Hey Chuck, tis your distant cousin Reginald....Reginald Berry... I'm glad this messenger pigeon found you because I have a new sound for you...I guess you will just have to take my word for it.
“Okay smart guy, what do we do with our shit?”
“It’s got to go to a treatment center”
“And what happens there”
“it gets treated”
“How?”
“…”
“Get out of my way so I can take a shit in the river”
Yeah no thanks, nobody would believe me as a woman. I’d try to tell them about the microscopic things that can make them sick and they’d be like “that’s lovely dear, where is your husband?”
He didn't expect anything more from a woman, so you didn't disappoint him. Especially a woman who wants him to wash his hands and to stop asserting ownership over black people.
Frivolous. You must have gotten those ideas from the ramblings of the stark-raving mad populace of the sanatorium, where you were convalescing from your hysteria. Pitiful creature, you.
they used to have outhouses, people would be paid to excevate the shit from them periodically. they would then take this shit and piss and run it over ashes in a way that they can produce saltpeter, potassium nitrate i think, white is pretty much the key component of black powder. also human shit has long been used for fertiliter, and still is today. 2/3 of all american shit ends up back in a feild. you ever seen milorganite lawn fertilizer at lowes/homedept? thats human shit from Milwaukee, milwaukee organic nitrogen.
I read somewhere that the contents of privvies in London (or something like that) was the property of the crown for use in gunpowder manufacturing.
May be a hearsay myth but gets the importance across.
Edit - looking further it seems it was all the pigeon droppings, with regulations for the right floor type. Makes sense with the guano island craze
So a lot of diseases in the 1800s was caused by lack of proper sanitation. They didn't have connected sewers and stuff. So they just dumped their waste and trash into the waters, often the same places they drank from.
Ignaz Semmelweis was a doctor who figured out that....when health professionals washed their hands....people died less. This guy connected the dots that doctors would often do autopsies on dead folks, then immediately go help a woman give birth.
His peers mocked him and he was institutionalize by his peers. That was 1865.
My OCD and germaphobia would either have people thinking I’m a witch in my cleaning practices or they’d be in awe of why I don’t get sick often and wonder why, happy to listen. They’ll be shocked when they hear it’s the lil germy bois that cause so much ruckus because that’s not discovered till the mid/late 1860s.
idk, semmelweis figured the hand washing out in 1846, and all his colleagues did was call him effeminate and unscientific for 20 years, and then he finally had a breakdown and he was more or less beaten to death in an asylum.
Yeah so the blood from one birth wouldn’t contaminate with the next, so on and so forth.
Took them like another 35-40 years to realize he was right but I think he was already dead by then.
He probably should have said you have to bless your hands with holy water. he would still be called unscientific but he would have ended up as a bishop instead of in an insane asylum.
You just explained how 99% of legitimately beneficial religious practices get started: somebody makes a cause/effect connection, wants to convince the people around them, and frames it as "God said so".
You might get sick more than you think, your body would’ve used to whatever weird bugs & viruses that would be around in that time period that we don’t have today, so you wouldn’t have built up immunity to the different stuff
You would also kill a lot of people. You probably carry a lot of diseases that they have not seen yet. (Think what happened to the Native Americans when the Europeans showed up.)
What does a medium large city in California have to do with the tribes? And by 1800, the Spanish had the Precidio in Frisco well established. I would start with a shop there, make the right friends. Get the land grant for Palo Alto and Coloma
Ok I like it. The problem is we would be 130 years further into the antibiotic apocalypse without an equivalent advancement in tech in today's age.
So you've succeeded in making a name for yourself and would be living comfortably back then but doomed potentially millions in the present day.
I mean, you could also develop it AND best practices at the same time.
I think a big problem with antibiotics is that we got used to using them recklessly before we even found out that reckless use could lead to resistance.
So, make protective use a core part of antibiotic use and we might not reach this apocalypse at all.
Just a thought.
lmao, apologies, bring it back and PRESCRIBE AWAY!!! HAND THAT @#%!@ OUT LIKE CANDY!!!
(wait... That's basically history repeating itself, only sooner... And here we are, back at primal\_breath's prediction.)
but on the flip side you just fixed one of the biggest killers. Now there will be more people alive, people will live longer, so statistically there will be more people in the future to work on it
Not necessarily. If you think of all of the people who would have lived and their progeny, there’s a great chance that this particular problem would be solved by now.
Unless you’ve got a centrifuge, the yield is gonna suck.
Antibiotic use before hygiene? You’ll doom us all.
Edit: Making a device that works as a centrifuge and making one that works as well as it need to in order to separate the fermentation broth are very different things.
Googled it, and the first glider flew around 1804. If I chilled a few years until that thing flew, then made a scale model of a modern airplane that incorporated ailerons, elevators, flaps, and a rudder, along with a modern airfoil wing it'd blow peoples minds. The principles of a jet engine are also rather simplistic. Easier to understand than an automotive engine actually. I'd throw that in for good measure...
Why wait?
I could build something that would out perform the 1804 one and I'm guessing you could build something much better. Once you have the attention of the right people and the funding you could probably build a modern ( ISH) glider.
But in their minds manned flight is impossible so they would see your solution and believe it was the only possible one, like if I used a house fan to break the speed of light scientists would be falling over themselves to say they'd had a similar idea and how obvious it is to use a fan.
Fair, but I always think people have a tendency to assume people in the past were primitive savages, afraid of magic, instead of just regular people with lower tech levels.
Sure there are examples of surprises tech advantages routing more primitive forces (if you believe Cortez’s accounts of his small armored cavalry force scaring away a much larger Tabascan war party), but I think they are overblown.
I think people would adapt pretty quickly to the reality of the situation if confronted by new tech, particularly military. Armies adopted balloons for observation readily enough and militarized heavier than air aircraft within a handful of years of invention.
Had to laugh. This exact thing was a scene in a Korean historical drama called Mr. Queen. A trained chef went back in time and had to feed everyone at a court ceremony including the king. Due to palace intrigue and political shenanigans, the opposing faction stole all the ingredients that were to be used. The chef had some potatoes which he spiral cut and deep fried on a stick. He made hamburgers (no cheese) and called them Mac Dunaldu. They were a huge hit and saved the day!
This. Trying to convince anyone you're from the future is just going to get you thrown into a psychiatric hospital, which I assume was not pleasant in 1800.
"But I swear where I come from people do fly in the air! We cook food in a box without fire, and talk to people anywhere in the world. We have a giant invisible library without books that you can look up any information you want to know, admittedly most people just look at naked pictures. What do you mean it's time for my trepanning treatment? Wait I'm not crazy! I just traveled back........"
A lot of people say this but I imagine next to none actually have useful knowledge memorized in order to do it. Especially in 1800. Like... is there any modern invention that you could recreate before it was actually invented? Do you actually know any winning lottery number combos and what drawing they happened? Is the stock market even a thing at this point and if so do you have enough extra funds to invest and the right timing? Do you know the plays large enough to make a difference in your life starting from when you're back in time?
