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?

  • null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    2 hours ago

    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

  • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 hour ago

    I guess I could make a name as a mathematician, though that’d depend where the fuck I’m snapped to.

    I’d like to warn the Incas to not trust anyone with white skin, kill them all on sight and NEVER let any of them get within 100km of Potosi, but I don’t think I’d be anywhere near the Andes either way.

  • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 hour ago

    Well, staying in the same location? I’m in the US, so… I’d probably try to get writing invented. To my knowledge, besides some of the Central American empires, there’s no evidence or even claim of there having been any kind of writing or system for making information durable. I know there’s a lot of clay here, I’m pretty sure we could bake clay tablets to store down information. There’s also tule reeds here that were already being extensively used, and those could probably be made into a kind of paper as well. As to whether the people would accept that, I have no fucking idea at all; what we know of the California tribes suggests they were always semi-nomadic, but that’s all very well into the post-contact period and much of what we know was written down by the Spanish while being the biggest bastards they possibly could to the locals. I dunno how useful record-keeping would be to a nomadic people. It’s also entirely possible the people would be like “uh, yeah, we know how to write, dummy”, and it was just lost in the multiple waves of pandemics.

    I think probably something that -might- be achievable is figuring out glass. I’m mostly sure that if the native Americans had glass, we would have seen some sign of it in the archeological record by now. I’m sure some smarty pants is going to come along and tell me “you can’t just throw sand in a kiln and make glass, you need a special kind of sand blah blah blah and here’s 99 reasons why that won’t work”. Yeah, you’re probably right, but I don’t know any better, so I’d still definitely try. I also remember reading that clear glass was a thing figured out near Venice when they started adding grass ash or some shit to the sand, so I’d definitely experiment with that, too. Glass is just dead useful -and- pretty, so I’m fairly confident I’d get some acceptance that way.

    I would say metal smithing, but the only metal deposits nearby that I know of are mercury and gold. You can’t make nails and tools out of mercury and gold.

    Also, maybe water wheels? To my knowledge, we have no record of native Americans using water wheels for work (I.e. grinding corn or acorns into flour). I think if I managed to put a basic water wheel together, I’d be pretty popular.

  • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    3 hours ago

    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.

    • MBech@feddit.dk
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 hours ago

      Assuming you live in the west, you want to get executed by the catholics?

  • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    5 hours ago

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

    • Kookie215@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      3 hours ago

      Oh I think you’re the first person to suggest music! That is a really good idea, provided you don’t die of dysentery of course.

  • Denixen@feddit.nu
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    3 hours ago

    I’d use my knowledge of history, politics, psychology and science to become an influential advisor to powerful lords and help them conquer the world in exchange for living in luxury.

  • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    5 hours ago

    Fly under the radar as much as possible, find a cute girl and settle down and have a lot of kids.

      • J0hnD03@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        3 hours ago

        The second he opens his mouth they know something off. Dialects and languages did change a bit.

        If you’re around superstitious and xenophobic people things can get out of hand quickly.

        • lagoon8622@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          4 hours ago

          Maybe, but you did say you were going to find a cute girl. So you will be encountering some radars. I wish you the best of luck in this thought exercise

          • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 hour ago

            I find it hilarious that in even a thought experiment with no bearing on reality you always have people that will shit on your hypothetical fantasies.

  • Tudsamfa@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    6 hours ago

    This is something I often wonder about, what could one person even do with all of today’s common knowledge? You can’t very well just invent the printing press and have the same impact as Gutenberg - you need something what the few people who can read would, and most people can’t translate the bible from Latin into renaissance German and/or don’t know enough about the catholic church to write scathing remarks on it like Luther.

    You can write and read - that’s something. Maybe more importantly, you can do math with arabic numerals - boom, easy accounting job. With a bit higher education, you may even just invent calculus once more. You know how long it took for people to figure out you can put pi on the number line? Proving all the formulas in your head is the hard stuff, but you have a head start just by knowing them. We all clown on the wormhole explanation with the paper, but it does prove Euclid wrong 400 years early.

    Ah, and you can just become a medical genius by using soap and bandages - “do no harm” is better than most.

    • Kookie215@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Heres the thing though, you can write, but can you write and read Middle English from the 1300’s? There are some similar words but its a very different language than what you and I are used to, it’s another 200 years before Shakespeare and most English speakers struggle with even as far back as that.

      I just asked AI to write my above comment in Middle English

      “Lo! Her is the thinge, but thou mayst writen, canstow yet writen and reden in the Englissh of the thrittene hundred yere? Certes, ther ben som wordes ylich, but it is ful divers from that which thou and I ben y-used to. Two hundred wynters yet moot passen er Shakspere shal come, and fele folk that speken now Englyssh han gret strif to undirstanden that tyme.”

    • Tudsamfa@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Should be noted though, even with the best plan, your frail body, weird language and no local knowledge will mean you probably still die in 2 - 72 hours.