenza updates.

I don't think it would help that much being plunked down in 14th century England; we're talking Geoffrey Chaucer's lifetime here, to them I'd sound insane. Modern English is a few hundred years off. If they didn't trepan me to let the demons out of my skull and I didn't die of smallpox, I'd try to invent the electric motor 500 years early and be burned for heresy or some shit.

[–] lagoon8622@sh.itjust.works 11 points 23 hours ago

The only non-delusional answer lol

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[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 18 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

I know thousands of songs. Also, musical instruments like the saxaphone haven't been invented yet.

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[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 12 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Die as you forgot to teleport me to where the earth was at the time.

Otherwise I guess my main knowledge that could be useful is some basic first aid. Secondary to that, a little bit of electrical stuff.

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[–] biofaust@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago (9 children)
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[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world -2 points 9 hours ago
  1. establish a new culture in the Americas that will unify and kill European settlers on sight.
  2. teach the native Americans about the future they're preventing
  3. teach them European science, politics, history, economics, etc
  4. give them a technological advantage that will set them ahead of Europe by 650 years by teaching them manufacturing skills.

basically, I want to destroy white colonialism. we have a toxic culture that honestly doesn't deserve to exist on a planet it wants to destroy.

I'm also curious to see how North America would turn out after 650 years have passed after I have achieved my goals.

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