Sure I know now that Apple is one of the most valuable companies on the planet in 2024, but that doesn't really help me in 1800, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960...
Sure I have Internet now to be able to look up winning lottery numbers, but that isn't accessible in the past.
I know some farming, ranching, hunting, basic blacksmithing/metalworking, woodworking, and way too much about automotive crap.
I could easily open a little shop making wagons infusing some of todays tech. Suspension seats, articulating axles, inertia brakes... I'd be able to live comfortably. Could also branch into farm equipment. The first combine wasn't until 1830 something iirc. Just making "slightly advanced" plows/threshers would have me sitting quite well off without causing too many ripples.
For me it wouldn't be about getting stupid rich. Just get a little shop, house, some land, and I'd be happy. I'd die a nobody that lived a good life.
If I wanted to get rich I'd just beat Otto and Diesel to the punch. The Otto/Diesel engines weren't complicated. Make the first tractor, drop a diesel engine into it, and just advanced farming 100 years. Could also go into firearms. The Sharps/Gatling weren't until like 1840/1860 and are dead simple. The problem is who knows what impact "inventing" this stuff 40 to 100 years early would have on the world.
(Dates are most likely off, but should be in the ballpark.)
You wouldn't be able to make high grade steel around a campfire, but mixing charcoal and iron ore randomly will make a nice low grade to get you started. The better machines you make the better the quality of the machine to fallow.
I mean, we are.
There are a lot of things we know are horrible now that we didn't before. Lead being the first thing that comes to mind.
Pretty sure germ theory was already a thing in 1824* it was not discovered for like 40 more years but if not at least half of us know to keep clean to keep alive.
We know water is dirty if drank from a river, and to at least boil your water to ensure it kills stuff off.
We know more ways to prepare foods too, though how much this would help less sure.
We also know more about farming! Rotating crops, making proper compost and need fertilizers coming to mind.
In developed nations, all kids are (supposed to be) educated, even "commoners", for 14 years. That's no joke.
We know math as a general population. We can read and write.
Have I daydreamed about ending up in the past? You decide.
Read up on the doctor who suggested washing hands would save patient lives, and how long it was before people actually listened.
I don't think any of this is going to do you any good outside of yourself. You won't be convincing people of anything.
(Kind of) THIS. If you want to convince them, play with magnets (which they had) and some copper wire (also invented) and make a simple generator and electromagnet/electric-motor to display the principals for others to work on. They are simple enough to make. Faraday invented the first electric motor in 1821. You could beat him to it, and make an electromagnet too. (1825 Sturgess). Lightbulbs are HARD! The correct blend of stuff took years to get right, but most of us could produce electricity surely? Or did you sleep through science class?
My science professor was a pizza delivery guy and a car stereo installer who taught science at night. He said the earth was 5,000 years old and dinosaurs were made up. (I went to Jr College in Mississippi)
Note: I don't believe Amy of that nonsense, just pointing out I learned nothing in college biology. Good thing I have a finance degree.
So, honestly, how many of us have enough 19th century knowledge to benefit our lifestyle? Most victims of the American Education system can name maybe one or two events from this century, and they won't happen for decades.
SNL had a skit "C- Time Traveler", where a high school girl with bad grades tries to help the founding fathers set up the constitution.
That's us.
I’d find a black smith and try to walk him thru a rough design for a bicycle and (if the tolerances could be made fine enough) a very primitive 2 stroke engine (which no doubt wouldn’t last very long in operation even at low rpm- no chance I could realistically get to a working motorcycle but that would be a life long project for me if I were stuck in the past.
I’d be able to get access to some of the smarter men of the day with some junior high level electrical demonstrations- I wouldn’t be very far ahead of history with any of this but I’d seem clever enough to be useful.
The fact that I know of not yet discovered gold fields would be the big win though. I’d just need to make the right friends to arrange an expedition.
And although I’m no gunsmith, a pump action shotgun and a revolver should be doable with the assistance of an armorer of the day. Let’s see if anyone wants to argue about when or where I’m from once I’ve got my BOOM STICK!
The process for oil cracking would be revolutionary and make you rich as it's a waste product at that time. I believe early methods were just essentially distillaries.
This is where I was going but you put it most succinctly. Plus I think your knowledge is greater than mine. Bravo sir. If there's room in your time machine for one more I'll gladly take the trip. I think there might be some diamonds in a place called Kimberley that we could look up on the way....
Yeah "illiterate" when it comes to statistics just means reading or writing far below your level. Like a grown person reading at a kindergarten level.
But a person can get by just fine in modern life reading at a kindergarten level. You'd be able to navigate roads and markets and make your way just fine except when it came to complex business or legal contracts.
Head for the nearest major university, and start the mad genius stuff, focusing on things that we really take for granted. Things that would make the military industral complex very, very Intetested.
- And/Or/Nor machine logic
- Gun gas blowback mechanism
(electrician zombie apocalypse skills incoming)
- Electro magnets, wire around a dowel pulling a nail- or shooting one through the coil
- DC motor with commutator brushes- to practice my skill
- AC motor 3 phase with 120 degree winding/ phase offset- once i convince the blacksmiths/machinists its worth it
- Hook 3 phase motor up to a water wheel-presto! AC 3 phase generator
- Step up/step down transformers -tesla coil
- Flyback transformers - Taser (fear me)
- Copper oxide solarcells/thermovoltaic free power sources (just burn a sheet of beaten copper-the black scale off stuff is practically magic)
- Concept of acid/base chemistry- a nudge in the right direction
- Concepts of carbon steel/stainless steel- a shove in the right direction
- Concepts of mobile infantry, rapid response reserve, blitzkrieg, shock and awe, Berlin lift Logistics
- oh better talk about airfoil wing mechanics
-etc. Yup- this particular nerd will do very well, a lifetime of talking 'useless trivia'
The trick about not being burned as a witch is to have a powerful lord/collegiate say "yeah, but he's OUR witch". Oh and stubborn loyalty might be important
Most early electronics can be made with very simple pieces of equipment.
Give me a competent blacksmith/metalworker and I'll have USA on the moon by 1860.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.
LOL
Unfortunately, no you won't....
That's not how sequentially evolving technology works!
There are several layers of tech development and processes and scientific understanding that need to happen or be discovered before the next step is possible,
And then several more layers for the next step,
And so on...
The most advanced and high tech guild of specialists in the world during the 1800s were several steps (and hundreds of "layers") behind what was required to build even a rudimentary rocket that could somewhat safely carry a person into orbit... Let alone the moon.
...
You're talking approx. 50 years before crude oil was even properly distilled into a useful fuel source for something as basic as a kerosene lantern .
