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Inspired by the Cracked podcast...

You do a favour for somebody who turns out to be a wizard. (The suggestion was driving him to the airport.) As a reward, the wizard makes the following offer : he will transport you in time to any historical era. Not the present or near present... let's say a minimum of 150 years ago, but no upper limit. As an added bonus, he will arrange the universe so that when you arrive you are the richest person in the country in that era. There's no catch or anything; you simply live out the rest of your life there.

Question : would you accept this offer?

If I were still single, yes, probably latter half of the 18th century right here in the colonies (US). Or to be more extreme, 1st or 2nd Dynasty Egypt, always had a fascination with early Khemet.

The Bronze Age Collapse, just to see what the hell happened.

but that's if I had to accept it. If I didn't, I'd politely decline.

At first I thought there could be places I'd go. But... you have to live out your life there. And there's no computers. No internet. No electricity. No cars. No television or cinema. No recorded music. No antiseptic, antibiotics, or anaesthetic - most things classed as medicine were much more likely to kill you than help you. No sewers; the city streets were the sewers for both humans and animals, and nobody knew why that might be problematic.

And the richest man in the world couldn't buy his way out of any of that. I can imagine wanting to see the pyramids being built, or whatever... but as a tourist. But to stay there and live there? Hell no. IMO, we live in the best time ever.

Graham Kennedy wrote:At first I thought there could be places I'd go. But... you have to live out your life there. And there's no computers. No internet. No electricity. No cars. No television or cinema. No recorded music. No antiseptic, antibiotics, or anaesthetic - most things classed as medicine were much more likely to kill you than help you. No sewers; the city streets were the sewers for both humans and animals, and nobody knew why that might be problematic.

And the richest man in the world couldn't buy his way out of any of that. I can imagine wanting to see the pyramids being built, or whatever... but as a tourist. But to stay there and live there? Hell no. IMO, we live in the best time ever.

Exactly. Now if you got your vaccinations you would be OK with some of crap being passed around but not all of it.

Being rich would help with your knowledge of how certain things work but it would carry only so far. You would know to avoid the lead cups and plates. You would know to avoid using any of the so called medicines. You might be able to have a primitive piping system for your place.

Graham Kennedy wrote:At first I thought there could be places I'd go. But... you have to live out your life there. And there's no computers. No internet. No electricity. No cars. No television or cinema. No recorded music. No antiseptic, antibiotics, or anaesthetic - most things classed as medicine were much more likely to kill you than help you. No sewers; the city streets were the sewers for both humans and animals, and nobody knew why that might be problematic.

And the richest man in the world couldn't buy his way out of any of that. I can imagine wanting to see the pyramids being built, or whatever... but as a tourist. But to stay there and live there? Hell no. IMO, we live in the best time ever.

Got it in one, Graham. I like the little things, like running water and power and insulation and a snow-thrower for the wintertime!

It's also good to have a "net" that you can do more than fish with

IanKennedy wrote:It's also good to have a "net" that you can do more than fish with

The wealth of human knowledge at one's fingertips. And cat videos!

Especially the cat videos... and video of Russians crashing into each other.

And insane industrial accidents!

But yeah. If it was a metaphorical day trip, the Bronze Age Collapse to see just what the hell happened.

I suppose if I was rich as hell then it wouldn't be too bad living in Ancient Roman times. Maybe not in Rome.