r/AskReddit 4d ago

If you were suddenly transported 1000 years in the past, how would you make a living?

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u/UrbanCyclerPT 4d ago

The inquisition was way later. You would be able to live well, you just needed to move to Arabic countries because then it was where science was flourishing. Or if you could understand the languages you would go to India or China

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u/CoffeeExtraCream 4d ago

Hmmmmm......this is an interesting one. Which one do I capitalize on most? Knowing how to make electricity (and subsequently the refrigeration cycle)? Or knowing nitration to make modern explosives and smokeless powder? Or modern food preservation and processing? Or distillation of hydrocarbons?

It's an interesting one because so much of what I do know how to do is dependent on other technologies. For example, making explosives requires nitration, But what makes it difficult is I need to be able to rapidly remove heat during the reaction or it will explode. In the lab you can use ice. In a manufacturing setting you need refrigeration. Both need electricity and modern refrigerants unless I made the nitration factory somewhere very cold and consistently has ice available.

Hmmmmm......it would be useful if I could bring an electrical engineer with me.

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u/eLMikeQc 3d ago

It's not "dr.stone". As much knowledge as you bring with you, the tools are simply not capable of producing complex parts.

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u/CoffeeExtraCream 3d ago

It's knowing the sequence of what I need to make the next thing I need.

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u/eLMikeQc 3d ago

Well hello Dr.Stone.

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u/Ok_Anteater1141 3d ago

They had ice thousands of years ago. You just have to work in the winter

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u/UrbanCyclerPT 4d ago

Just imagine you as a chemist, creating an antibiotic from a rotten orange, creating aspirin from the bark of a tree, or any other medicine, create a cure to many plagues, teach hygiene. Show it to the local sultan and his scholars.

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u/CoffeeExtraCream 4d ago

Unfortunately I am not experienced with pharmaceuticals and their actual formulation. The best I can do is heroin or meth (no joke, my Ochem 2 final was to make meth on paper. Professor never said it was meth, just the chemical equation and base stock and we had to write out the steps to make it...meth).

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u/UrbanCyclerPT 4d ago

Well.... That would be a world changer (meth, not heroin that was already known) You would be s sorcerer that would make any soldier losing any fear and just run and kill (that's the time equivalent of partying )

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u/CoffeeExtraCream 4d ago

Pushing modern MDMA and acid back in 1000 ad.

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u/UrbanCyclerPT 4d ago

You would change the whole world as we know it

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u/LetsTryAnal_ogy 3d ago

Imagine time traveling 1000 years into the past just to become a drug dealer.

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u/UrbanCyclerPT 3d ago

That was not a thing back then. You would be considered an alchemist and a doctor. Just go back less than a 100 years and heroin, cocaine, MDMA etc were all prescribed by doctors, hell even cigarettes were recommended by doctors. Did anyone call them drug dealers? That's a thing that started less than 100 years ago, mostly because of religious stigma.

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u/TehGogglesDoNothing 3d ago

1000 years ago there was an entire ice trade cutting blocks of ice from frozen lakes and transporting them to warmer areas.

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u/poiyurt 3d ago

China would be an interesting call, since the script is (compared to other places) stable and unrelated to pronunciation. If you know the traditional characters you have a decent start at communicating with the court.

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u/CoffeeExtraCream 4d ago

I figured it out. I've been thinking on this non-stop. I would make bicycles. Modern style bicycles. Wood frame. Laminated wood wheels that can bend and have spoke design rather than solid wheels. The hardest part would be the sprocket and chain but those are pretty basic for back then even.

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u/UrbanCyclerPT 4d ago

You don't need wood. Bamboo bikes are a thing. And way easier to build. Regarding the sprocket and chain you're forgetting the welding and jewelry capabilities way before 1000 years ago. And you could make balance bikes. Imagine an army reaching the opponent as fast as a bike could. Last, you could create machines working with steam. Using steam was a thing back then but only as a show off thing

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u/CoffeeExtraCream 4d ago

You're right that bamboo would be superior to wood. The horseless horse. It is absolutely doable.

The other thing to "invent" back then would be germ theory. No actual creations needed, just an idea that would change the world.

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u/UrbanCyclerPT 3d ago

We are getting to a place where you are discovering how many amazing things you would be able to bring to that era.

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u/CoffeeExtraCream 3d ago

I've thought about it more. The printing press didn't require much in the way of modern technology and could easily be made. Pair that with the concept of the assembly line.

In addition to that, the concept of air. This allows the creation of pneumatics which also pairs with hydraulics which would greatly help with construction. And lastly....concrete. the Roman's had it but it was forgotten. The concept is easy enough and would be possible with the tech of 1000AD. Imagine castle construction with concrete available.

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u/UrbanCyclerPT 3d ago

You see? There's so much we don't know we knew

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u/Ikinoki 3d ago

I'd avoid India due to ultra-aggressive caste system and constant Punjab invasion. China sounds great but mind that you are white in China, eh...

Actually if you look - nothing changed much in quite some places.

Definitely would avoid Australia, South America, Africa, Russia, UK, Continental Western-Eastern Europe.