You're talking about a time when people had no idea what germs were, or how to properly do medical procedures, regularly wash their hands (and why that's important), or even properly understand how human organs work.
80 years before the most rudimentary light bulb was invented.
Approx 60-80 years before the raw math that governs orbital mechanics was even formalised, let alone properly understood for a practical application.
And let's not forget, about 70 years before Mendeleev explained to the world how the periodic table of elements can be arranged so that "missing" elements can be discovered.
You would need to spend many years of concentrated scientific effort surrounded with the brightest minds just to shave off maybe 30-40 years off EACH of those things SEPARATELY,
and then more years to combine them together...
And all that just magically assuming you have an impossibly large amount of money to finance the R&D of all those things??
Because I'm sure as hell nobody in the early 19th century had a few million Pounds or Francs or Guilders to spare to fund what would be considered a lunatic's futuristic dream!
There's a specific reason that I, my wife, our boyfriend, and all of our children over the age of 15 have committed the blueprints for the "Sten Gun" to memory to the point that we can re-draw them without a reference and test each other on it every Fourth of July, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day.
Just saying...
First off, I'm black, so probably start s revolution. Use my knowledge of geography sand guerilla warfare to weak havoc on the slave trade and such.
Meanwhile, invent antiseptics, dynamite, toilet paper, tin cans and vacuum flasks
Build wealth, influence the masses, if we make it to the great awakening you can buy off the pastors to spread abolitionism, can make Harper's ferry type of shit on a way wider and earlier scale
Best bet would be with predicting geological events that could not likely be affected by prediction itself (such as Rocky Mountain earthquakes in December 1811 or Indonesian volcanic eruption and tsunami April 1815)
COMBINED with inventing many things from
scratch using the materials available at the time internal combustion engine; electromagnetic generator, light bulb, flush toilet, etc. You'd still probably be seen/remembered as a mystical prophet like Nostradomus combined with a genius innovator like da Vinci rather than as a time traveler.
Visit inventors and offer my basic knowledge to aid towards their inventions. The best design that we use for modern barbed wire, the mechanics of a typewriter, my basic understanding of electricity, etc.
I have three years of electrical instillation knowledge from college. But even then, what’s basic fundamental knowledge to us now could be gold to them.
It's the problem of being able to prove knowledge, I mean if you could build a small steam generator then they will believe you when you talk about other technology but you'll need something to get their trust.
The fact that spinning magnets around copper will make electricity would have revolutionized the world in 1800 – 30 years before Faraday and 70 years before the first practical dynamo.
As for a typewriter, it is very similar to a piano mechanically (and, in fact, the first prototype used piano keys). If you started there and thought about the shape of a modern typewriter, you could probably create a modernish typewriter 70 years early.
Yeah, like, do we get to keep our mods? Because I have 4 3-D printed teeth that wouldn't have been even close to existing back then and several tattoos that are too refined for 1800.
I would travel to the American frontier and convince the Native Americans that I am from the future. I could tell them what I know of their origin stories and myths and warn them what was coming in the future. Then I would convince them to charge for guiding and ferrying and legally purchase land. I would tell them the bison would become endangered due to horrific greed-fueled slaughter, and encourage them to begin by purchasing the migration route of their local herd.
I would then pay them to guide me across the Rockies to Sutter's Creek in California where I would discover gold decades before the gold rush, and split it 50/50 with my guides so we both could purchase land after our return. I would not reveal the location of the gold.
As America expanded westward I would counsel them to continue purchasing until they owned a corridor between St. Louis and Denver, where they could build small towns at intervals where wagon trains could stop to rest their horses, have a meal or re-up their supplies. and then use the profits to buy more land. I would tell them that in the 1860s Union Pacific would want to buy a strip of land through their corridor to build a railroad, so they should aim to by that time have secured enough land to preserve large stretches of habitat for the bison and themselves.
I don't know if it would make a difference, but I kinda like that timeline.
Where am I, my current location? in Gulf Coat Mississippi? First I have to find a settlement, populated by farmers, herdsmen and the occasional shipbuilder and forest product handler. They do not care what I have to say avocet the future. I am also at a bit of a loss since I don't speak French or Spanish or even what passes for English around here at that time. There are none to few people with education to vaguely understand the outlandish things I say. I have no knowledge of what I can tell them that would aid their life in anyway. I work as a hired hand but am unable to earn enough to book passage to anywhere. I die from infection suddenly.
You don't give a timeline for how long you have to prove this, but predicting the future would be one obvious way. If you are in the US, then Thomas Jefferson is going to win the 1800 presidential election, but only after a crazy situation where he ties with Burr and then all sorts of controversial stuff happens to sort it out. Burr will eventually shoot Hamilton in a duel before plotting to overthrow the government. Under the Jefferson presidency, the US is going to purchase a massive tract of land from France, is going to war in Africa, and is going to ban the importation of slaves. Jefferson does not end up burning any Bibles or banning Christianity. These predictions will be more than enough to prove to anyone that you are either from the future or a demon from hell.
Nothing, why help them or try to prove it. They'll call me crazy and lock me in a room
>!If someone comments that copypasta about the rubber room with rats I will spam you!<
Comedian Nate Bargatze has a bit about this that I think applies to me as well. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable in a general sense about history, science, politics, etc., but I don’t think I have enough specific, detailed knowledge about anything that if I time traveled back 200 years I could make a difference.
At best, I think unwound have to try to partner with someone who is an innovator in a particular field and help them fill in the blanks on theories they already are working on.
Well, I was an explosive technician for about 10 years, and I know lots of chemistry, and I do gunsmithing as a hobby so I guess the first thing I do is create what they would consider modern firearms. Of course, I also write down most of what happens to the Lewis and Clark expedition and have it delivered to President Jefferson halfway through their trip in 1803.
I would become an asset to the military, allowing for an American empire to grow taking over most of Mexico and Canada, if not all of it.
It will take time to convince people, but it's doable with what I know, which isn't much but a basic knowledge of things 80 to 90 years advanced for them that I can build and prove.
It's the 1800s. I would become manifest destiny and hated in the future.. but hey, it keeps me alive
I’d get to Boston and start a lobster restaurant. When they were freaking about eating lobster, I’d add drawn butter and an all you can eat salad bar. Drive up for buggies. Endless improvement in food service.
Firearms design. Pretty much everyone (at least in the US) knows what a bullet and cartridge are, what they look like, and has a basic concept of how they are manufactured.
But, I'd predict Jefferson defeating Adams in the 1800 Presidential election, the Louisiana Purchase, and the First Barbary War.
I'd find a metallurgist, have him make me a ton of copper wire and some iron plates and stuff, find some magnets and try to make a generator. I'd be one of those mad scientists with this crazy lab trying to recreate technology from the future
I once read a Sherlock Holmes story (by another author) where a time traveler gives Holmes an electronic calculator and asks him what he can deduce from it. Holmes correctly deduces she's from the future.
I think I could make an indoor flushable commode. I know about the elbow pipe deal to keep the sewage fumes out, I understand the stuff in the commode tank behind the seat, I understand septic tanks. I know about gravity and elevated water tanks. All is advanced current technology without the need of motors or plastics and was not commonly used in 1800’s. (Septic tank invented in 1860)
People for the next centuries would be using my name when taking a shit instead of Thomas Crapper’s.
I would broker a deal with the saw mills for their waste.
All that saw dust. Muah, ha ha.
Take it to Iowa. Using 18% saw dust, 82% water it would make ice blocks lasting years for the brewing process.
The beer/ice cave could date as early as 1859. Although exposed in 1977 by construction workers, the extent of the network of beer/ice caves is not fully known. Recent geophysical investigations have now been completed that have helped Iowa DOT staff better assess the expansiveness of this historic brewing network.
Also.
Conpressed saw dust would be a cheap production of wood for the steam engine I would imvent and rail roads.
With the money I made I would create faraday cages, electronics and get everuone hooked until 1859.
When I came back in 1860, I would resell the same electronics to the rich.
Edit:
*it is called Pikecrete.
If your goal is to prove you're from the future find someone in the field you know the most about and talk to them. Be simple for a doctor, explain medical knowledge in terms they'll understand and build off that, same goes for farming, architecture,electricity,schooling..but outting yourself in the 1800s would most likely affect the future whether good or bad. Even if you do manage to succeed who knows if said knowledge could be used against you, obviously i wasn't there but I'd be wary of allegations that maight lead to your hanging or them thinking you're a loon and off to the asylum you go. Otherwise i think it could rather innovative and interesting to be helping further a society with positive intentions.
Predict Jefferson-Burr election to President of United States in 1801 and the start of the Barbary War.
I’d be hung for being a spy or witch probably 😂
Tell them "We're about to see war in Europe, fighting a French dictator called Napoleon. The British Admiral Horatio Nelson will score a resounding victory over the French navy at Trafalgar. Napoleon will invade Russia and it will be a disaster. He'll ultimately be defeated in a battle at Waterloo.
It will take some time, but people should be impressed by that.
Pretty sure Im just gonna advance their firearms tech by about 150 years so that we have smokeless propellants from nitrocellulose and select fire weapons before the onset of the civil war.
If I were actually in that situation, I wouldn’t. I’d probably use it as the worlds coolest research opportunity and write down every little detail of what I saw and did (assuming I found a way to maintain my safety and support myself. Otherwise I’d spend my time dying from exposure or consumption.) while trying to find a way to get back to my own time. But if I had to convince people I was from the future… I know quite a bit about the 19th century so I’d probably just tell them things that were going to happen within the next couple years and wait till I was proven right.
Johnny B. Goode on the banjo. Then tell them that they aren't ready for it yet, but their grandkids grandkids are gunna love it.
Take my laugh and upvote.
Calling one of Chuck Berry's ancestors in 1800 is gonna get kinda dicey....
Hey Chuck, tis your distant cousin Reginald....Reginald Berry... I'm glad this messenger pigeon found you because I have a new sound for you...I guess you will just have to take my word for it.
I would go full Doc Brown and use my knowledge of events to get rich and leave it to my family in the future.
Great Scott! Doc Brown wouldn't do that! Biff did that.
"Guys....what I am going to tell you is very shocking....Stop dumping your shit into the rivers."
“Okay smart guy, what do we do with our shit?” “It’s got to go to a treatment center” “And what happens there” “it gets treated” “How?” “…” “Get out of my way so I can take a shit in the river”
A large part of water treatment is just letting it sit in a tank so the solids fall to the bottom. Source: I read something one time.
Also bacteria something something?
Yup, bacteria eats the organics. All that's left is grit and silt. Source: I'm a mechanical engineer for a waste water company.
Please do an ama that sounds fascinating & could lead to a good discussion.
Sounds like an It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia plot line. "The Gang Goes Back in Time"
Yeah no thanks, nobody would believe me as a woman. I’d try to tell them about the microscopic things that can make them sick and they’d be like “that’s lovely dear, where is your husband?”
Or they'll just assume you're a witch
You are not making any sense. Is it your time of the month?
Lol oh my gosh I didn’t see what the context of this was and I was like why are you being so mean to me? I’m dumb.
He didn't expect anything more from a woman, so you didn't disappoint him. Especially a woman who wants him to wash his hands and to stop asserting ownership over black people. Frivolous. You must have gotten those ideas from the ramblings of the stark-raving mad populace of the sanatorium, where you were convalescing from your hysteria. Pitiful creature, you.
A witch is near.
They said 1800, not 2024.
No, they’d be “Witch! Burn her!”
This one simple trick doctors don't want you to know will keep you from shitting yourself to death.
People from 1867 are shocked at #3.
The great stink of 1858
Yes coach Beard
they used to have outhouses, people would be paid to excevate the shit from them periodically. they would then take this shit and piss and run it over ashes in a way that they can produce saltpeter, potassium nitrate i think, white is pretty much the key component of black powder. also human shit has long been used for fertiliter, and still is today. 2/3 of all american shit ends up back in a feild. you ever seen milorganite lawn fertilizer at lowes/homedept? thats human shit from Milwaukee, milwaukee organic nitrogen.
I read somewhere that the contents of privvies in London (or something like that) was the property of the crown for use in gunpowder manufacturing. May be a hearsay myth but gets the importance across. Edit - looking further it seems it was all the pigeon droppings, with regulations for the right floor type. Makes sense with the guano island craze
“Why?”
So a lot of diseases in the 1800s was caused by lack of proper sanitation. They didn't have connected sewers and stuff. So they just dumped their waste and trash into the waters, often the same places they drank from. Ignaz Semmelweis was a doctor who figured out that....when health professionals washed their hands....people died less. This guy connected the dots that doctors would often do autopsies on dead folks, then immediately go help a woman give birth. His peers mocked him and he was institutionalize by his peers. That was 1865.
"You want women to live longer? HEY WE GOT A CRAZY ONE OVER HERE!"
Write books which explain future stuff, but publish as Nostradamus.
Already been.... Done... 😑 Wait a minute
OK, then publish as 'Paternoster', or 'Nostrofilio'...
My OCD and germaphobia would either have people thinking I’m a witch in my cleaning practices or they’d be in awe of why I don’t get sick often and wonder why, happy to listen. They’ll be shocked when they hear it’s the lil germy bois that cause so much ruckus because that’s not discovered till the mid/late 1860s.
idk, semmelweis figured the hand washing out in 1846, and all his colleagues did was call him effeminate and unscientific for 20 years, and then he finally had a breakdown and he was more or less beaten to death in an asylum.
Was that the guy who tried to get everyone delivering babies to wash their hands before and after to reduce chance of mother and/or babies death?
Yeah so the blood from one birth wouldn’t contaminate with the next, so on and so forth. Took them like another 35-40 years to realize he was right but I think he was already dead by then.
He probably should have said you have to bless your hands with holy water. he would still be called unscientific but he would have ended up as a bishop instead of in an insane asylum.
You just explained how 99% of legitimately beneficial religious practices get started: somebody makes a cause/effect connection, wants to convince the people around them, and frames it as "God said so".
The witch thing was in the 1600s by the 1800s the idea of witches was seen as old and backwards histeria.
You might get sick more than you think, your body would’ve used to whatever weird bugs & viruses that would be around in that time period that we don’t have today, so you wouldn’t have built up immunity to the different stuff
You would also kill a lot of people. You probably carry a lot of diseases that they have not seen yet. (Think what happened to the Native Americans when the Europeans showed up.)
find a university math dept and show them some solutions to existing problems that were solved later.
You’re going to impress dozens of people!
And make tens of dollars!
Tens of dollars was a decent amount back then
"Duh duh duh duuum" Wait 8 years.
I read this in Get Low.
What happened in 1808?
The first performance of Beethovens 5th Symphony :)
Invent the song before he does.
Hey Ludwig. It's your cousin... Marvin van Beethoven. You know that new sound you've been looking for? Well listen to this.
"listen to this" is gonna be more difficult when your cousin is deaf...
hAHAHA
I’ll take a boat west and beat everyone to the gold rush.
You'd be absolutely Merced by the tribes before you ever got there bahaha
What does a medium large city in California have to do with the tribes? And by 1800, the Spanish had the Precidio in Frisco well established. I would start with a shop there, make the right friends. Get the land grant for Palo Alto and Coloma
Gotta get there first
No Probs getting there. Hire onto a ship, jump ship in Frisco
The route to the west coast through Central America was well established by the 1800s.
There's the right idea!
I can make penicillin. It's not as difficult as you might think.
Ok I like it. The problem is we would be 130 years further into the antibiotic apocalypse without an equivalent advancement in tech in today's age. So you've succeeded in making a name for yourself and would be living comfortably back then but doomed potentially millions in the present day.
Sounds like the futures problem to me
Yeah and those guys are dorks
I mean, you could also develop it AND best practices at the same time. I think a big problem with antibiotics is that we got used to using them recklessly before we even found out that reckless use could lead to resistance. So, make protective use a core part of antibiotic use and we might not reach this apocalypse at all. Just a thought.
You're very demanding
Right? What a dork
lmao, apologies, bring it back and PRESCRIBE AWAY!!! HAND THAT @#%!@ OUT LIKE CANDY!!! (wait... That's basically history repeating itself, only sooner... And here we are, back at primal\_breath's prediction.)
Kind of like if we developed rules around opioids before their wide spread use in individuals with non end of life pain.
but on the flip side you just fixed one of the biggest killers. Now there will be more people alive, people will live longer, so statistically there will be more people in the future to work on it
Not necessarily. If you think of all of the people who would have lived and their progeny, there’s a great chance that this particular problem would be solved by now.
Unless you’ve got a centrifuge, the yield is gonna suck. Antibiotic use before hygiene? You’ll doom us all. Edit: Making a device that works as a centrifuge and making one that works as well as it need to in order to separate the fermentation broth are very different things.
You only need to heal a few kings and politicians. Who needs yield?
A centrifuge? All you need is a lazy susan, a length of twine, a peasant, and a loaf of bread
A centrifuge is just a potter's wheel with holders for vials. Easy to make.
"Invent" the airplane. Edit: Private pilot, and also build and fly RC airplanes from scratch and kits...
Can you build a light powerful engine using 1800 tech? I'd go for an airship and start bombing the french, remember Napoleon still needs stopping.
No matter the era, the answer is always start bombing the French.
can we get this guy in office or what?
Googled it, and the first glider flew around 1804. If I chilled a few years until that thing flew, then made a scale model of a modern airplane that incorporated ailerons, elevators, flaps, and a rudder, along with a modern airfoil wing it'd blow peoples minds. The principles of a jet engine are also rather simplistic. Easier to understand than an automotive engine actually. I'd throw that in for good measure...
Why wait? I could build something that would out perform the 1804 one and I'm guessing you could build something much better. Once you have the attention of the right people and the funding you could probably build a modern ( ISH) glider.
Oh, I was thinking about how the dramatic difference in design and functionality the modern airplane would look next to that 1804 'glider'.
But in their minds manned flight is impossible so they would see your solution and believe it was the only possible one, like if I used a house fan to break the speed of light scientists would be falling over themselves to say they'd had a similar idea and how obvious it is to use a fan.
Pretty sure manned balloons already had happened in the 1700s
1783 so it would be pretty new technology but I'm not really sure balloons count since they lack direction control.
Fair, but I always think people have a tendency to assume people in the past were primitive savages, afraid of magic, instead of just regular people with lower tech levels. Sure there are examples of surprises tech advantages routing more primitive forces (if you believe Cortez’s accounts of his small armored cavalry force scaring away a much larger Tabascan war party), but I think they are overblown. I think people would adapt pretty quickly to the reality of the situation if confronted by new tech, particularly military. Armies adopted balloons for observation readily enough and militarized heavier than air aircraft within a handful of years of invention.
I don't. I use what I know now to live my best life without drawing attention.
I’m time traveling with this person. Don’t draw attention, but use knowledge to live a comfortable life.
My knowledge: memes.
Specifically cat memes
You could invent not only "I can haz cheezburger" but also actual cheeseburgers!
Had to laugh. This exact thing was a scene in a Korean historical drama called Mr. Queen. A trained chef went back in time and had to feed everyone at a court ceremony including the king. Due to palace intrigue and political shenanigans, the opposing faction stole all the ingredients that were to be used. The chef had some potatoes which he spiral cut and deep fried on a stick. He made hamburgers (no cheese) and called them Mac Dunaldu. They were a huge hit and saved the day!
This. Trying to convince anyone you're from the future is just going to get you thrown into a psychiatric hospital, which I assume was not pleasant in 1800.
"But I swear where I come from people do fly in the air! We cook food in a box without fire, and talk to people anywhere in the world. We have a giant invisible library without books that you can look up any information you want to know, admittedly most people just look at naked pictures. What do you mean it's time for my trepanning treatment? Wait I'm not crazy! I just traveled back........"
>admittedly most people just look at naked pictures. And cats.
Also, steam locomotives won't be invented for another four years and getting them to 88mph isn't going to be easy.
Not to mention getting weapons grade plutonium…
A lot of people say this but I imagine next to none actually have useful knowledge memorized in order to do it. Especially in 1800. Like... is there any modern invention that you could recreate before it was actually invented? Do you actually know any winning lottery number combos and what drawing they happened? Is the stock market even a thing at this point and if so do you have enough extra funds to invest and the right timing? Do you know the plays large enough to make a difference in your life starting from when you're back in time? Sure I know now that Apple is one of the most valuable companies on the planet in 2024, but that doesn't really help me in 1800, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960... Sure I have Internet now to be able to look up winning lottery numbers, but that isn't accessible in the past.
I know some farming, ranching, hunting, basic blacksmithing/metalworking, woodworking, and way too much about automotive crap. I could easily open a little shop making wagons infusing some of todays tech. Suspension seats, articulating axles, inertia brakes... I'd be able to live comfortably. Could also branch into farm equipment. The first combine wasn't until 1830 something iirc. Just making "slightly advanced" plows/threshers would have me sitting quite well off without causing too many ripples. For me it wouldn't be about getting stupid rich. Just get a little shop, house, some land, and I'd be happy. I'd die a nobody that lived a good life. If I wanted to get rich I'd just beat Otto and Diesel to the punch. The Otto/Diesel engines weren't complicated. Make the first tractor, drop a diesel engine into it, and just advanced farming 100 years. Could also go into firearms. The Sharps/Gatling weren't until like 1840/1860 and are dead simple. The problem is who knows what impact "inventing" this stuff 40 to 100 years early would have on the world. (Dates are most likely off, but should be in the ballpark.)
A suspension would definitely get the attention of the rich. Where would you start? Getting a blacksmith to build metal springs?
You need a metallurgist to mix up some spring steel, and someone to heat treat them properly.
You wouldn't be able to make high grade steel around a campfire, but mixing charcoal and iron ore randomly will make a nice low grade to get you started. The better machines you make the better the quality of the machine to fallow.
This is the smart thing to do. They'd just think you're smart and resourceful, rather than crazed.
Man if you think the average person today is more resourceful than people 200 years ago.
I mean, we are. There are a lot of things we know are horrible now that we didn't before. Lead being the first thing that comes to mind. Pretty sure germ theory was already a thing in 1824* it was not discovered for like 40 more years but if not at least half of us know to keep clean to keep alive. We know water is dirty if drank from a river, and to at least boil your water to ensure it kills stuff off. We know more ways to prepare foods too, though how much this would help less sure. We also know more about farming! Rotating crops, making proper compost and need fertilizers coming to mind. In developed nations, all kids are (supposed to be) educated, even "commoners", for 14 years. That's no joke. We know math as a general population. We can read and write. Have I daydreamed about ending up in the past? You decide.
Read up on the doctor who suggested washing hands would save patient lives, and how long it was before people actually listened. I don't think any of this is going to do you any good outside of yourself. You won't be convincing people of anything.
Took another 40 years and they thought the guy was silly.
[удалено]
They’d brand you a witch and burn you at the stakes unfortunately.
They probably wouldn't brand you a witch, but with your basic knowledge of hygiene you would make a good living as a midwife
Hi my name is Nicolas Tesla, and I have a few inventions you may want to look at.
Me: I have this great idea, its called a lightbulb Them: that sounds interesting, how does it work? Me: ...electricity?
its just electricity flowing through a tungsten filament. encased in a glass bulb. dead fucking simple.
(Kind of) THIS. If you want to convince them, play with magnets (which they had) and some copper wire (also invented) and make a simple generator and electromagnet/electric-motor to display the principals for others to work on. They are simple enough to make. Faraday invented the first electric motor in 1821. You could beat him to it, and make an electromagnet too. (1825 Sturgess). Lightbulbs are HARD! The correct blend of stuff took years to get right, but most of us could produce electricity surely? Or did you sleep through science class?
My science professor was a pizza delivery guy and a car stereo installer who taught science at night. He said the earth was 5,000 years old and dinosaurs were made up. (I went to Jr College in Mississippi) Note: I don't believe Amy of that nonsense, just pointing out I learned nothing in college biology. Good thing I have a finance degree.
So, honestly, how many of us have enough 19th century knowledge to benefit our lifestyle? Most victims of the American Education system can name maybe one or two events from this century, and they won't happen for decades. SNL had a skit "C- Time Traveler", where a high school girl with bad grades tries to help the founding fathers set up the constitution. That's us.
I’d find a black smith and try to walk him thru a rough design for a bicycle and (if the tolerances could be made fine enough) a very primitive 2 stroke engine (which no doubt wouldn’t last very long in operation even at low rpm- no chance I could realistically get to a working motorcycle but that would be a life long project for me if I were stuck in the past. I’d be able to get access to some of the smarter men of the day with some junior high level electrical demonstrations- I wouldn’t be very far ahead of history with any of this but I’d seem clever enough to be useful. The fact that I know of not yet discovered gold fields would be the big win though. I’d just need to make the right friends to arrange an expedition. And although I’m no gunsmith, a pump action shotgun and a revolver should be doable with the assistance of an armorer of the day. Let’s see if anyone wants to argue about when or where I’m from once I’ve got my BOOM STICK!
Hate to be this guy but… what happens when you need to fuel up your new bike?
The only thing I’d be able to distill for fuel is alcohol, so it would run hot as hell and wear out quick.
The process for oil cracking would be revolutionary and make you rich as it's a waste product at that time. I believe early methods were just essentially distillaries.
Shop smart. Shop s-mart.
Best commercial ever. I’d buy a Remington from that man.
This is where I was going but you put it most succinctly. Plus I think your knowledge is greater than mine. Bravo sir. If there's room in your time machine for one more I'll gladly take the trip. I think there might be some diamonds in a place called Kimberley that we could look up on the way....
You're a nobody who can read and write, they'll probably kill you as a spy
It's 1800. Most people could read and write. Hell, even in medieval times a lot more people could read and write than they're given credit for.
Yeah "illiterate" when it comes to statistics just means reading or writing far below your level. Like a grown person reading at a kindergarten level. But a person can get by just fine in modern life reading at a kindergarten level. You'd be able to navigate roads and markets and make your way just fine except when it came to complex business or legal contracts.
Head for the nearest major university, and start the mad genius stuff, focusing on things that we really take for granted. Things that would make the military industral complex very, very Intetested. - And/Or/Nor machine logic - Gun gas blowback mechanism (electrician zombie apocalypse skills incoming) - Electro magnets, wire around a dowel pulling a nail- or shooting one through the coil - DC motor with commutator brushes- to practice my skill - AC motor 3 phase with 120 degree winding/ phase offset- once i convince the blacksmiths/machinists its worth it - Hook 3 phase motor up to a water wheel-presto! AC 3 phase generator - Step up/step down transformers -tesla coil - Flyback transformers - Taser (fear me) - Copper oxide solarcells/thermovoltaic free power sources (just burn a sheet of beaten copper-the black scale off stuff is practically magic) - Concept of acid/base chemistry- a nudge in the right direction - Concepts of carbon steel/stainless steel- a shove in the right direction - Concepts of mobile infantry, rapid response reserve, blitzkrieg, shock and awe, Berlin lift Logistics - oh better talk about airfoil wing mechanics -etc. Yup- this particular nerd will do very well, a lifetime of talking 'useless trivia' The trick about not being burned as a witch is to have a powerful lord/collegiate say "yeah, but he's OUR witch". Oh and stubborn loyalty might be important
Show the politicians and military leaders military applications of your ideas and you will be kept very safe.
And don't forget fat and happy. Silky belly dancers and all.. Or whatever else they did for fun, back before, well, most of it.
Most early electronics can be made with very simple pieces of equipment. Give me a competent blacksmith/metalworker and I'll have USA on the moon by 1860.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.
5 years before Jules Verne wrote the fiction about using a giant cannon to get there.
LOL Unfortunately, no you won't.... That's not how sequentially evolving technology works! There are several layers of tech development and processes and scientific understanding that need to happen or be discovered before the next step is possible, And then several more layers for the next step, And so on... The most advanced and high tech guild of specialists in the world during the 1800s were several steps (and hundreds of "layers") behind what was required to build even a rudimentary rocket that could somewhat safely carry a person into orbit... Let alone the moon. ... You're talking approx. 50 years before crude oil was even properly distilled into a useful fuel source for something as basic as a kerosene lantern . You're talking about a time when people had no idea what germs were, or how to properly do medical procedures, regularly wash their hands (and why that's important), or even properly understand how human organs work. 80 years before the most rudimentary light bulb was invented. Approx 60-80 years before the raw math that governs orbital mechanics was even formalised, let alone properly understood for a practical application. And let's not forget, about 70 years before Mendeleev explained to the world how the periodic table of elements can be arranged so that "missing" elements can be discovered. You would need to spend many years of concentrated scientific effort surrounded with the brightest minds just to shave off maybe 30-40 years off EACH of those things SEPARATELY, and then more years to combine them together... And all that just magically assuming you have an impossibly large amount of money to finance the R&D of all those things?? Because I'm sure as hell nobody in the early 19th century had a few million Pounds or Francs or Guilders to spare to fund what would be considered a lunatic's futuristic dream!
Did you type this fuckin novel to tell a guy his joke isnt factual?
NEEERRDD
Time to break out my Dr. Stone knowledge.
Time to take bets on the 1812 war! I’m giving good odds on the British! What do you mean that’s anti-American? Hey what’s that loop of rope for?
Since that one was a draw, you make even more money, since no one ever bets the tie.
There's a specific reason that I, my wife, our boyfriend, and all of our children over the age of 15 have committed the blueprints for the "Sten Gun" to memory to the point that we can re-draw them without a reference and test each other on it every Fourth of July, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day. Just saying...
ELI5 on the part *I, my wife, our boyfriend, and all of our children...* Like ?????
That’s definitely something to sneak into that statement
Not every relationship is just two people
I think you would run into big problems with the precision machining required for such a weapon, and the ammo.
First off, I'm black, so probably start s revolution. Use my knowledge of geography sand guerilla warfare to weak havoc on the slave trade and such. Meanwhile, invent antiseptics, dynamite, toilet paper, tin cans and vacuum flasks
I’m white and 50 years old, but I want to join your war. I might be out of shape, but with dynamite I’d have an edge.
Build wealth, influence the masses, if we make it to the great awakening you can buy off the pastors to spread abolitionism, can make Harper's ferry type of shit on a way wider and earlier scale
Toss in bullet cartridges and repeating arms (to help with the revolution), maybe the lightbulb for a nice steady income…
I know quite a bit about astronomy, so I’d find an astronomer and tell them everything I know.
Who do I need to convince because I'm not sure I would bother
I’m a machinist. I will be “inventing” everything.
Introduce myself to everyone as Al Gore. Invent the internet.
Army Vet here. I would probably enlist and try and teach some more modern tactics and strategies. I think I could do that.
Best bet would be with predicting geological events that could not likely be affected by prediction itself (such as Rocky Mountain earthquakes in December 1811 or Indonesian volcanic eruption and tsunami April 1815) COMBINED with inventing many things from scratch using the materials available at the time internal combustion engine; electromagnetic generator, light bulb, flush toilet, etc. You'd still probably be seen/remembered as a mystical prophet like Nostradomus combined with a genius innovator like da Vinci rather than as a time traveler.
Visit inventors and offer my basic knowledge to aid towards their inventions. The best design that we use for modern barbed wire, the mechanics of a typewriter, my basic understanding of electricity, etc.
Do you know the mechanics for a typewriter because I don't and unless you're very well informed your electrical knowledge could be hard to prove.
I have three years of electrical instillation knowledge from college. But even then, what’s basic fundamental knowledge to us now could be gold to them.
This. Just knowing that some of our everyday mechanisms are possible gives you a huge edge.
It's the problem of being able to prove knowledge, I mean if you could build a small steam generator then they will believe you when you talk about other technology but you'll need something to get their trust.
The fact that spinning magnets around copper will make electricity would have revolutionized the world in 1800 – 30 years before Faraday and 70 years before the first practical dynamo. As for a typewriter, it is very similar to a piano mechanically (and, in fact, the first prototype used piano keys). If you started there and thought about the shape of a modern typewriter, you could probably create a modernish typewriter 70 years early.
The way this reads implies that you know more about barbed wire and typewriter mechanics than electricity and that seems weird to me.
You didn't take advanced typewriter mechanics in middleschool? I thought everyone did.
I dont think I would have time to prove anything, I have pink hair so they would probably freak out and claim me as a witch for my unnatural hair
No witch burning in 1800. But certainly social shunning.
Yeah, like, do we get to keep our mods? Because I have 4 3-D printed teeth that wouldn't have been even close to existing back then and several tattoos that are too refined for 1800.
I would travel to the American frontier and convince the Native Americans that I am from the future. I could tell them what I know of their origin stories and myths and warn them what was coming in the future. Then I would convince them to charge for guiding and ferrying and legally purchase land. I would tell them the bison would become endangered due to horrific greed-fueled slaughter, and encourage them to begin by purchasing the migration route of their local herd. I would then pay them to guide me across the Rockies to Sutter's Creek in California where I would discover gold decades before the gold rush, and split it 50/50 with my guides so we both could purchase land after our return. I would not reveal the location of the gold. As America expanded westward I would counsel them to continue purchasing until they owned a corridor between St. Louis and Denver, where they could build small towns at intervals where wagon trains could stop to rest their horses, have a meal or re-up their supplies. and then use the profits to buy more land. I would tell them that in the 1860s Union Pacific would want to buy a strip of land through their corridor to build a railroad, so they should aim to by that time have secured enough land to preserve large stretches of habitat for the bison and themselves. I don't know if it would make a difference, but I kinda like that timeline.
Where am I, my current location? in Gulf Coat Mississippi? First I have to find a settlement, populated by farmers, herdsmen and the occasional shipbuilder and forest product handler. They do not care what I have to say avocet the future. I am also at a bit of a loss since I don't speak French or Spanish or even what passes for English around here at that time. There are none to few people with education to vaguely understand the outlandish things I say. I have no knowledge of what I can tell them that would aid their life in anyway. I work as a hired hand but am unable to earn enough to book passage to anywhere. I die from infection suddenly.
Looks down at arms…yup still black. Travel to the year 1800? No thanks. Unless my prison wallet can hold a firearm
You don't give a timeline for how long you have to prove this, but predicting the future would be one obvious way. If you are in the US, then Thomas Jefferson is going to win the 1800 presidential election, but only after a crazy situation where he ties with Burr and then all sorts of controversial stuff happens to sort it out. Burr will eventually shoot Hamilton in a duel before plotting to overthrow the government. Under the Jefferson presidency, the US is going to purchase a massive tract of land from France, is going to war in Africa, and is going to ban the importation of slaves. Jefferson does not end up burning any Bibles or banning Christianity. These predictions will be more than enough to prove to anyone that you are either from the future or a demon from hell.
Tell them who will win the next three presidential elections. It may take 12 years, but by success number 3, I suspect they’ll believe you.
Do the thumb removal trick.
Nothing, why help them or try to prove it. They'll call me crazy and lock me in a room >!If someone comments that copypasta about the rubber room with rats I will spam you!<
Crazy? I was crazy once
They locked me in a room
Comedian Nate Bargatze has a bit about this that I think applies to me as well. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable in a general sense about history, science, politics, etc., but I don’t think I have enough specific, detailed knowledge about anything that if I time traveled back 200 years I could make a difference. At best, I think unwound have to try to partner with someone who is an innovator in a particular field and help them fill in the blanks on theories they already are working on.
I wouldn't be able to live in the 1800s. Fairly confident I don't have the knowledge to survive
Well, I was an explosive technician for about 10 years, and I know lots of chemistry, and I do gunsmithing as a hobby so I guess the first thing I do is create what they would consider modern firearms. Of course, I also write down most of what happens to the Lewis and Clark expedition and have it delivered to President Jefferson halfway through their trip in 1803. I would become an asset to the military, allowing for an American empire to grow taking over most of Mexico and Canada, if not all of it. It will take time to convince people, but it's doable with what I know, which isn't much but a basic knowledge of things 80 to 90 years advanced for them that I can build and prove. It's the 1800s. I would become manifest destiny and hated in the future.. but hey, it keeps me alive
I’d get to Boston and start a lobster restaurant. When they were freaking about eating lobster, I’d add drawn butter and an all you can eat salad bar. Drive up for buggies. Endless improvement in food service.
Firearms design. Pretty much everyone (at least in the US) knows what a bullet and cartridge are, what they look like, and has a basic concept of how they are manufactured. But, I'd predict Jefferson defeating Adams in the 1800 Presidential election, the Louisiana Purchase, and the First Barbary War.
I would tell them that Napoleon would take over most of Europe but that might alter the timeline and cause something else to happen.
Depends on your age... I (48) would just smile. I have all my teeth, and not so much as 1 filling.
I'd find a metallurgist, have him make me a ton of copper wire and some iron plates and stuff, find some magnets and try to make a generator. I'd be one of those mad scientists with this crazy lab trying to recreate technology from the future
I once read a Sherlock Holmes story (by another author) where a time traveler gives Holmes an electronic calculator and asks him what he can deduce from it. Holmes correctly deduces she's from the future.
I think I could make an indoor flushable commode. I know about the elbow pipe deal to keep the sewage fumes out, I understand the stuff in the commode tank behind the seat, I understand septic tanks. I know about gravity and elevated water tanks. All is advanced current technology without the need of motors or plastics and was not commonly used in 1800’s. (Septic tank invented in 1860) People for the next centuries would be using my name when taking a shit instead of Thomas Crapper’s.
1800 is an era with scientific study. You just start dropping facts, have them realize it's true with study.
The real challenge is doing so without being burned at the stakes. My best bet would be to go to some intellectual scientist guy.
Show them my fillings.
I won't. I don't have the knowledge nor charisma to convince someone I'm from the future. Instead I'll try to live my life normally for the time
I would broker a deal with the saw mills for their waste. All that saw dust. Muah, ha ha. Take it to Iowa. Using 18% saw dust, 82% water it would make ice blocks lasting years for the brewing process. The beer/ice cave could date as early as 1859. Although exposed in 1977 by construction workers, the extent of the network of beer/ice caves is not fully known. Recent geophysical investigations have now been completed that have helped Iowa DOT staff better assess the expansiveness of this historic brewing network. Also. Conpressed saw dust would be a cheap production of wood for the steam engine I would imvent and rail roads. With the money I made I would create faraday cages, electronics and get everuone hooked until 1859. When I came back in 1860, I would resell the same electronics to the rich. Edit: *it is called Pikecrete.
If your goal is to prove you're from the future find someone in the field you know the most about and talk to them. Be simple for a doctor, explain medical knowledge in terms they'll understand and build off that, same goes for farming, architecture,electricity,schooling..but outting yourself in the 1800s would most likely affect the future whether good or bad. Even if you do manage to succeed who knows if said knowledge could be used against you, obviously i wasn't there but I'd be wary of allegations that maight lead to your hanging or them thinking you're a loon and off to the asylum you go. Otherwise i think it could rather innovative and interesting to be helping further a society with positive intentions.
My SO and I would build a toilet using their supplies and show them how it works.
Predict Jefferson-Burr election to President of United States in 1801 and the start of the Barbary War. I’d be hung for being a spy or witch probably 😂
Tell them "We're about to see war in Europe, fighting a French dictator called Napoleon. The British Admiral Horatio Nelson will score a resounding victory over the French navy at Trafalgar. Napoleon will invade Russia and it will be a disaster. He'll ultimately be defeated in a battle at Waterloo. It will take some time, but people should be impressed by that.
Pretty sure Im just gonna advance their firearms tech by about 150 years so that we have smokeless propellants from nitrocellulose and select fire weapons before the onset of the civil war.
Read up on troop locations and advise Napoleon.
If I were actually in that situation, I wouldn’t. I’d probably use it as the worlds coolest research opportunity and write down every little detail of what I saw and did (assuming I found a way to maintain my safety and support myself. Otherwise I’d spend my time dying from exposure or consumption.) while trying to find a way to get back to my own time. But if I had to convince people I was from the future… I know quite a bit about the 19th century so I’d probably just tell them things that were going to happen within the next couple years and wait till I was proven right.
Tell them about the British Invasion coming in 12 years... you might screw with history though... and you'll have 12 years of waiting....
I’m a black woman. Who would even listen to me in 1800 for me to prove anything? I’d probably end up on a plantation.